Embryonic Stages

Rob Taylor is a prolific painter who is developing a highly personal style, which, I think, has yet to mature. That he is at least subconsciously aware of this is apparent from the embryo images which occur and recur in his work. His paintings teem with organic imagery and movement and some fine gestural brushwork. There is a Francis Bacon influence here. Bob Taylor's work at its best acts as a mirror to the subconscious, but as yet it lacks structure and is frequently marred by a banal use of colour.

Gary Griffiths paints in a completely different tradition. His mentors are the American Post Painterly Abstractionists, Kenneth Noland and Gene Davis. His concern with colour and with optics come from close study of the work and writings of Josel Albers and his own painstaking research and experiment. Griffiths work is based on perceptual dynamics and colour interaction and I know of no other New Zealand painter working so effectively in this area.

It is early days yet however, as his technique is not yet up to the rigorous demands of this style of painting and does not yet match the sophistication of his concepts

There is an interesting development in the paintings exhibited here. There are two small pieces entitled 'We' and The Marriage and Myth and Logic'. In these paintings he has departed from his usual pulsating stripes and is painting hard-edged geometric figures on a colour field. The resulting figure ground ambiguity and the symbolic content is surprisingly successful. These paintings mark the first signs of an individual style for Gary Griffiths and bode well for his future.