Saturday, March 24, 2012

Scott McFarlane at Whitespace

Scott McFarlane in the Weekend Herald, 17.03.12
 Scott McFarlane is currently exhibiting his paintings at Whitespace in Auckland, in a show entitled 'Fever'.  The show was featured in the Saturday New Zealand Herald on the 17th March, in which T.J McNamara had the following to say:

There are two shows at Whitespace where, in the front gallery, Scott McFarlane has paintings where multi-coloured figures and fragments of figures are brushed in strongly against a background where the mark of the brush strongly supported the dancing movement of the shapes.  A typical work is Frontier Society, where a strong horizon divides two groups of figures held together by a stomping dance rhythm.  Other work is more explicit and the lighting more dramatic.   Wings of Desire is notable for a glowing light effect and winged guide that supports a figure through dark and rocky places.  The figure is too general to be called an angel, but the effect is graceful and suggests a state of mind rather than a narrative drama.  Although the technique is similar in all except the closely worked and almost abstract Substance of Being, the states of mind suggested are varied from the ordinary life of Lipstick Index to the visionary Man with the Golden Arm. It is a lively and thoughtful show.