Painter teases viewers’ imaginations with dramatic effects in black and white
In the downstairs gallery at Two Rooms, a group show called The Smoothing of Things is an attractive collection of strong academic abstraction that acts as a prelude to the exhibition upstairs of Noel Invanoff'sSlider Paintings.
Ivanoff is a fine painter of effects. How the work is made is the important part of the subject while other references are left open to the viewers' experience and imagination.
These paintings are darker than his work in the past, done in oil on tall aluminium plates. The initial subjective impression is of dark curtains hung for a sombre drama. Each work has two parts that sometimes overlap while others are, very effectively, set one behind each other in space.
The plates' white surface is integral to the effect. The white is cleared from the edges of the works titled Black to make a frame but retained in the single work, White, that is an isolated contrast to the five solemn dark paintings.
The feeling of the work is kinetic and the viewer is acutely aware of the paint itself as material. The action is familiar to anyone who has ever spread plaster or even butter. Here, the paint is spread with a squeegee. It is the act of spreading a thick substance with a blade to leave a thin, varied layer that remains thick at one edge. When the painting is mounted vertically the edge creates a curtain-like quality as it appears like the heavy hem at the bottom of a drape. This is action painting, not the wildly energetic drips and splashes of abstract expressionism, but something quieter, more sombre and restrained, yet retaining spontaneity.
Slider - Black 3 by Noel Ivanoff at Two Rooms.
Spreading paint on a horizontal surface leaves in its wake a variety of tones. In conventional painting the colours are mixed horizontally but applied vertically. These paintings connect the high slopes of abstract painting with the activities of trades or crafts. It is an art sublimated from everyday actions.
Martin Basher, a New Zealander based in New York, works in several media. Two parts are on show here: painting and installations. The two installations contrast the weight of massive baulks of Monterey pine with the ambiguous transparent nature of sheet perspex.
What the installations reference are modern display techniques or the layout of smart apartments. They are given piquancy by the artefacts within. One contains a bottle and an applicator from a product for men that gives hair grey highlights. Other props are an expensive Rolex watch, dark sunglasses and a black tie. The props are small but the surroundings are massive. A square beam of timber reaches to the ceiling. Notched into it are two equally weighty horizontals on the floor. An irregular plastic skin lies on the floor.
The most remarkable part of the ensemble is the use of sheet perspex that is transparent and reflective. In the largest installation you see the gallery floor reflected and, at the same time, tinted blue and appearing to project on to the skin inside the installation. Reflected images of figures are slightly distorted so viewers see themselves not quite as they think they are. The combination of great weight and transparency gives sculptural qualities to these otherwise open works.
A second installation of the same nature is hung with one of the artist's paintings and with a long beam as a sofa adorned with three velvet cushions.
Ambiguities of the purely visual kind are a part of the artist's stylish abstractions. They are all called to be titled, and come in two formats. One version is on stretched canvas. Against a pale background, it is a series of vertical stripes alternating black and white. These are modified by shadows and across the centre a potent blaze of white.
The effect is to make the verticals alter as they enter the light or dark and the effect seems constantly changing.
The second version, with vertical stripes, is more free and open. This alternative version is on corrugated cardboard. The stripes are less regular and the cardboard shows through. A fold in the backing, a distinct horizontal, checks the flow. The combination of severity and improvisation is appealing. Basher has attained a confident, varied maturity as an artist.
Square Classical Portrait by Andrew McLeod at Ivan Anthony.
A group show at Ivan Anthony combines ceramics with painting. It includes paintings by notable artists in the gallery's stable and the range is wide, from the acid sourness of a little tablet in lettering where evil and hate dominate love by Tony de Lautour to a work by Andrew McLeod which uses the constriction of a square to make a fine figure composition of a splendid Amazon in a Greek helmet.
Unconventional abstract paintings in oil on aluminium panels. Their solemn dignity is achieved by methods in common with the work of plasterers and chefs.
What:Jizzy Velvet by Martin Basher Where and when: Starkwhite, 500 Karangahape Rd, to March 7 TJ says: New York-based New Zealand artist shows his maturity by playing variants of his abstract style and giving sculptural versions of his installations.
What:First Show: various artists Where and when: Ivan Anthony Gallery, cnr Karangahape Rd and East St, to February 28 TJ says: A group show ranging from a horrid menacing seat to a variety of paintings and ceramics that distance themselves from useful pottery by putting teeth in the necks of vases.
