STEVEN COX - 'Recent Collage Part One'
WILLIAM MORA GALLERIES - 6th - 28th October 2016
The artist provides an
array of techniques in a torrent of small, mostly casual works as he continues
to refine a vision divided between the whimsical and disturbing, rapturous close-ups
of faces and broadly schematic, often sexualised figures. Collage here is less
a matter of photo or print montage, than the assembly of smaller sketches into
larger chart-like arrangements, suggesting various social relations. The work
arrives at a more complex level of abstraction than usual, juggling figuration
in layouts, the discreet pasted patches to the ground also evoking something of
repairs or trophies. Previously Cox has adopted themes such as Dante’s Inferno,
witches and animals to focus his varied approaches but in the current show the
range is presented as more or less just a progress report. A number of works
take the title of Psychopathia Sexualis
and within the bodies and faces, sexuality as preference or disposition is
clearly to the fore. Cox has also published a number of papers on Queer
identity in art, but his pictures take a more freewheeling approach, all things
being swept up in permutation and transformation. But the seventy-five works
hardly confines themselves thus. Other works take historical and literary
figures and events as subjects.
Testosterone Zone (2016) 76 X 57 cm watercolour, pencil and collage on paper
Yet the work remains
firmly focussed on the figure, landscape, apart from backgrounds, and still
life hold little or no interest; even portraits of actual individuals, among
the paintings, are quite rare. Stylistically,
the work is distinctive for its Jekyll and Hyde approach, a duality that swings
from the exquisite delicacy of faces, particularly in watercolour, their
highlights and modelling invoking realism, to the broad linear figures aspiring
to a more stylised realm, a more terse and comic tone. It is a mix that seems
to have been present from the start of the artist’s career in the early
eighties and there are works such as Neanderthal
(1983) that would not be out of place in the current show. There have also been
works where the two approaches converge, such as Myra Hindley’s Dream (2010) where the schematic approach receives
more nuanced and tonal treatment. But in general the work oscillates between
dashing linear summaries and slower tonal refinements.
Neanderthal (1983) [NOT IN SHOW]
Myra Hindley's Dream (2010) [NOT IN SHOW]
The reasons for this are
a matter of character and interpretation obviously, but their stylistic roots
are easier to trace. As a high school student, Cox’s artistic idols were the
British Pop artists, particularly Peter Blake and R. B. Kitaj, the former for
his confident, frontal, public poses, echoing publicity shots, the latter for
his Surreal drawing of the figure, cropping and combining it in unexpected and
precarious attitudes. Already there is a distinct difference between the fixity
and populism of one and the evasive shifts of the other. Interestingly, the
influence of David Hockney is much less prominent, evident mainly in Cox’s life
drawings. Attending the RMIT (1978-80) Cox then encountered the work of
lecturer Gareth Sansom and a more irreverent and absurd approach, influenced in
part by the work of the Chicago Imagists. This more relaxed, cartoon-like style
proves all but impossible to reconcile with prior influences for Cox so that
the work simply alternates between skittish black humour and earnest themes
such as murderers, male prostitution and recreational drugs. Myra Hindley’s Dream is a good example
of the grinding of gears as one attempts to balance a playful approach with a
disturbing subject. Some things, even as titles, are not for joking about.
But in general the drift
has been away from the interlocking planes of Kitaj, still evident in works
such as Ronnie Kray in Broadmoor
(2008) and toward looser construction such as Edward Evans – A Night on the Town (2010) – Evans a Moors Murder
victim.
Ronnie Kray in Broadmoor (2008) [NOT IN SHOW]
Edward Evans - A Night on The Town (2010) [NOT IN SHOW]
Because so much of the
artist’s recent output has been small works on paper which considerably adds to
the spontaneity and intimacy, it is easy to imagine than this is a preference. In
fact it is no more than a practicality given the artist’s circumstances. There
have been occasions where he has applied his flowing watercolour technique to
much larger compositions (simply by laying a canvas flat). Edward Evans... is a case in point. And obviously larger works
allow room for richer and more detailed development, so that their absence is
regrettable. However, other changes have made the most of his constraints. The
drift has also been away from dark, historical subjects such as the Moors
Murders and to freer fictional themes like generic witches or animals. Here
there is no conflict between whimsical treatment and solemn content and the
artist’s imagination achieves new confidence and surprising characterisation.
The works often feel like children’s story illustrations growing slightly too
scary. It is perfectly judged and no doubt the result of experience and greater
resolution of a number of issues, not least a lowering of ambition and forgoing
scandal. Interestingly, where the artist takes on a more literary theme, like
Dante’s Inferno, the results are mixed. This is probably because ambition again
creates problems for a sustained treatment. The series fractures into comic
demoniac heads and photo-collages that attempt to render an industrial vision
of hell, but the results are a little disappointing. This is not quite the
problem of a schematic arrangement, but rather a contemporary landscape as
metaphor. As noted, landscape is not something the artist has been inclined
toward. It is an issue the artist may yet return to - one senses it is
certainly within his grasp - but on the strength of the current show it is the
issue of abstraction or greater stylisation that now receives more attention.
The two things are not unconnected though. As noted, works assemble or patch together a kind of map for a person, as in Drizzle Puzzle (2016).
Drizzle Pizzle (2016) 29 X 21 cm mixed media on paper
But at certain points the fragments themselves may be so stylised that a surrounding layout only adds to the abstraction. In these cases, Cox occasionally reverts to a landscape. In Vision at the Lake (2016) and The King and Queen of the Birds (2016) the artist invokes a deep space that gives the figures a setting rather than other parts to their person.
Vision at the Lake (2016)
King and Queen of the Birds (2016)
These are modest developments obviously but they indicate a little more scope, in the way a sustained background may also be used to arrange more stylised fragments. For Cox, this is unlikely to rival the attractions of the direct stare of an isolated face of course, and it is with the series of ten heads at the front of the gallery that the artist stakes out bolder territory. It is surely a mark of their precedence that these works are also on canvas, slightly larger than most of the show (35 X 28 cm) in acrylic, oil and enamel as well as pencil. In works such as Juan Carlos (2016) and Ramone (2016) the artist gives us portraits of actual individuals – but only as pencil studies incorporated into a larger collage.
Ramone (2016) 35 X 28 cm mixed media on canvas
The drawings notably adopt delicate cross-hatching for tone, emphasising a classical linearity and restraint. The artist, quite deliberately appeals to tradition. Against this, the paintings variously assemble flesh coloured palettes, lush impasto and sweeping gesture in sonorous hues. These do not stylise a setting or extension for the heads but rather offer a more visceral, expressive response, a metaphor for greater realisation, immersion and chaos.
Hector (2016) 35 X 28 cm mixed media on canvas
Alonzo (2016) 35 X 28 cm mixed media on canvas
These are unquestionably
the highlight of the show, so much so, that one wishes there had been just a
little more editing elsewhere. Even small works need breathing space. But as a
show, an excess of inspiration is surely preferable to a dearth and if the
works sometimes have troubling themes, it is finally about working through them
– feverishly - knowing when to make light or toy with one’s demons, knowing
what to take away from them and hurrying. This is also a show about how
painting pictures conveys meaning unavailable anywhere else.
All images courtesy of the artist and Mora Galleries. My thanks for their assistance in preparing this review.
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