A close inspection of the drawings and paintings by Shriley Clancy provides a rewarding experience. First the image invites you forward, then the narrative teases the imagination until finally you plunge into the scenario. Each work is a catalogue of detail that has been meticulously built up until the drawn lines and tonal graduations fade into the reality of fantasy that is the artist's speciality.
In this exhibition, Clancy references life's travels through the world around us and the universe within. Her drawings and paintings are windows to strange realms of stillness where serious people in bright clothing travel through pleasures and perils with a purpose. It's left to the viewer to define the how and why of it all. The clue to deciphering the work is to just let yourself go and allow each image take you along for the ride.
Clancy's drawings in pen and water colour are small but potent suggestions of the surreal. Some are preludes to a larger painting while others are unique compositions. All are little gems that invite visual exploration, and you'll be rewarded if you do look carefully at each work. Broaden your visual range and discover that the frames have been rubbed with a subtle colour that relates to the drawing but only picked up when viewed in a certain light. And a few have been enhanced with a tiny found object. But if you want to discover the secret map each drawing holds, you'll have to look beyond the image!
Less mysterious yet equally fine on the small scale is the series Journey in Tuscany. Here Clancy pays homage to art and artists from 15th century Italy by replicating the motifs, flowers, portraits and rich hues of the time. She also references the once fine, now deteriorating, frescoes with skill and grace. These little paintings are a testament to the artist's mastery of her medium.
More engaging, but only due to size, are the large paintings that take us on a journey beyond the real or surreal into the imagination. What holds us safe during these metaphysical journeys is the solid compositional construction underlying each image, the strength of colour and the ability for each viewer to interpret the narrative according to their own disposition. For example, The Viking's Last Voyage shows a ship on a tousled sea under a lowering sky. In the boat is a man, woman, animals, weapons, foodstuffs and a stone idol. One can assume the Viking is setting off to start a new settlement across the sea, never to return. Or that he is sailing to Valhalla with all his possessions aboard his funereal barge. The choice is yours.
And there are a multitude of interpretations of what the white bearded red devil is pondering in the delightful work Boating with Angles. Meanwhile there is only one reading of Father Time and that is, no matter what you use to measure it (candle, hour glass, water clock, sun dial or digital watch) or how fast/slow it travels, time just keeps on moving.
Clancy employs universal symbols and private motifs to communicate with her viewers. She puts a good deal into her images so others can get the most out of her art. These are not didactic panels just reflections of humanity as it travels through the real and the imagined aspects of life. Get lost in your own interpretation of Clancy's scenarios and when you do, you'll accept that somewhere, somehow a zebra can walk a tightrope.