- Venue
- Haunch Of Venison
- Location
- London
Relatively new to the work of Keith Coventry, I happened upon his recent exhibition at the Haunch of Venison Gallery with happy surprise. The first room spelled out the bold, deliciously vibrant array of colour and composition that was to continue throughout the exhibition, with large paintings of room interiors, highly reminiscent of Pop Art in their confident blocks of solid colour. Notably, the walls of the first two rooms had been painted for Keith Coventry’s purposes, matching or contrasting the paintings for a yet more striking effect. Impassioning visitors in the second room were explosive-red walls that glowed from behind statement black works. This was admittedly my favourite part of the Coventry exhibition, with his intriguing black-on-black oils at once concerned with both surface and depth. The subject of these was variably discernible, with palm trees clearly shining out from one where obscure angles shied away in another.
This paced beginning gave way to the main room, within which the feeling changed, not least due to the inspiring sight of an array of paintings in rainbow colours, which on further inspection all depict Jesus as formerly painted in a fake Vermeer. The indulgence of colour gave way to my pondering of the religious figure here repeated so many times, and I wondered if I was witnessing a commentary on the originality (or not) of art work past and present. More prominent in my mind was actually the consideration that it must have been terribly involving to repeat (almost religiously, dare I say), the same visage time after time. I imagined Coventry in his studio engaged in this process, all the while witnessing a subtle change as the colours altered expression and atmosphere, not dissimilar to that of the shift of light within a stained-glass window.
Continuing on from this began the series ‘Echoes of Albany’ – a numerous collection of red paintings, created in his signature ‘old fashioned’ painting method with clearly visible brush marks. By sheer numbers, it was an overwhelming amount of work, but as I wandered amongst them I began to feel a cohesion of sorts. Coming form a variety of sources, Coventry’s ‘Echoes of Albany’ includes naked ladies frolicking as if fresh out of Nuts magazine, juxtaposed with chandeliers and political figures. This playful, yet worryingly sinister combination leaves plenty to consider, not least the slightly unscrupulous underworld it seems to nod toward.
I feel compelled to mention the wonderfully composed and delicately realised group of pastel paintings included in this exhibition, which caught my interest not only with their religious depictions of would-be Bible scenes, but with the startlingly highlighted red lips of each figure.
OK, so sometimes the subject matter might be ambiguous, we wonder what we are staring at & whether we too are being included in what might just be a criticism of modern society. But overall, this is a celebration of colour, coming to life and exuding through the very walls. I cannot find fault with an artist who bravely draws on numerous references, and does it with such success that I find myself hooked.
