Exhibition Visit: Callum Innes, Modern Art Oxford

Callum Innes - Modern Art Oxford

Rule and I visited Oxford last Sunday (15 April) to see the Callum Innes show.

Before getting to the paintings, we had a quick look at some big red chests of drawers containing Raphael Vella's (not particularly) "intricate and meticulously executed drawings". I'm still trying to decide what I think of the method of display - involving the opening and closing of drawers. Essentially, I wasn't at all moved.

The viewing of Callum Innes' paintings almost took a similar route. Whilst completely engrossed in the deciphering of processes, I began to notice the absence of subject. This gave the experience an eerie quality similar to how I might imagine an empty factory with all the machines running. There was even perhaps an absence of the works' connection with itself, clarified by the five Dioxazine Violet works lined up on one wall. Although the paintings look similar and presumably use the same process and colours, they have a distinct isolation from the room and from each other. All the 'Exposed' paintings have an aggressive air, but this is muted by the aforementioned isolation, and reinforces the heavy atmosphere. I suppose it would be referred to as a kind of tension.

For me, the inspiration comes mostly from the act of painting. The works in the show seem completely immersed in themselves and in their process that the impression Innes leaves is oddly cold and mechanical. It makes the gallery setting seem a perfect location to show these paintings, despite the current climate of 'alternative spaces'.