'Cycle' by Nicole Risden
Sana Rose, Contributor
UNLIKE PREVIOUSLY staged Young Professionals exhibitions, the current presentation of works under this title offers new and mid-career artists. The Gallery Pegasus usually extends the call for works to young, upcoming artists but this year, these artists were slow in responding to the call. We do not normally expect to see artists such as Michael Parchment, Peter Johnson, Carlton Lewis, Uyi Otalor, Peter Peart or Patrick Hall in a show like this but they share the space with the younger artists.
A cross-section of artists has been assembled together and as usual, painting outnumbers all other artforms. The third dimension is satisfactorily represented in the fair volume of ceramic pieces especially and a few wooden and alabaster sculptures. Interestingly enough, there is no vast difference in the impact and strength of the pieces between the two categories of artists.
Talent aside, if we were unfamiliar with all of the artists in the show, it would be somewhat difficult to tell them apart. And yet again we are faced with the issue of style versus formula in the case of the mid-career artists. While we expect a certain level of uncertainty with younger artists as they seek to build their own visual vocabulary, we note that some of the newcomers not only show promise, but also measure up well against the more seasoned artists of the group.
One interesting feature of the group of newcomers is the inclusion of those who are primarily graphic designers Kevin Hamilton, Gregory Brown, Kim Barker and Karen Carter the latter three being graduates of Edna Manley College between 2001 and 2002.
BROWN'S SKILL
Brown offers us semi-abstract paintings on paper compartmentalised by geometric shapes. Barker demonstrates her skill with the photographic image and attempts to combine painterliness with a somewhat unorthodox display where twigs and the photographs are sandwiched between two panes of glass. Carter and Hamilton are portraitists at heart.
Painter Melhanie Spence, also a portraitist at heart, compartmentalises the image but in a more measured way than Gregory Brown. In an untitled piece, Spence continues to play with space but this time with the third dimension where a cast face projects from a textured surface.
The ceramics display is comparatively strong even though painting overshadows it in volume. Karlene Goffe and Rohan Gardener, this year's Art Education graduates, as well as Wazari Johnson, a 2001 ceramics graduate from Edna Manley College, offer non-functional clay pieces that show a certain adeptness with the medium when seen alongside pieces by Patrick Hall, a more experienced ceramist. Robert Campbell, known for his 'bumpy headed' portraits of women, display greater confidence in the handling of form in his high relief works.
The pieces overall remain in the representational realm with only Gregory Brown and Nia Gifford shifting into semi-abstraction. The strongest conceptual leaning comes from Nicole Risden who maintains an internal dialogue that utilises self-portraits and collage. Another interpretation of collage comes from Nicolle Blackwood who uses crumpled coloured paper to create her images.
The human body is the most popular subject stylised and represented as close as possible to reality but weakness abound in colour and form from some artists including those in mid-career.
This year's Young Professionals show remains tame even though there are some comparatively notable pieces. It is somewhat worrisome that the young artists responded so poorly to the call for works as this undermines the objective of the exhibition that showcases new talent on the art scene and creates a picture of local young artists together in one space.
With so few newcomers making use of this opportunity, we are left to speculate the fate of young artists and the exhibition designed for them. Have the artists succumbed to financial pressures that force them to make art occasionally or none at all, or are they engaged in artmaking but have lost interest in a Young Professionals exhibition? The gallery should investigate the reason.
The exhibition continues.
