'Diffusions of Light' 2007, Art Equity Gallery, Sydney
In relation to the aims of McIlroy's work generally, his latest
exhibition represents a significant achievement. Specifically, McIlroy's
commitment to transposing what is inherently valuable in traditional,
European modes of painting technique and re-applying these in a
contemporary, Australian context has produced work that unashamedly
adheres to universal notions of beauty and yet resonates with a
uniquely Australian sense of place and experience.
As the name suggests, Diffusions of Light is a series of work which
takes the play of light as its subject matter, albeit in two senses:
both as a representation of the natural elements of the external
world, and as fundamental to the artistic possibilities inherent
in the traditional realm of painting.
Form and content work to synergistic effect in McIlroy's hands
through an intricate, labour-intensive process of the glazing painting
method commonly associated with Titian but more immediately recognisable,
certainly in relation to McIlroy's most recent paintings, in the
seascapes of Turner for example. The remarkable effect of this laborious
style, which involves numerous applications of glaze and essentially
a building up of translucent layers, is that the most successful
of these images appears effortless.
His utilisation of this technique, exemplified by his capacity
to manipulate tone beautifully within a narrow field of colour,
results in images freed from the weight of the very materiality
from which they emerge. Significantly, it is an approach that allows
McIlroy to successfully move away from representational to more
impressionistic imagery without diluting the visual impact or cultural
significance of his dream-like depictions of the Australian landscape.
These are not prescriptive, representational images that require
our sense memory to conform to them in order to romanticise nature.
Instead, they are, in true impressionistic spirit, open-ended and
dynamic, capable of being folded into the singular consciousness
of the viewer and their own cultural experience. In short, McIlroy's
paintings are sensual images in the true sense: they elicit the
type of visual pleasure that results only from an authentically
embodied, temporal experience.
With this latest exhibition McIlroy confirms his position as an
artist of considerable talent and quality. As such, his work is
highly regarded and very collectable as both an immediate and long-term
investment.
Carrie Lumby
Feature Arts Writer
Sydney, 2007
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