Auckland Jacqui Colley We played here once
Orexart, 6 June–1 July
DON ABBOTT
In Jacqui Colley's We played here once both heart and mind are on show. Each painting is more than just one thing; the artist's layers of pigment create works that are multifarious and profound. They deal in dichotomies that are, on the surface of things, contradictory. They have backgrounds that are tranquil, washes of colour that create a mood of floaty suspension. Their foregrounds are the result of vigorous brush movements, almost as if the artist has stabbed the canvas, disturbing the pervasive peace she created with the previous layers. Those backgrounds hold an air of intention, of preparation and calculation; those foregrounds speak of spontaneity, a direct connection between hand and soul, a short circuit that avoids the intellect. The backgrounds are dauby and timeless; the foregrounds intense and climactic. The paintings seem to bloom from Colley's restricted palette, both individually and across the exhibition, glowing as if to reach beyond their colouristic boundaries.
The background of Azo, for example, is painted thin and wash-like, dreamy, lush and calming, a sensation abetted by the visible tooth of the canvas, in places, and the languid trails of dripped paint, surprisingly horizontal. Its foreground is a tangle of gesture, its vigour at odds with the all-over resolution and balance of the painting. The foreground also provides a focus, an area of intensity and contrast, as if we are looking at an object through a filter labelled ‘abstract'; for all the artist's adherence to abstraction the central focus means the work takes on the formal qualities of a still-life or a portrait. It looks like the painting of a thing, even if there is no thing there.
The palette is green, verging on yellow, like it is late summer and the world is heavy with sap; the approach of autumn will provide a release from all this weight-bearing fruitfulness. The foreground's palette is the opposite—it is upright and evergreen, untouched by the seasons, shadowy, not translucent. The top left corner is left almost unpainted, as if neglected, providing an anchor from which the rest of the painting―dreamy, intense, washed, assaulted―hangs.
Sedimentary uses a similar colour scheme to Azo, but with more variation in the greens―there is a greater shift from dark to light, as if Colley was painting en plein air, where she could replicate the variety of the New Zealand bush. Magenta Remains takes on the other dominant colour scheme in the exhibition―its use of pinks and lilacs, combined with a creamy sheen, makes it gleam like the lining of a hat box. Arpeggio uses a similar palette, and adds depth with violet and rust colours. The title work is the most vigorous in the room, its rusty brushstrokes evoking a vapour trail of seesaws and swings.
We played here once―Colley's second solo show at Orexart―is an extremely satisfying suite of paintings that expresses this artist's depth of experience and willingness to experiment. Deliberation―thought, contemplation, care―is at the heart of her practice and is a joy to see; so, too, the lack of it, when she lets the heart take over.
Auckland George Savill Arrangement
Artis Gallery, 23 May–11 June MICHAEL
