Brendan McGorry

“Reclining Woman”

Perspective on Art

By T.J McNamara 1994 N.Z Herald

The vigour of the painting of Brendan McGorry has diminished a little on the evidence of hes current show at the Portfolio Gallery. lorne St.

These paintings mostly on paper, are more matt and lack the opulent texture that characterized his work in the past, although this is balanced by more control in the shaping of the compositions of the works.

Yet there is much about this painting that totally disarms criticism. They are so direct. The colour is bright and unmixed. Problems of drawing are disregarded and in the end made not to matter.

Again and again the viewer is forced to ask why? Why that blue navel? Why those long fingers? Why that awful purple? despite all this puzzling oddity there is frequently a redeeming innocence.

Nowhere is this more appealing than in “Rise” one of the simplest of the images, a figure with out stretched hands and a coat of many colours.

In another painting a bright orange Adam and Eve walk from an area lit by a sun dripping gold towards a future only slightly less bright.

The potential of innocence  is exemplified in “Ball of Possibility” Based on a crayon scribble pattern and in the dark mirror of “Look Within”, this also works as simply a happy image of a child with a ball.

It is an unusual exhibition, often perplexingly crude, but in total oddly sympathetic.