Jon Cattapan
figure:ground Kaliman
Gallery, June
6 - June 29
Historically, artists have used imagery or stimuli from their
'small worlds' as a vehicle of expression. It is within the meeting
of common boundaries or the intersection of these microcosms with
those of other individuals (the viewers) that the ideas or feelings
of the artist are shared. These works come out of a personal environment
and are received on a personal level. What is garnered by the
viewer may not be what the artist consciously offered but what
the individual saw, or moreover what related to them.
It is quite obvious when viewing Jon Cattapan's exhibition that
he does not paint his own world. Cattapan paints the global experience
of the world a la CNN, which is a very impersonal standpoint.
The works cosmetically tell of the human experience, but lack
intimate knowledge and are thus like Esperanto, full of good intentions
but meaningless to most people.
The paintings
are structured in two very distinct parts - the underpainting
or ground and the overpainting, the two areas bearing little or
no relation to one another. The underpainted images are snapshot-like
vignettes that have the scent of photojournalism. It would not
surprise me to learn that these were sourced from magazines and
newspapers. The painting is, in itself, quite beautiful, filled
with accidental smears, loose brushwork and a cathartic painterly
concern for mark making. The images are groups of protesters,
students and asylum-seekers rendered as ambiguous backdrops to
the cage-like superstructure of the overlaid cityscape. These
incidental vessels lend the work a political flavour, with shadowy
protesters being handcuffed by faceless police officers, picket
lines shifting amongst the paint and people crammed onto boats,
sinking into the sea of abstraction. However the second part of
Cattapan's painting process, the overlaid light patterns of a
nocturnal city, is used as a cure-all picture solving device.
Whilst it was once an interesting and novel idea it is wearing
a little thin four or five years on.
The notable
exception amongst these works is Pink. Painted in 2001,
it seems to be an early experiment whereby Cattapan is trying
to break with his long-established formula. In this painting the
city is abandoned in an anarchic display of destruction as dots
and daubs of paint are applied over the image in a haphazard and
exciting way. I was reminded of the origins of the dot technique,
which Aboriginal artists first used to hide the secret images
from those who shouldn't see them. This technique, although abandoned
by Cattapan in favour of a return to the well-known, seems to
issue a way forward which must have been apparent to him at least
subconsciously since he allowed this painting to be used as the
image on the invitation.
It will be
interesting to see what developments Cattapan
makes in the future and if experimentation like that in Pink
makes a return to the fabric of his work.
-
Richard Lamarck
back
to top