Review - Bill
Nolan-Lewis
Bill Nolan-Lewis' exhibition of 13 acrylic paintings includes some
recurring themes, mostly involving people and their various
activities. These colourful works also show, I feel, a particular
love for sports, humour, literature and the performing arts.
Bill's said main aim is to cover as many subjects as he can, including comedy, drama, and current events. Many of his works combine several of these themes; some have all of them. In " Coach" and "Bowled", the subjects are football and cricket respectively, both seasonally current events, and the players display both comedy and theatrics - you can almost hear the swear words! The coach is coaching very firmly with a big fist, and a dismayed cricketer has been bowled out by a monstrous ball. Bill often enlarges or distorts things for greater emphasis and expression. I particularly like "Bowled" with its deep green background and white clad figures all striking very recognisable cricketing poses, caricatures full of movement and expression. In "Dunked", a great stretch of a girl on a basketball court calmly pops the ball into the net which no-one else can reach. In "Potshot", that last elusive ball on the billiard table is too big to go into the hole.
Several humorous works on theatrical themes included "Poor Yoric" - two skulls as the traditional happy/sad mask icons of live theatre - a nice touch and nicely done. Bill said the one with the downturned mouth was quite hard to do but you wouldn't know it. "The Cast" shows a Punch and Judy show at the seaside, with all the characters/caricatures lined up and Judy bashing Punch with the stick - comedy and drama.
Quite different to the other works are two abstracts: "Stouch of Day" seems to hint of facelike forms and eyes in space, and in "Blind Optics", the eyes float away from the face forms. And different again, in "The Tiger", a large comic strip in acrylics, the main character is an appealing fellow called Tazzie Tige. Even before he was hung, he had already attracted and impressed a small boy visiting the library. Bill said he was "developing a character for the Tassie tiger, now no longer with us. His adventures revolve around looking for his family, but sadly he's the only one left."
I enjoyed Bill's naive-style works and expressive characters. Do go and have a look - and have a read of Tazzie Tige!
- Cressida Fox
(Extracted from the
Contemporary Art Society Newsletter March - April
2005)
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updated 15 Nov 2005
