Dan Perfect & Fiona Rae In Conversation At Nottingham Castle

Fiona Rae & Dan Perfect

Four posts about one exhibition is probably a lot, even by my somewhat verbose standards, so I promise, this is the last.  Either way, I recently found myself back at the ‘Painter, Painter: Dan Perfect, Fiona Rae’ exhibition at Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery again, specifically to hear both artists discuss their work in person.  It was too good an opportunity to miss, particularly as I was in Nottingham for social reasons anyway.  In fact, I’d have travelled over for it anyway.

The event itself was well attended and both enjoyable and revealing, despite surprisingly stuffy conditions and difficult acoustics in the high-ceilinged Long Gallery.  Perfect and Rae talked engagingly with their interviewer before answering a number of public questions which, thankfully, were pretty intelligent overall.  The repeated exhortations to purchase signed catalogues became a little wearing after a while, but it would be foolish to pretend all this stuff happens for free and, as already mentioned, the catalogue for this show has actually been rather good value.

Paintings By Fiona Rae

Along with various interesting technical insights, the discussion also confirmed several of my own ideas about Dan and Fiona's work.  There were also several points that hadn’t really occurred to me.  Amongst these was Perfect’s stress on the importance of the body as an issue in his paintings.  I had seen them as predominantly environmental but, as he reminded us, much of the mid-twentieth century abstraction that influences his work was about the relationship of the painted mark to the moving body, (Jackson Pollock being the obvious example).

Dan Perfect, 'Generator' (Detail), Oil & Acrylic On Linen, 2012

The contrast between the horizontal emphasis of Dan’s canvases and Fiona’s general preference for the portrait format was also raised.  It’s a fairly obvious observation, but one I had overlooked, and I was interested by his reference to the cinema screen.  Indeed, he used cinematic metaphors more than once during the discussion.  The idea was also raised that the vertical emphasis allows Rae’s paintings to exploit certain ideas about ‘authority’.  Beyond the formal aspects of this, she seemed more than happy to embrace this as a general principle.

Fiona Rae & Dan Perfect

Both artists acknowledged the part played in their work by digital manipulation, although Rae again stressed her only real interest is as a tool for establishing colour schemes.  Both also noted that today it’s really just another tool available to the artist, and one that younger practitioners might think unworthy of comment.  I still maintain there is something intrinsically of the cyber-age in all these paintings, beyond mere practicalities, but perhaps It’s just taken as read in much contemporary painting, and less conscious than I had imagined.

Dan & Fiona Carry Out Their Inevitable Catalogue Signing Duties

Understandably, given their domestic arrangements, and the similar artistic territory they occupy, both artists were keen to underline the distinctions between their respective oeuvres.  Indeed, it’s fair to say there are at least as many of those as there are similarities.  Certainly, the discussion reinforced the idea of a conversation between two individuals that pervades the show as a whole.  It was amusing to see that this dialogue is not wholly without its tensions or disagreements as must be any healthy relationship between equals must be, whether artistic or domestic.  Both were adamant that they had no desire to work collaboratively, (Fiona was particularly firm on this).

Whilst the role of preparatory drawing and digital translation in Perfect’s process was already pretty clear, it was interesting to hear Rae confirm that, as I’d suspected, her own process is largely improvisational, and that each image may obscure a number of earlier attempts.  The idea of a group of canvases as sequential of glimpses of what a painting might be interested me, particularly given the stumbling progress and possible over-analysis of my own paintings of late.

Fiona Rae, 'See Your World' (Detail), Oil & Acrylic On Canvas

This essentially Jazz method, along with her stated willingness to throw pretty much anything into the mix, (in terms of cultural or painterly reference points), reinforces my view that, despite my genuine pleasure in discovering Perfect’s work in this show, Rae is probably the greater risk taker or more ‘out there’ of the two artists.  The Pop sensibility in her work was also mentioned, and it was delightful to discover that stimulation for her paintings has derived from sources as diverse as Bond Street shop window displays, ‘Krazy Kat’ cartoons or a Spice Girls music video.  It was also illuminating to hear her admit she may not always actually ‘like’ some of her more kitsch components, proving that the injection of a little sand into the oyster is a very useful strategy, creatively speaking.

Fiona Rae, 'Mixing Feeling And Time' (Detail), Oil & Acrylic
On Canvas

It’s clear that neither artist is adverse to the idea of art practice existing within an intellectual framework, but that both see this as something that might emerge after the fact of painting, rather than as an a priori condition from which the work must be generated.  Most of my potential questions were answered in the course of the discussion.  However, in connection with this, I regret not asking Fiona if her introduction of a stereotypically feminine aesthetic into the traditionally macho pursuit of abstract painting, might be a knowing response to the Feminist accounts of Art that gained increasing currency during her (and my) student years.

Dan Perfect, 'Transporter' (Detail), Oil & Acrylic On Linen

For the record, the main ‘issue’ from that period she (and Perfect), seemed happy to embody was the project of discovering how, (rather than if), painting might continue to be relevant in a multi platform culture [2.]. The relevance of this is occasionally questioned, even now, by the blinkered or historically linear.  Above all, it is this commitment to, (and retooling of), the medium, along with their willingness to speak about it without obfuscation, which makes Dan Perfect and Fiona Rae exactly the kind of painters we need around at the moment.

‘Painter, Painter: Dan Perfect, Fiona Rae’ continues until 6 July at Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Castle Place, Nottingham NG1 6EL.  You’ve still got time, (just), and I certainly recommend it.

[1.]:  ‘Painter, Painter: Dan Perfect, Fiona Rae’ (Exhibition Catalogue), Nottingham, Nottingham Castle Museums & Art Galleries, 2014.

[2.]:  The enthusiasm both artists expressed for complexity and multiple relationships within their work must surely reflect this, even if my own theories about parallel digital dimensions are a bit over-egged.