Nau mai, haere mai, welcome to EyeContact. You are invited to respond to reviews and contribute to discussion by registering to participate.

JH

Non-textual (mostly blue) Reynolds

AA
View Discussion

Most conspicuous is the big, four panelled work on the main wall – a painting that works. Nomadology, succeeds not only because of its lyrical, wistful sky blue and wisps of sprayed cloud and vapour trails, but also because of its dots (in that silver paint that I invariably find so loathsome), which though scattered have a compositional structure that is in essence linear.

Auckland

John Reynolds

Along these lines

1 December - 24 December 2009.

 

 

It’s a nice, cunningly ambiguous title by John Reynolds for this Crockford show, and one that showcases his strengths – for there are no words anywhere. I dislike his dictionary-obsessed works that use written texts (I hate the pomposity of many of them, the look of the spindly printing and I’m irritated by the monotony of the evanescent silver paint) while I am fond of his paintings that emphasise drawing. Especially his linear, unravelling stringy, scrubbed and scratchy marks of chalk or charcoal of his old works. But naturally he has moved on.

So what is here amongst these six recent paintings?

Most conspicuous is the big, four panelled work on the main wall – a painting that works. Nomadology, succeeds not only because of its lyrical, wistful sky blue and wisps of sprayed cloud and vapour trails, but also because of its dots (in that silver paint that I invariably find so loathsome), which though scattered have a compositional structure that is in essence linear. The painted specks are like flocks of migrating birds, or herds of caribou. They thankfully link up in diagonal alignments. It’s when they don’t, as in some of the small canvases, that he runs into problems. They lack direction.

The main ‘lines’ in this show are three teetering stacks of small, mark-free monochromes that crawl up the wall to the ceiling and which seem to allude to the earlier brick work in this space by Kate Newby.(A nice ‘tip of the hat’ from an older artist to a much younger one.)

Because they are monochromatic and vertically link up, the choice of colour in these Birdsong works is crucial. The metallic copper and silver stretcher ‘lines’ are insipid and flat, but the Klein blue on the work by the gallery entrance is astounding in its penetrating vibrancy. It also has different edges from the other two - they have skinny drips running down the sides. This one has thick oozy blobs that lazily meander halfway down the stretcher sides – seepages from a weedy watery ladder to the heavens.

Other blue works are a single solo dotty work (Sad Song #7) on the wall in isolation, and, Refrain, a group of about fifteen small stretchers (again silver dotty) arranged on a plinth in a sort of balanced stack, that you can walk around.

However it is the two largest ‘linear’ blue works that are the highlights of this show: one wall-sized, the other like a piece of wobbly down-pipe from your guttering. Both are buoyant in mood and sensual. Cool and refreshing in the summer heat.

Print | Facebook | Twitter | Email

 

Recent Posts by John Hurrell

JH
Installation view of Jeena Shin's Time Crystal exhibition at Two Rooms.

Jeena Shin’s Fields of Floating Angular Geometry

TWO ROOMS

Jeena Shin

 

Time Crystal

 

15 August - 27 September 2025

JH
Selina Foote, Berthe, 2025, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 600 x 500 mm

Foote’s Balustrades

TWO ROOMS

Selina Foote

 

The Balcony

 

15 August - 27 September 2025

JH
Tony de Lautour, Black Mountain 2 2025, acrylic on canvas, 750 x 1000mm

Obliterated Titular Language

IVAN ANTHONY GALLERY

Tony de Lautour

 

Location

 

26 July - 23 August 2025

JH
Richard Killeen, Catspiralcatspiral (9458), 2025, Ink jet and Bona Mega Matt varnish on ACM, 1000 x 480mm

Containing Meaning

IVAN ANTHONY GALLERY

Richard Killeen

 

Jar

 

26 July - 23 August 2025