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| 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.
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| 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).
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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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.
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| 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.
