I am an huge admirer of figurative painters, largely because my own artistic abilities begin and end with bowls of fruit and the occasional stick dog/cat/rabbit (it's all in the ears).Thus, I was immediately drawn to the latest exhibition at my local gallery which is currently playing host to Tristan Reid.
While not all of his paintings moved me, I was transfixed by the one entitled 'Nightingale' - A girl stands, toes turned in, hands clasped, wearing an almost indecipherable expression on her handsome face. Her stance closes her off from the spectator, as if she inhabits the canvas and holds there a secret she is unwilling to share. One feels as though one has stumbled across a doorway into another world, and the painting's sombre subject is an unwelcoming gatekeeper.
Dressed entirely in black (very A/W '08), she is in stark contrast to the ochre backdrop - and the effect is haunting. She is alone but for a Nightingale (a reference to 'The Nightingale and the Rose' - by Oscar Wilde) and the viewer is at a loss to interpret her troubled gaze. Sadness? Concern? Disappointment? Reid has succesfully captured a wealth of emotion with his studied brushstrokes and I only wish I had the wealth to take her home and study her at leisure.
To view more of Reid's paintings, visit his website: http://www.tristanreidpaintings.com/
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