ROBERT MASON
A SLOW REVEAL
20 JUNE — 20 JULY, 2019
When we think of post-war British painting and drawing, we traditionally focus our attention on the now well-established ‘masters’ of Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, and to their circle of peers, including Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff. Yet, when this happens, we run the risk of failing to see the full scope of what was happening at the time. Those artists that have not yet been canonized or had the benefit of a chance at critical reappraisal are still, nonetheless, the artists that helped establish the tone for the arena in which these ‘masters’ were able to become outliers in the first place. And so, with objectivity gained from time, and the ability to move from under their shadow, one such artist, Robert Mason, is the first artist in a series of showcases taking place at the Colour Index Agency.
With a focus on new and recent works, Mason’s small-scale, mixed-media works from the series, Clear Point, Figure Study and Still Life, display many of the aesthetical concerns found in his earlier paintings, and show that, as he enters his late-career, that he remains a uniquely singular voice. There is physicality to the recent works, made evident by their textured surfaces which Mason creates through a process of application and erasure of various materials he likens to an archaeological dig.
In the select paintings made between the mid-1980s and mid-2000s that are also on display, a visual arc is formed that traces his artistic evolution from the early works which found Mason critical success in London and New York to today.
A binding theme across this exhibition is the presence of a stark black background which Mason usually begins his works with, adding at least one recognizable visual anchor, a fragment of a classical sculpture, or a mother cradling her child, for example. This is then built upon with gestures of electrifying colour and pronounced use of light and shadow that gives each work a sense of performance. This is often underscored by an ongoing tension caused by the works being situated on the precipice of abstraction and figuration, daring at times to fall completely into one camp or the other, but never fully doing so.
The result is a deliberate subversion of narrative which highlights an overarching feeling or tone which each work elicits. There is very little initial give, but, like a dark horse, the power in Mason’s work lies in its slow-revealing nature, which unusually, is not what the work reveals to us about Mason, but what the work reveals to us about ourselves.
As we try to decode Mason’s compositions for any symbolism and meaning, we are met with silence, like watching a crucial soliloquy without any sound. In the end we are forced to move from passive spectator to unwitting subject.
REVELATIONS an essay by writer and editor Alice Godwin can be downloaded here