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Said Business School. Review in Oxford Times. 2006
Helen Peacocke
Walking into an art exhibition is like walking into the artist's mind. Some are easy to read and understand; others like Janet Boulton's exhibition of paintings and reliefs are so amazingly complex that it's impossible to absorb the qualities in one swift superficial glance. Too much is going on.
The collection of 34 pictures, most of which are in very simple (but effective) wooden frames, fall into five categories: Cosin Ward, Gardens, Mirrors, Shelf, Glass and Check.
Cosin Ward consists of seven watrecolours painted while Janet was artist in residence at the Racliffe Infirmary between 1986 and 1988. They are small in comparison to the other works, but nonetheless evocative. With the lightest of touches, she has captured the pain and loneliness of the patients she observed. Waiting For Lunch, for example, gives us two people sitting side by side looking out into the middle distance. Not at us, not at each other, but what must surely be a private world into which lunch will arrive eventually.
The eight works in the garden series include two extremely powerful watercolours of Apollo and Daphne. The absorbing way the garden connects with the figures playfully romping through the trees and climbing down from a plinth is suberb. Such delicate colours yet such powerful images.
Mirrors bring together five large paintings, including studies of Iris Murdoch, Elizabeth Jennings and Elizabeth James. The haunting picture of Iris Murdoch is instantly recognisable, yet there are no facial details to inform the viewer. Despite that, she has captured the very essence of this great Oxford philosopher with a paint brush.
Shelf, Glass and Check are mostly paper reliefs. Janet was introduced to this technique, created from cotton linters, during a paper making workshop at Oxford Brookes University. The relief, which simply sings with colour, is named after the greyish-white metallic element Manganese, which I suspect may have been mixed with the paint to add a certain intensity to this work. An unrivalled collection.
This exhibition continues until November 29.
Decades. The Edinburgh College of Art Newsletter. Issue 10 Autumn/Winter 2009 |
Scottish Art News Issue 13 Spring 2010 |
The Times August 2009 |
The Scotsman August 2009 |
The Times Scottish Edition 25 August 09 |
The Oxford Times July 30 2009 |
The Spectator Review 15 August 2009 |
The Spectator Review 18 August 2007 |
Oxford Times Review 2006 HELEN PEACOCKE |
The Spectator Review 2005 |
Paper Relief Works |
All images on this website are copyright Janet Boulton and cannot be saved or reproduced without permission