Bronwen Vaughan-Evans at Bank Gallery
by Carol Brown
'Memento Mori', Bronwen Vaughan-Evans' recent exhibition at the Bank Gallery, represents a personal journey where portraits (from her previous exhibition at Gallery Momo in Johannesburg called 'Home is where the heart is') are juxtaposed with a more recent series of horizontal panels alluding to repose or death.
Vaughan-Evans' painting technique is one that she has made particular to her production. She layers white gesso on top of black gesso to create a controlled surface in which the dark layer sits just beneath a thin, light skin. She then sands through the thin top layer to reveal the dark gesso beneath. The surface is then sealed, giving it a translucent, almost metallic look, which seems to simultaneously refer to the history of painting and bring the works into the contemporary realm.
In an intriguing play of compositional format, the life-size portraits are juxtaposed with other works on a landscape format of a similar scale. In these the human subject disappears in order to privilege a spatial context.
The visual effect of how the works interact with each other in the gallery area is what first strikes one on entering this intelligently-curated show. I found this display not only visually satisfying but also conceptually intriguing in its understated, but ever-present dichotomy between the historic conventions of format.
We use the words 'landscape' and 'portrait' to describe layout and design conventions, but, on reading the artist's statement, where she indicates that she is interrogating the conventions of Western art, one senses that this set of concepts around format also form part of Vaughan-Evans' explorations. There is a movement between foregrounding the human form and then making it disappear. The landscape (or rather cityscape) plays a role either as a psychological prop for the figure or alternatively as the main element in the painting. This sets up a tension in each case and opens up questions of whether we control our surroundings or our surroundings overshadow and outlive us.
The works reflect upon the states of being and not being, situating these in particular contexts. For example, in the portrait series, the body is positioned within a context which suggests that place is relevant but that the personhood of the subject commands this somewhat mysterious space. Here the figures are placed as in a traditional studio portrait against a white backdrop.
This backdrop, for Vaughan-Evans, becomes a site of experimentation where she employs gesso, traditionally used as a background in the Renaissance particularly for the painting of icons. We are therefore led to question her intention in making iconic images of her friends.
The insertion of fragments of the city - buildings, electric pylons or even domestic animals - is an attempt to place these bodies in a contemporary situation. These works are technically highly proficient: however, it is those which suggest rather than depict the body that are most interesting. Vaughn, for example, with an image of feet ascending into the sky, recalls the Western image of the Assumption of the Virgin. Through its depiction of bare male feet instead of the traditional blue drapery, and with the artificial street light from below replacing the historical heavenly glow, the painting achieves an edge which makes it the most interesting work in this section.
This exploration continues in the Memento Mori series where Trying to Remember depicts the same light pole, again viewed from below, but here the feet have been replaced by telephone lines punctuated with birds apparently making reference to a musical score. The symbolic referral to light and sound here replaces the literal depiction of the body.
However, a more direct suggestion of human presence and its imminent disappearance is also apparent in The Distance between Us. This horizontal panel depicts leafless trees silhouetted by the sky leading on to a second smaller panel with a section of a bed where sheets and pillow bear the traces of a human figure. This group of works has a pathos and depth of feeling which marks a progression from the representations of the figure.
Vaughan-Evans is becoming a force in the local context and this exhibition shows her work achieving a new level of subtlety.
Opens: November 6
Closes: December 6
Bank Gallery
217 Florida Rd, Morningside, Durban
Tel: (031) 312 6911 or 083 239 7036
Fax: (031) 312 6912
Email: info@bankgallery.co.za
www.bankgallery.co.za
Hours: Tue - Fri 10am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 2pm
