Stephen Buckley
dal 12/5/2004 al 10/6/2004
Segnalato da
12/5/2004
Stephen Buckley
Austin Desmond Fine Art, London
New imagery appears as time goes on – subtly, suddenly. Unique to these new paintings is an astonished (astonishing) face, sometimes peripheral, sometimes in full-face, so to speak, either in outline or full colour, quite simply because it wants to be there. That is how things happen in Buckley's work – because they want to.
If you went to Stephen Buckley's present show not knowing who he was, and not knowing that he is 60 this year, you would think yourself in the presence of the work of a young artist – so vital, so exuberant, so filled with energy is the work. The only hint you might have to the contrary is the mastery of technique, the sure hand and convinced mind so clearly in control – that and the absence of the derivative and the trendy, traps for the beginning artist. Some never outgrow it, of course, but others, the ones that matter, move quickly toward individuality.
I've known Stephen Buckley's work for over 30 years now, and while his sources – Cubism, Constructivism, Matisse's revolutionary color sense, for example – are always there underpinning his individuality, there is so much more at play, most specifically the three-dimensionality of his deeply painterly 'objects', as I like to think of them.
I asked Stephen recently if he had ever done a painting onto a ready canvas. He couldn't remember ever having done so. Indeed, his 'canvases' are seldom that, are most usually woven fabric or worked wood with moulded matters as a base upon which more dimensionality occurs, through paint, objects, raisings and gougings. Bas-relief comes closest, I think, to defining it. The topography of his work is as important as its surface design.
New imagery appears as time goes on – subtly, suddenly. Unique to these new paintings is an astonished (astonishing) face, sometimes peripheral, sometimes in full-face, so to speak, either in outline or full colour, quite simply because it wants to be there. That is how things happen in Buckley's work – because they want to. If we are not surprised from time to time by what we do (where did that Picasso-like bull's head come from, or the outline of that chair, or this or that?) then we have turned off our invention in a piece to soon, are merely reporting.
The paintings are so varied – a garden as precise as Redon and as lush as Monet, a jigsaw puzzle piece adrift all by itself, a Cubist-inspired bagpipe-like object, a tough, metallic-blue woven and painted abstraction which appears to have developed a nose at its lower edge – all informed by the same trust and intelligence, and can be deeply serious and light-headed all at the same time.
It is one of Buckley's most satisfying qualities as an artist that the humor which pervades much of his work is never frivolous, and the wisdom and passion which are its ultimately most important qualities never seem didactic or labored.
Though Buckley has sold the majority of his work over the years he is not a household name in any but the most knowledgeable households and in numerous museums international. He goes his own way, making lasting and exquisite art, and he must wonder, from time to time, about the ways of the world.
Edward Albee
For further information and other images please contact David Archer on 020 7242 4443
A fully illustrated catalogue will be available
Gallery opening hours
Mon-Fri 10.30 - 5.30pm
Sat. 11.00 - 2.30
Austin Desmond Fine Art
Pied Bull Yard
68/69 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3BN
T: 020 7242 4443 F: 020 7404 4480