Large Exhibition of New Work by Paula Rego at Marlborough Fine Art

Written by Victoria Caldwell Saturday, 24 July 2010 21:35

LONDON.- Marlborough Fine Art presents an exhibition of new work by Paula Rego through 20th August. This is her first solo exhibition in London since 2006. The exhibition has three separate strands: the first is the Oratorio, a mixed media Triptych with a central panel and two wings which Paula created for her recent joint exhibition with Tracey Emin and Matt Collishaw at the Foundling Museum earlier this year. In addition to the Oratorio, there are six large conté works on paper relating to the Oratorio and its Foundling Museum origins.

The second strand is made up of a further nine conté works on paper which the artist has completed, following on from the Foundling pictures, in which she explores a variety of new themes entitled The Birthday Party, The Dolls Playground, The Overseer and others.

The third strand is a group of nineteen etchings executed in monochrome and then hand painted in multiple different colours. As Tom Rosenthal writes in his introduction to the catalogue “Such is Rego’s mastery of this medium that, by altering only the colours but not the outline she can alter the mood of the subject and thus its contents. As she has said: “They become different parts of a different story….”

Familiar with English Nursery Rhymes from her own childhood, the artist found them a rich sources of inspiration, images for each rhyme either existing already in her mind, or coming to her on waking, having read a rhyme before going to sleep in the hope of finding inspiration in the night." (Fiona Bradley)

Rego's career has been characterised by her need to set up fresh challenges both for herself and her audience. The measure of her as an artist is the manner in which she drives herself forward, putting herself under pressure to extend her visual language and continually renew herself. Although, as I mentioned earlier, Rego had worked on some lithographs in 1982 with Alan Cox, and later with Michael Taylor, she didn't really engage with the media until 2001. In retrospect this is strange since lithography is the natural process for the draughtsman. Of all the printmaking processes, it is most like direct drawing, since the artist can draw with crayons, pencils and ink, and the tonal variation and nuance of mark is controlled primarily by the artist at the moment of drawing rather than, through the etching as in intaglio.

Also, while in etching, the artist uses a needle to draw through a wax ground on metal, a very different experience to drawing on paper, in lithography the very similarity to drawing conceals the subtle difference. The artist has to be aware that he or she is actually drawing with the grease content of the material and that tonalities need to be built up subtly in order to avoid an area merely printing a dead black. Also, while in etching the embossed edge of the plate asserts the parameters of the print, in lithography the edge must be defined by the artist.

Whether is it through etching or lithography, Rego's prints are a vital element in her overall vocabulary. She uses print to lead her audience to the childhood illustrations and stories that have informed her work. But, printmaking also has a function to make an image reproducible without any loss of quality or scale, each print in the edition being a faithful copy of the matrix. Paula as a storyteller needs an audience and printmaking provides her with a means for distributing her ideas throughout the world, and making her vision accessible to a wider audience. There is a generosity in these prints and an understanding of the power of the printed image. They are not minor works but complete images resolved through the manner of their making.

Paula Rego, who was created a Dame of the British Empire in the recent Honours list will have a major Retrospective Exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Monterrey, Mexico, opening there on 30th September 2010 which will subsequently be shown at the Pinacoteca in Sao Paulo, Brazil opening there in March 2011.

Visit Marlborough Fine Art at : http://www.marlboroughfineart.com/

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