The Visual Artists’ News Sheet
Critique Supplement Edition 5 May / June 2012
Paul Doran 'An idea for something better' Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon 8 March – 14 April 2012 13 compelling objects made up ‘An idea for
the centre of Transformer forms a second, tension-
something better,’ Paul Doran’s latest exhibition.
inducing incongruity. Painted to visually blend with
Described as paintings, these small, intense
the design on the panel, it nevertheless stands apart
compositions actually defy distinction, containing
from the pictures and also intimates a cross brace
attributes that also enable them to be seen as
that serves no practical purpose. The element
drawings, assemblage or sculpture. Doran produces
references the under-structure of many canvases, but
these using pencil and crayon, scraps of fabric, fake
also subverts it. The cross brace motif also appears in
fur and off-cuts of plywood or other types of wood.
at least two other works: some mottled pink
The components of some works project off the
brushstrokes form a painted vertical beam that
surface of the picture plane; in others the picture’s
emphasizes the symmetry in Armchair and a central
frame has been subsumed into the image. Surveying
wood post accompanied by a quartet of disoriented corner brackets that have been fixed to the panel with shiny new screws feature in the ominous Night Birds. Stretcher keys – integrated by a generous application of paint – also decorate the latter work’s frame. On the surface Doran’s works come across as roughshod constructions. Made from what appear to be discarded components, one finds isolated staples protruding from select surfaces, crudely assembled frames and passages of paint whose integrity has been disrupted by the presence of screw holes. An overt drabness pervades certain compositions. Fragments of fake fur and a palette weighted toward black, umber, ochre and white relay vapidity. The application of design elements, whether they comprise brush strokes, pencil marks, pieces of paper or strips of fabric frequently seem tentative at best. But if one keeps looking, an alternate reality emerges. The tenuousness of the works dissipates and they show themselves as tough little compositions that offer a wealth of visual information. They are playful, intelligent and convey an enticing tactility. The compositions Garden, Cloud and Night Sky stand out as prime examples of this. Exhibiting a complex interplay of media, they also bristle with energy. A sly sense of humour informs many of the titles and factors into the process of interpretation. They offer clues, which together with the specific characteristics of each work, bring about conflicting associations that keep us speculating about the depictions and their prospective meanings. The arches in An idea for something better, for example, may be seen as a symbol of optimism and timelessness – think of Eero Saarinen’s Gateway Arch – or a disparagement of a global fast-food chain’s logo. Such fascinating anomalies instil wonder and cause to question whether these manifestations happen to depend more upon coincidence, intuition or plan. The extended
Paul Doran, An idea for something better, 2010, 18.8 x 25cm, images courtesy of the artist and Green on Red Gallery
consideration of Doran’s output suggests it has little the presentation raises a host of questions. What is
to do with happenstance, but is rather the result of a
Doran’s aim here? He seems to be playing with the
carefully considered and open process of
idea of what a painting can or cannot be by exploring
development. Doran is an artist firmly in touch with
the technical language of paintings in a variety of
his materials. He possesses great skill at picture
ways. Or is he delving deeper; tapping into something
making and a strong awareness of its technological
innate to forge a unique and very personal visual
aspects. Working with capability and determination,
vocabulary?
he reshuffles and flips its structures to create startling
Much of the impact of Doran’s work derives
variety and pushes painting into new territory.
from the use of conventional materials in unconventional ways. Looking at any these works one encounters staples of the painter’s profession – canvas supports, wood panels, staples, screws, size, gesso, drawing media and paint. Their deployment produces
numerous
inconsistencies.
Take
Transformer, where Doran converts a strainer with its tacked canvas edges into a picture frame. He accomplishes the transformation by hanging a stretched canvas the wrong way round and then fills the window of the strainer with a panel painting. A second canvas is turned front to back in Secret, but here its canvas has been slit several times to reveal the presence of a second, right-way-round painting sandwiched between the first canvas and the wall. Paul Doran, Transformer, 2011, 30.7 x 39cm
Paul Doran, Armchair, 2011, wood, acrylic, paint, 26.7 x 33.7cm
A vertically oriented length of wood attached to
John Gayer is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and the University of Toronto. Currently based in Dublin, his writing has appeared in Sculpture, Framework – the Finnish Art Review, Art Papers, and other publications.