ARTS
Exhibitions
Diana Armfield (Browse & Darby, till 23 December) Tony Bream (Henry Wyndham Fine Art, till 17 Decem- Gwyneth Johnstone (Michael Parkin, till 10 December)
Temporary truce
Giles Auty
Shortly, with the approach of Christmas, I shall be taking the approach of British and German soldiers in the line during the first world war and confining myself until the New Year to nothing more hostile than a little harmless football. However, at that point I may feel obliged to re-open matters not resolved absolutely to my satisfaction in my dealings with certain public institu- tions. In the meantime, I will make no fur- ther contribution to the debate on the future of Turner Prize-winner Rachel Whiteread's 'House', which is threatened with destruction by Bow local council, than to remark that I have yet to read one word written in its defence which is not just as true of all the myriad inhabited houses of those parts. Each of these must be at least as redolent of the 'poignant history of the area'.
Perhaps another of this country's 'bril- liant' young artists, Damien Hirst, could arrange to immerse an inhabited example of an East End house in a large tank of formaldehyde? Surely the occupants would not be so remiss as to resist a chance to be part of the remorseless progress of art his- tory. According to the official press release issued in the aftermath of the Turner Prize Jury's decision, Rachel Whiteread's work makes a very positive contribution to the debate about the place of art in society. By exploring such themes as memory, death, community, isolation, homelessness, it stimulates public awareness of these signifi- cant issues'. You may wonder how on earth an inert concrete cast of a house explores any of these things. Concrete is not a mate- rial noted for its loquacity. Last Christmas a close friend gave me a pair of very charming paintings by a young artist. It may be thought generally that Paintings were an imprudent choice to give someone in my business but I was very pleased. Good works of art can give lasting pleasure and it may be that many as panic- stricken as I over such matters as gifts may turn their thoughts this Christmas to small works of art.
At Browse & Darby (19 Cork Street, W1), Diana Armfield shows nearly 90 small works. She is one of the more accom- plished painters of flowers this country pos- sesses. She also paints charming small landscapes. Occasionally these are of no obvious pictorial appeal but probably please me more greatly in consequence. The painting I liked most in the show is, in fact, a quiet observation of young vines in Northern Spain. It looks casual but required a great deal of skill and know- ledge to effect.
Much the same could be said of many of the productions of Tony Bream at Henry Wyndham Fine Art (91 Jermyn Street, SW1). Unlike his fashionable counterparts, here is an artist who lives often literally by the sweat of his brow when working on the spot in countries where the sun, rather than pretentiousness or ignorance, is the princi- pal blinding factor. Like many on whom modish success is unlikely to smile, here is an artist of real skills whose rapport with his clients is genuine and uncomplicated.
His danger lies in over-production but, without the comforting security of an inside-track sinecure, this is how many equally blunt but honourable artists have to live. When did any of our cultural masters last sit on a freezing beach at sunrise or backpack it across a desert? Their favoured wildernesses are simply those of the mind.
Gwyneth Johnstone is another artist I have known for 25 years. I once attempted the unequal task of helping her with certain technical matters in painting, but soon acknowledged defeat. She is an idiosyncrat- ic original whose art reminds many of the pre-war artist Christopher Wood. Michael Parkin (11 Motcomb Street, SW1) has a large selection of recent small paintings by the artist. At her undisclosed age she con- tinues to improve. I still recall a wonderful- ly eccentric dinner party with her late mother who believed milk could be an excellent substitute for sherry as an apéri- tif. She was, however, a musician of talent — art certainly ran in the family.
Those seeking something more outré than paintings of imagined landscape may favour a trip to Rebecca Hossack (35 Windmill Street, W1), where the talented young Catalan artist Ana Corbero reveals at least some of what she has been up to at The Card Players, oil on board, by Gwyneth Johnstone Foundation Llorens Artigas, the famous ceramic centre employed previously by Miro and Picasso for works in that medi- um. Corbero is a painter of odd, dreamlike talent who has yet to exploit this fully in a switch to another medium. The transition she has made seems to me a little too direct, stripping some of the mystery from her figures' Dionysian and erotic revels. However, for those who might welcome a sybaritic surprise at the bottom of a bowl of wholewheat munchies, Corbero's special brand of dishes could well prove the thing.
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