THRUSH HOLMES & JONATHAN LUX – MODERNIST LUNCH
2016-07-11Modernist Lunch pairs the work of Thrush Holmes and Jonathan Lux; two artists with clear and confident artistic perspectives who could, certainly, both be shown as solo exhibitions. When paired together what we notice perhaps most evidently is the subversive sense of irony and nostalgia that is at play in the work of either artist. Both artists explore a brightly-coloured, often humorous, and defiantly revisionist approach to Modernism.
For both artists, familiar themes are explored in unfamiliar methods: Holmes’ work is irreverently playful; presently, the young Canadian artist’s practice has been focused on a reconsideration of the traditions of Modernist floral painting, drawing upon predecessors like Picasso and Matisse while upending these traditions with an aggressively contemporary approach. On a smaller scale, his work becomes perhaps more intimate, and exact; each articulation of these floral still-lives seemingly an homage and reaction to the history of such subject matter. On a larger scale, we see his joy in confident, sweeping gestures: the loud, unforgiving Fantasy Painting adopts a sardonic-tone, (the colour scheme reminding of the idiom ‘to see through rose-coloured glasses’), recalling Picasso’s famed 1907 painting Demoiselles d’Avignon in both its colour and casual display of nudes on offer for the viewer. Here Holmes seems eager to paraphrase Picasso: the presentation of nudes presented almost as paintings within his own painting, a splash of that ever-famed Modernist light here reimagined as a fluorescent lightbulb. Like Picasso, Holmes is interested in breaking down forms and exploring singular, bold idea. The addition of neon asks us to further consider our relationship to tradition: is it arbitrary? And can painting be simultaneously silly and well-executed? The answer of course is yes: from Gary Hume’s recent ‘deconstructed rainbow’ works at White Cube or even George Condo’s ongoing oeuvre of maniacally laughing portraits that poke-fun at traditions of painting and portraiture. There seems to be a zeitgeist that longs for relief in the often heavy-handed traditions of painting – particularly those reserved for the still life.
Opposite – Year, 2016
Exhibition runs through till August 20th, 2016
Beers London
1 Baldwin Street
London
