An Emotional Stimulus

review by Gray Smith

Daramalan. Invitation Art Exhibition in the college auditorium., Cowper Street, Dickson,
until Sunday.

ONE goes to art exhibitions to find some intellectual and emotional stimulus, and here I must congratu­late Daramalan College for sponsoring this ex­libition, bringing to­gether artists from other States who have made a name for themselves or are in the process of doing so, and three Canberra painters.
One of Charles Billich's works in particular stands out in my memory, an acrylic on hardboard entitled 'Stratified Humanity', a painting which depicts the strata of human endeavour rather like a cliff face or a large building with the facade removed, giving various emotional effects.
Noel Counihan's rather monumental 'Boy in a Helmet' touches a smoother tone than his 'Laughing Christ' —  huge head of Christ laughing with a new concept of His thoughts , of what man has done to Christianity.

I could find no affinity with the work of Royston Harpur, even though they are thought-provoking, providing that stimulus I spoke of earlier. With Louis James I could dream, through his paintings. Peter Le Grand has, compared to some of the others, made small paintings, rather hard-edged in quality though not painted, as hard edge, quick conceptions of an idea.
The standard of Elwyn Lynn's work is high. Using mixed media on canvas, and two on plywood, he gives an immediate feel­ing of communication. Whether it is an agreeable, message, one must look, finding agreement or dis­agreement.
Nigel Murray-Harvey has six works in the exhibition and, whether painttings or serigraphs, he has something to say. His paintings are huge, shaped canvases with a statuesque quality which was lost on the small screens upon which they were displayed, but if care is taken to imagine them against a wall one can readily appreciate this meeting of sculpture and painting.
Stanilaus Rapotee's work passes me by; in other words, I feel no response.
However, as several people for whom I have high respect felt they were the only paintings in the exhibition, I became deter­mined to go again. David Rose is another reason why I wish to return because his screen prints are rather lost among the more com­pelling paintings.
I enjoyed Brian Seidel, finding again an emotional outlet for some forgotten thought of my own, some kinship making me feel I was participating.

Arthur Wicks' ‘Green Drift’ and 'Soft Edges' have the most to give me personally, but as his work is handled with discipline and precision it has an academic, rather than emotional quality, more a statement than a debatable issue. His excellence as a print maker shows to no small degree in his paintings.

The exhibition as a whole is one of the best mixed shows we have had in Canberra.

 

The Canberra Times Thursday, 23 September 1971