BACKSilly beasts can be hard to bear Christopher Hume [ Hume has been a great champion of Wagman's art from the beginning but, as you can read here, he was not at all taken with his more surrealistic work. By way of contrast read Carol Corbeil's comments in her 1990 Globe and Mail review. ] There's no doubt Lorne Wagman is developing. The question is, into what? Wagman, 30, whose second solo exhibition at the Isaacs Gallery (179 John St) will be on display until April 15, is an artist with a bit of a problem In the six or so years since he started showing his painting and sculpture publicly, Wagman has established himself as one of a handful of young artists worth watching. But at the same time, he still hasn't figured out what to paint.
His current show consists of 11 canvases, each depicting one or more cartoon-like animals that are hard to take seriously. In particular, Wagman is fond of populating his gorgeously painted landscapes with certain bear-like creatures, most either yellow or orange, that stand on two legs and look as though they belong on a cereal box. They're friendly bears - I'm sure kids would love them - but they're so absolutely silly. Standing there, with their long arms wrapped around each other's necks, they are sheer fantasy and an exercise in incongruity. In the earlier works, which all date from this year and last, the bears and their fellow beasts are rendered more or less realistically. If they existed, this is what they'd look like. In the more recent paintings, however, Wagman has loosened up a whole lot. The creatures now dissolve into the landscape, leaving behind only a colored impression of themselves. (I'm still hoping they'll disappear entirely, no matter how well painted they are.)
"The series of figures and animals began three years ago," says Wagman, who abandoned Torinto in 1986 for the pleasures of Flesherton. "It started with my drawings, which are naturally more subconscious and figurative. When I began, the animals were mainly on all-fours. True to evolution, they gradually stood up on their hind legs and walked. "They're consciously picked because they resemble humans," he explains. Therein lies the problem. They're not animals, they're caricatures, cartoons. Beyond that, Wagman calls them "some kind of vague ecological statement with man, animal and nature all together." Personally, I think Wagman must spend too much time watching Saturday morning cartoons on TV. The real story of the show, if you can get past the wildlife, is in the painting itself. Last year, Wagman switched from brush to palette knife and the results are thoroughly engaging. The thick oil paint is applied in gobs and pushed and squished all over the surface. The works are as sensual as the medium can be.
Wagman has also taken the step from depicting objects to painting light. There are no areas of solid color in these pictures, instead things are broken down into patches of color. From close up, the paintings are totally abstract. They don't come into focus until you stand back a good few feet. But then there are those bears again . . . Perhaps Wagman really does understand they are a problem. "You shouldn't talk too much about the subject matter," he advises. "The important thing is the painterly quality of the work." He's right, of course. Well, half right. Subject matter, especially this subject matter, is hard not to talk about. But for all the wrong reasons The unbearable bear notwithstanding, Wagman is an exceptional painter. And one who could well be on the verge of becoming an exceptional artist. A new leaf Christopher Hume In his last exhibition, painter Lorne Wagman produced a series of landscapes populated by a weird assortment of cartoon-like forest animals, mostly smiling bears with long necks.
This time around, the talented artist has removed the furry creatures from the picture and allowed the landscapes to emerge from their irritating shadow. Wagman's current show at the Isaacs Gallery is his best in some time. There's never been any question about the way Wagman paints, but there have been doubts about what he paints. Now that the offending beasts are gone, the full vigor of these energetically rendered scenes can be appreciated. Using oil paint and a palette knife, Wagman applies pigment in great gestural strokes. Though greens naturally dominate his canvases, there's much to admire about his colour sense.
Despite the large size of some of the works, Wagman seems to be more comfortable with small views rather than sweeping vistas. The paintings are as much about the texture and shapes of leaves and trees as the overall composition of the landscape. BACK |
