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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nInstallation view<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eduardz offers up ten medium-sized images produced by pouring gouache paint on raw canvas. The result is a series of quiet, alluring paintings. I\u2019m a sucker for beautiful works like these, so I\u2019m easily pulled in. They are a siren call in paint. Tie me to the mast. The reference to classicism is not wholly inapt here. Eduardz gives the paintings titles that allude to another world, or the very edges of this one, that include words like \u2018phantom\u2019, \u2018spirit\u2019 and \u2018twilight\u2019. Indeed, several of the images intimate an eerie landscape that one could imagine Odysseus travelling through. <\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nBrett Eduardz, Within The Limits Of The Fable, 2023, Gouache on canvas, 18 x 24 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given the stochastic nature of the painting process employed by Eduardz, the titles he gives them can merely be suggestive. Still, at times, these abstractions are reminiscent of, say, JMW Turner\u2019s late ethereal landscapes, e.g., Norham Castle, Sunrise. But, more obviously, they bear a marked resemblance to the works of Helen Frankenthaler, who also used the technique of pouring paint onto a horizontal canvas. Indeed, his work is best described as being in the shadow of Frankenthaler\u2019s. By this I mean that Eduardz is his own artist, not trying to imitate Frankenthaler, but, all the same, the association with her work seems unavoidable.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nBrett Eduardz, At Gleaners Gate, 2023, Gouache on canvas, 60 x 48 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A notable aspect of this exhibition is that it is not accompanied by an artist\u2019s statement, just with a short introduction on the gallery\u2019s website. That is a relief in the sense that very often such writings verge on triteness, or are vague to the point of being meaningless. But, given that this is Eduardz\u2019s introduction to the public, and so there are no previous shows to provide the viewer with a narrative, this lack of writing is a little frustrating. I take it, therefore, that the artist wants the work to speak for itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All serious painting, by its nature, has content \u2013 is about something. The content of good abstract painting is necessarily subtle, where the work tends towards nothingness in virtue of this subtlety. Abstract painter John Zurier \u2013 one of the greatest alive today \u2013 notes of his own works that they \u2018are nothing, yet something is there \u2013 I can\u2019t put my finger on it, but I can feel it\u2019. Granted that Zurier\u2019s work is far more minimalistic than Eduardz\u2019s, but still one can ask how does one feel looking at Eduardz\u2019s paintings?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His paintings lend themselves to interpretation in the manner of a Rorschach test, especially given the randomness of many of the marks. For instance, when I look at his The Spirit Casts a Thousand Eyes<\/em>, I see the dark blots at the bottom as two sleeping figures. But that is only one aspect of his work. Whatever feelings<\/em> this painting elicits in me are of course hard to put into words. Ironically, abstract painting is like poetry in this regard (where conversely representational painting is like prose in writing). Haiku poet Yosa Buson once described haiku as using ordinary language to be excluded from the ordinary. Our words quite generally have everyday uses. The poet, however, aims to use words not to describe things literally, but rather to free language from its ordinary uses. Likewise, good abstract painting aims to free such formal qualities as colour and space from their ordinary expressions and interpretations.<\/p>\n\n\n Brett Eduardz, The Spirit Casts A Thousand Eyes, 2023, Gouache on canvas, 48 x 36 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n Returning to Odysseus\u2019s encounter with the sirens, there is a danger in the beauty of the sirens\u2019 calls. That is not to say beauty always has a sting in its tail. Rather, at its best a beautiful painting has the power to captivate the viewer, bewitch her. Am I captivated by Eduardz\u2019s paintings? I\u2019ve already said I find them beautiful, but their beauty is no guarantee of bewitchment.<\/p>\n\n\n Brett Eduardz, Pour Un Instant, 2023, Gouache on canvas, 36 x 36 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n While echoing the work of Frankenthaler, I do think that at times Eduardz is very much his own artist, who is developing a promising technique. I see this in his Pour un Instant<\/em>, for example. The transition from thin stain to rich blends of colour is indeed captivating. His FKA the Way<\/em> is positively radiant. Interestingly, rotating this composition also produces appealing results, reflecting, no doubt, the fact that it was executed horizontally.<\/p>\n\n\n Brett Eduardz, FKA The Way, 2023, Gouache on canvas, 60 x 48 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n The paintings do sustain my interest, captivating me to some degree. But without more of a context it is difficult to determine what it is that draws me to them. It is much like going to a strange new land \u2013 where, looking about, its unfamiliarity stops one from seeing the things around in any depth. One needs to find one\u2019s way, get used to the sights, before it\u2019s possible to appreciate anything properly. The same holds with respect to Eduardz\u2019s paintings. Whether the technique he is developing leads to anything in this sense is still to be determined. So far so good. He\u2019s clearly got some hard work ahead of him.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n