Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 10 : Record of press coverage, March 1982 - May 1984

'< ,, '· ,r ------- - , The Courier-Mail 7 December 1982 Amagical display of etchings · MOWARD HODGKIN'S large, soft– ground etchings with hand colorlng make an exciting exhibition to finish the year at the Institute of Modern Art. Hodgkin emerged in the early 60s as an important English artist of consider– able individuality in both bis paintings and ~raphic work. . His recent prints here link with those ·shown at Ray Hughes in I 97~. but the reduced, cemprcssed, dynamic images arc charged with an emotive power and mystery. · In this exhibition, the image is al• ways a room, maybe a verandah door and half-shut shutters open to the out– door light; there is an empt)' dcckc~ir, or a curtain (expressed in linear.swirls) - it might have been ruffled ,by tile .wind, or by a person who just ~ An– ·other etching shows the dar1t•·11tbblaettc ,or a bust, set against dynamically-an• /gled planes of light and dark. · Hodgkin's art is a quite magic corn- Art - bination of reticence and drama; the austerity or a geometric structure and the wonderful directness, freshness and simplicity or mark-making. Freely han• died spots, stripes and swirls, which let the light come through, arc contrasted with opaque, dark, hand-painted planes, as well as with stark light ones. A mood or suspense keeps the viewer rivetted. *** ON SEVERAL occasions, I expressed my high regard for the work of Mar~ Macqueen. As it happens, I have just awarded bet the Andrew ,nd Lilian Pedersen Drawing Prize, now on view at the Queensland Art·gallery. This coincides with Mary Mac– Queen's one-person exhibition at Ray Hughes. · Mary MacQuccn feels strongly about her collages in which she embo– dies found materials and objects which arc meaningful to her, and also, be•. cause she needs this new medium in or• der to renew herself. . Although I find her collage work of interest, I am still moved more by her drawings and lithograghs, in.which ~er subtlety, economy, warm spon~anc1ty and sheer mastery (without ever a trace or .namboyance) find their finest ex– pression. Upstairs, at Ray Hughes, Bill Yax– Icy shows his recent sculptures. Most of them are masks of wild animals, carved of hard Queensland wood, with addi– tions of sawdust for simulating hair, Oashbulbs for eyes, and other material to achieve a.realistic, and a little fright• ening, effect. The masks, and a three-foot high pair of sturdy figures - farmer and wife - arc all in the tradition of what we call Primitive Art, intense in its de– sire to reach reality, and achieving an intensity which hits between the eyes. - DR GERTRUDE LANGER ...