A sceptical Joe Turnbull finds himself awe-inspired (and dare I say uplifted) by Nessie Stonebridge's aviary of extra-canvas paintings on display at Carslaw St Lukes.
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| Outside In My Comfort Zone (2014) |
I have to confess that my heart sank a little when I first
entered Nessie Stonebridge's latest exhibition at Carslaw St Lukes. I was
greeted by a diminutive canvas underscored by two shards of wood and a black
ball; adding detritus to paintings in an attempt to supply a different dimension
of texture and make the work stand out is quite a tired method,
and one that is often done hamfistedly.
But as I ventured a little deeper, the scepticism subsided
and within five minutes it had been unequivocally swept away, replaced with a
mixture of shock and awe – however, Stonebridge's beautifully gestural strokes
provide an eloquent counterpoint to such masculine, militaristic terminology.
Her vibrant pieces seem to hum and bristle with energy, treading a tight-rope
between abstract and figurative depictions of graceful birds that suggest a
latent power in spite of their elegant appearance.
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| Not last night but the night before, 2 blackbirds came knocking at my door. Back to back the faced each other, drew their swords and shot each other. (2014) |
The show's subject matter can be read as a playful nod to the
use of the word 'bird' – the term as it is often applied in a derogatory manner to women – as if reclaiming it.
It's not just the organic sweeps that mark out a beak or a wing, Stonebridge manages to distil the very avian essence onto the page. They
capture the intrinsic force of nature, hinting that it can be tapped into without ever fully unleashing it.
Stonebridge manages all this without falling into the clichéd
nature/civilization dichotomy. Although her pieces do seem to exude a
distinctly feminine aura, there is no idealised female form here, yes the
paintings are elegant, but they are also at times dangerous or threatening and
at others fragile or delicate.
This underlying tension is often acted out on
the canvas; an evident outward manifestation of the internal identity struggle in pieces
such as Not last night but the night
before, 2 blackbirds came knocking at my door. Back to back they faced each
other, drew their swords and shot each other. This, for me, is feminist art
at its best. The semi-abstract nature of the work affords it a subtlety; the
point is made, but never overstated.
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| Forsters Tern (2014) |
As for the 'detritus'
I mentioned earlier, it turns out to be a vital contribution to the paintings in the exhibition. Not only does it explode the energy of the canvases off the page and into the
physical space of the gallery, it also adds symbolically to each
piece.
Concertinaed canvas attached to pieces such as Forsters Tern evokes both the Japanese
war fan employed by samurai warriors and the dainty, ornately decorated hand
fans used by geishas. This conjures a powerful mental conflux of sexuality and
violence without pandering to crass images. In Outside In My Comfort
Zone the wing-like spread of canvas is clipped to a wooden splint, perhaps a method of mending a broken wing, or instead of restricting a healthy
one? On the canvas itself, it certainly looks like the avian figure is
struggling against something.
Stonebridge's palette is a sumptuous mix of dreamy greens
and blues occasionally shot with furious electric pinks and yellows, which imbue
the more placid colours with vibrancy. The sweeping freeness of brush and hand
strokes is offset by some scratchy palette knife markings. The exhibition is
both technically brilliant and highly evocative. Pity anyone who tries to clip
this bird's wings.
Joe Turnbull
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