Artist :Steve Castley
Genre : Painting
Period : September 1 till October 15, Everyday, 11.00AM till Midnight
Location: Café des Artistes, Jl. Bisma 9x, Ubud.
Primarily used as exercises in composition, color and form “Floral Studies” have been a constant theme throughout the development of Western Art. Along with the “Landscape” and the “Nude”, the “Floral Study” has been so over-worked (particularly by the legions of realist “Sunday Painters” who emerged in the 1920’s and 30’s as a reaction to perplexing Cubism, and still persist to this day!) that the whole genre is now somewhat hackneyed, clichéd and banal. In his current exhibition “A Splash of Flowers”, at the Café des Artistes, Steve Castley has been able to infuse new life into this tired subject matter by employing decidedly modern Post-Pop techniques.
Steve is an Australian artist who has been living and working in Bali since 1999. He is inspired by the beauty of Bali and the colors and light of the tropics. Steve says he “paints in bright, vibrant colors that are a true reflection of what I see”. This must be an under-statement if there ever was one, for Steve’s flower paintings are executed in the most gorgeous display of colors that I have not seen for a long time. Steve’s subtly stylized larger-than-life flowers come in yellow, red, orange, green, purple, turquoise, peach, mauve, pink, blue, lilac and lavender. The contrast of the flowers against their vivid backgrounds creates an almost Matisse-like cut-out effect, where the clashing colors produce hypnotic optical illusions that dazzle the eye. All the paintings in this collection shimmer with a pulsating vitality.
Repetition is a Pop-Art technique that Steve also skillfully utilizes. Three paintings, entitled “Tulips Dancing”, “Iris”, and “Flying Frangipanis”, all have the same basic composition. A horizontal band created by the flowers is placed across the top of these canvases, while a vertical pattern created by the stalks and leaves of the flowers occupy the bottom of the canvases. By interchanging different flower patterns a remarkable illusion of completely different compositions is achieved. Although symbolism is not prominent in these paintings it should be noted that the spiraling frangipani pattern Steve employs brings to mind the Balinese swastika. This pattern is successfully used in the paintings “Flying Frangipanis Red and Blue”. Here Steve plays with the effects of receding and advancing colors, while the spiraling flower swastikas create a joyful sense of rhythm and spontaneity within the works.
Finally, Steve applies his paint in thick palette knife strokes. The paint is dense and highly textured. Appearing like stucco or rough plaster rendering. The paint is very tactile. In some areas the flowers protrude from the picture plane almost like molding. These paintings are an expression of the joys of paint in itself. The title of this exhibition, “A Splash of Flowers”, indicates bright and abandon and carefree paintings. This they are. But, they are also deeply conceived and thoughtfully executed works. If there is a fault in this exhibition it is that the “splash” is too small. The show contains only twelve paintings. I would have liked to have seen more of these exuberant pictures.
