Pictures of Pictures 

‘Pictures of Pictures’ is an exhibition that brings together an assortment of paintings by some 13 artists. The exhibition claims no grand narrative or thesis, except perhaps to make a plea or an argument for the validity and importance of representational painting. All the assembled works are figurative. The oldest artist is about 45 and the youngest is about 29. The press release described ‘Pictures of Pictures’ as attempting ‘to map current ideas about representational painting – considering both the making and reading of painting. The exhibition is an extended dialogue between curator Lynda Morris and artists, critics and writers, concerning the relationship between painting, photography and film.’

The problem with ‘Pictures of Pictures’ is the alarming extent to which it leaves the viewer to make sense of both the selection of artists and the selection of work. Morris offers us little in the way of substantive clues. We are given no notion as to why these artists have been selected and nothing to indicate why they are represented by these particular paintings. The exhibition is most easily understood and appreciated when viewed as the personal indulgence of the curator. The press release advises as much: ‘The curatorial thesis of the exhibition and the selection of work have been informed by a committed personal research of European painting. It derives from sources including Lynda Morris’ long term interests in Germany and research as a historian of émigré artists and artists of the DDR’. So, reflecting Morris’ continued interest in (East) Germany, half of these artists are from places such as Dresden, Düsseldorf, Leipzig and Berlin. The rest, bar one, live and work in London...

… A few of these artists are ripe for substantial solo exhibitions but have to make do with the type of limited representation that becomes inevitable in group shows of this kind. Take for example Eugene Palmer. At the Arnolfini he is represented by two series of portrait paintings but in these edited forms they lose much of their strength and power. Surely (and particularly within the context of a gallery such as Arnolfini), if a specific body of an artist’s work is worth showing, why not go the whole hog and show it in its entirety? These piecemeal offerings are quite unsatisfactory… 

The above extracts are from an exhibition review by Eddie Chambers of Pictures of Pictures at Arnolfini, Bristol. The review appeared in  Art Monthly, London, Number 231, November 1999: 36-37