Here are two very different exhibitions that happily share the same venue as they compliment each other on two different planes of art appreciation. Leith Jansen presents intriguing, formal patterns that ignite the mind while Margaret Woodward offers exceptional, expressive images that caress the soul. Each exhibition allows the visitor to delight in their particular preference.
The first gallery contains well crafted works by Jansen. If you love colour in all its subtleties as well as for its bold contrasts; if you appreciate ideal symmetry and technical skill; if you want a visual experience that vacillates between optical illusion and complex reality, than see this exhibition.
Jansen's acrylic on wood constructions are beautifully sculptured analyses of colour. For example in This Way or That, two double-tiered triangles are hung on the wall pointing in opposite directions. All flat surfaces are green, the bevelled surfaces take that green one degree cooler by the addition of a drop of blue, and the narrow edge of each section is painted orange. Add to this combination the shifts of light and the shadows cast by the construction and we find there are multiple perceptions of hue and tone. This tiering of shapes and subtle play with colour reappears in square compositions involving four layers, which amaze in their complexity.
Just when you think your eyes are in straight, Jansen's oil paintings offer a vibrancy derived from perfectly straight lines and the expert manipulation of colour. Meander is a triptych involving a large square canvas flanked by two rectangular ones. The square canvas is painted in warn red with blue lines that divide the surface into quadrants and form a central square echoing its host. It is resolved and peaceful. The rectangular canvases also employ warm red with blue lines but here the lines create alternating 'bars' that are filled with a slightly warmer red which sets them quivering and vibrating so we want to jump into the safety of the central canvas. There are some still paintings amid the kinetic images but the surprising element is that not one involves spray painting or airbrushing, just a steady hand, a clear eye and a very sure talent.
Surety of talent and clarity of eye is synonymous with paintings and drawings by Margaret Woodward. Her large works engulf the viewer while a rhythmic play of light and dark, like breathing in and out, allows us to come up close and not feel suffocated as we wrap the mood around us.
The second gallery contains Woodward's monochrome images of reclining figures, in either graphite pencil and wash, or grey pastels. The mood is quiet, serene so we can appreciate how adept the artist is at producing exciting drawings despite the limitation of medium and subject. I found myself returning often to Curled into Sleep where a young women sleeps soundly on a striped couch. The artist has captured total repose of face and figure in this orchestration of values from pure white, through warm greys, to total black. As we fall into the stillness of the image, a simple mark in warm red revives us so we're able to move on.
The third gallery offers more variety of size in the drawings but two very large images dominate the room. A Touch of the Rainbow and From the Beginning ... Genesis are companion works that provide us with almost mirror images of a coiled and folded snake. The former is light, drawn in grey on white paper with a splash of colour, while the latter has the serpent emerging from a field of heavy black to reveal the same glimmer of colour. These are powerful and stunning images.
The back gallery hosts Woodward's paintings and
pastels in the brightest of blues. They put us in a joyous mood so we leave
the gallery completely satisfied by an extraordinary visual experience
provided by two extraordinary talents.