Sunday, February 26, 2012

Chris Shaw






























In Chris Shaw’s painting the process of paring down manages to concentrate rather than diminish. Idea and method meld as one; the physical and the conceptual combining in the most pleasing way. His practice is as much sculpture as it is painting; his works cast and assembled rather than rendered. Paint is manipulated after it has dried in the most considered way. These are methodical, meticulous works; self-consciously concerned with process and Painting’s past.
They manage to be both deadpan and theatrical; purposefully spare with flourishes that allude to something a little more frivolous (the ephemera of parties, drapery and costume in the case of the work shown here). Shaw’s is thoughtful work well made.


Saturday, February 25, 2012

Paul Behnke



























Paul Behnke’s paintings don’t skirt around the issue.
Subtlety is not their mode. His is full frontal painting; bold, engaging, direct. It is painting that deals with the strengths of painting itself. It is work about method and significant form; work that displays the process of the artist and rewards the viewer’s gaze. It may not always be fashionable to make work that is so specifically concerned with visual experience; but if it is good (and Behnke’s is) it will always be valid.