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Steve Cox BMG Art North Street, Adelaide. Season closed  By
and large, you could call the collection of paintings by interstate
artist Steve Cox, which have just finished showing at BMG art gallery,
a portrait exhibition. However these are not portraits of individuals,
but rather, generalised paintings of people, animals and people having
undergone a transformation into an animalistic state. These portraits-with-a-difference have been constructed with blurred splashes and splotches of painted acrylic or watercolour, which add to the feelings that these are generalised paintings of creatures and perhaps, by extension, generalised statements about people's characters. Though that sounds rather serious, the overall feeling of this exhibition seems to be light-hearted as the cross-over between human and animal personalities and characteristics are explored, despite our endless attempts to distinguish ourselves from the 'animal' world. Just as similarities can be found between people and their pets, likenesses to animals can often be seen in friends, family and within ourselves. Finding your animal equivalent isn't always so easy, yet Cox shows his knack for such things in this exhibition with paintings such as Pig Dude 2006, Rat Boy 2006 or Tyger Tym 2006. Most of the animals that Cox identifies appear to have a European fable or even Chinese horoscope link, such as the faun, stag, rabbit, pig, wolf, monkey, tiger or cat. Other more unusual animals feature in Bandicoot Boy, Hyena Man 2005 or Dugong Girl 2006. With the exception of the bandicoot, none of these animal qualities derive from Australian creatures. Many contemporary artists tend to steer away from using Australian animal motifs; Louise Weaver is an exception to this, perhaps because of the touristy, hence tacky implication pictures of koalas and kangaroos carry in this country. This is a shame as some of this country's creatures are bizarrely fascinating to study. From these animal-human-portraits many filmic references can be made toward characters both good and bad. In particular, Hyena Man 2005 frighteningly reminds me of like that strange and sinister rabbit creature from the cult film Donnie Darko. Both share a similar glint in the eye and blurred darkness. On the other hand, the being in Faun In A Forest 2006 could easily be mistaken for one of the friendly and helpful forest creatures described in The Lion, Witch, & The Wardrobe; half-man, half-faun and full of religious virtue (much like the story). Not all of the paintings in this exhibition transform humans into their animal equivalents. The Oracle 2006, Crying At The Discotheque 2006 and The Deadly Love Bird 2006 are from a group of larger paintings that steer away from a fairytale feeling, and into the modern world. The Artist's Mother On Her Deathbed 2006 is perhaps the best executed painting of the exhibition constructed of watery streaks of colour that depict an elderly woman, hair down, make-up free and perhaps in a floral nightgown. Presented, against an opaque background, the fragility of the subject is heightened for effect, or in search of some kind of truth. The expressiveness and seriousness of this portrait is stark against the remainder of the paintings.  |
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