It is odd when two separately curated exhibitions appear so aesthetically alike. Just months prior to Linden's Reflections in a Golden Eye, some extremely similar works appeared in the engagingly titled new objectivity at Karen Woodbury Gallery. Including works by Jonathan Nichols and Michael Zavros, Butler's accompanying essay claimed that they were '.. no longer really works of art' because they were '.. pure content without form'. And not only did they '.. not seem particularly meaningful for the artist' but also '.. the medium of painting does not provide a privileged space from where we might think about them'. He continues by correctly stating that the images could have been in any medium as they were mere simulacra – of the 'real' or of any image in any medium. This is an apt critical response to where art in these times is in danger of heading.
In light of this proposition, and what seemed a remarkable aesthetic coincidence, the Linden exhibition – which the catalogue essay outlines as being premised on the use of traditional mediums to present 'new perspectives on portraiture and the landscape that in return reflect.. the complexities of the time in which we live' – compelled me to take a closer look.
Apart from one work of a (presumed) photograph of a girl with her tongue sticking out, Jonathan Nichols' Paradise (2006) series at Linden was a shift from his flat, pastel-toned works. While his artist statement acknowledges that 'painting is complicit in image-making', and while signs of painting were increasingly evident, there was also an engagement with 'social forces', particularly in a black and white sketch of a 'busy' couple on a park bench, girl's legs astride her partner, and a woman sitting beside them. Altogether, Paradise seemed to suggest a 21st Century perspective of late-19th Century themes around leisure – walking on the beach, kissing in the park, a couple at a party – and perhaps an exploration of the influence of technology on figure-ground composition (presented from slightly above, slightly below, or front-on)."
