Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples
Michael Dell. The Sun Comes |Up
Föenander Gallery
Until September 15
Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples
Michael Dells paintings hover between realism and abstraction, between the familiar and the obscure. Viewed as realist depictions the paintings have a mundane subject matter with view of trees, roads and distant hills but Dell gives them a mysterious quality with a misty perspective while the occasional road markings provide an enigmatic narrative.
When viewed as abstractions the artist highlights the ambiguity of the works by including two abstract works, Small Blue Field ($3200) and Small Purple Field ($3200). Here the ambiguity is accentuated by the titles of the works with the artists referencing both the aesthetic notion of ‘Colour Field’ as well as the landscape idea of the field in nature. Small Blue Field like looking into a darkened space or a dense nighttime scene while Light Grey / Blue Field is like looking at the sky or a misty scene
With largest of the works in the exhibition Landscape at Moutere ($26,500) the artist has managed to produce a work in which abstraction and realism almost coincide, the bands of road, field, trees, hills and sky seen as bands of abstract colour.
A couple of works in the exhibition feature road markings leading the eye towards the distant bunching of trees, the only man-made intrusions. In Roadside Landscape 2 ($14,000) the median line curves to the right while Roadside Landscape 1 (($14,000) and Roadside Landscape 3 ($14,000) the median line directs the eye to the background trees.
With other landscapes such as Roadside Landscape 1 ($14,000) the sense of depth is created with some hazy tree branches in the foreground. Dell employs several of the traditional techniques used by landscape painters to give a sense of depth. In some of the works, bands of light cross the roadway creating a sense of depth while in other works it is the colour transition across open ground which creates the depth.
Adding to the Realism / Abstraction ambiguity Dell has employed a technique that suggests that paint has been wiped from the surface of the paintings or that a film has been applied to the surface. This denial of the authenticity of the painted surface heightens the ambiguity of his paintings.
Dell’s paintings explore the nature of light the way they define objects, create space and mood. With works like Velvet Morning ($18,000) the artist seems to have captured both the intense areas of light as well as the dense concentrations of darkness and shadow.
New Zealand Arts Review 