 Rabbit Looking in the Mirror, 2003 oil on canvas, 210 x 190 cm Luke Gottelier Luke Gottelier's new paintings are the largest he has exhibited to date. They have been made with a limited palette of two obtuse, but somehow complementary colours, and are positioned just on the border between tasteful and grotesque. They sidle towards the traditions of English satirical draughtsmen, with references to Richard Newton, Edward Lear and Ronald Searle. Gottelier employs their playful wickedness to lead us away from the macho romanticism of the twentieth-century abstract expressionists. Collecting motifs, the artist transposes them into tantrums of paint like a visual version of the jungle telegraph. Slapstick elevates the wicked or macabre to a position of spontaneous joy, although the apparently impromptu stunt is, in fact, a highly choreographed and rehearsed manoeuvre. Similarly, Gottelier is strategically striking a balance between the economy of drawing and the lyricism of paint, as well as intuitive abstraction and mediated figuration. These hefty dualisms of the discourse of painting lurk like prowling wolves among the absurd imagery. Luke Gottelier - born in London 1968, lives and works in Woodchurch, Kent. 14 November - 21 December 2003 Hours: Thu-Sun 12am - 6pm or by appointment. Kate MacGarry Gallery 95-97 Redchurch Street UK-London E2 7DJ Telephone +44 020.7613 3909 E-Mail mail@katemacgarry.com www.katemacgarry.com |
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