Ian McCulloch. Paintings. 3rd March - 4th April 1987.

48 S.; Illustr.; 18 cm; geheftet. Gutes Ex. - Englisch. - Texte von Ian McCulloch und Clare Henry. - The paintings in this exhibition make use of mythological subject matter similar to that used in the paintings which I made between 1984 and early 1986. These subjects have been enacted on large canvases in which the absurd is deliberatately employed and counterpointed by sensuous colour and paint. In this approach I am aware of two influences operating simultaneously in the paintings. The formal aspects, together with the Dada-derived use of the absurd, point to the fact that my formative years as a painter were spent when modernism was still a force to be reckoned with. This has led me on a journey from figuration into abstraction and then full circle back again to figuration. This is a journey which painters of a younger generation have not felt it necessary to make, which to some extent sets these paintings apart from the current wave of new image painting. An influence which relates to the use of mythological subject matter in the paintings is one which could be described as 'residual Calvinism.' The Calvinist form of Presbyterianism which prevailed in the Scottish Kirk was still a force to be recknoned with in the Scotland in which I was brought up, and this, together with the contemporary decline in the position of Christianity, has enabled me to use Christian myth in what is possibly a non-traditional way in order to explore contemporary preoccupations. My interest in the use of myth lies in the fact that it implies a certain continuity with the past while at the same time it can be used as a metaphor to lay bare the underlying realities of contemporary life. Classical myth has traditionally been used by artists in this way. What seems to me to be new in this late twentieth century period is that, because of the withdrawal of Christianity from the centre of the stage of our lives, Christian myth now can be used and reinterpreted in the way that classical myth has been in the past. … (I. McCulloch)

Malerei; Bildende Kunst; Ausstellung / London