ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT MacFarlane And The Small Gallery

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31079, 7 June 1966, Page 16

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT MacFarlane And The Small Gallery

Quentin MacFarlane is a prominent young Christchurch painter who has exhibited widely, but until this month he had not held a show of his own in his adopted hometown.

The main reason has been the lack of a suitable gallery where a small serious show could be mounted.

MacFarlane's exhibition, the first in the Little Woodware Shop and Galley in Victoria street, is being held partly to draw attention to the fact that an intimate gallery has now been opened. The winner of second prize in the Hay's Art Competition this year, MacFarlane has a broad interest in art—he is a lecturer in fine art at the Christchurch Teacher’s College, a member of 20/20 Vision and the Group, a council member of the Canterbury Society of Arts, and buyer for the society’s permanent collection—and is conscious of what could be called the stranglehold on the visual arts in the city ,by the group- showings in the large galleries. IN COMPANY

“The New Zealand painter works as an individual—a loner—but in Christchurch he has been almost forced to show In the company of other painters.” he said. “The group showing by individuals is an excellent thing, but hardly fair on the viewing public, who rarely get the opportunity to see an artist’s work in a one-man show.

“The old Gallery 91, which closed some years ago, made a wide public accustomed to the works of painters such as Woollaston and McCahon. “But without a small gallery in the last few years the important work of a new generation of painters has not been properly introduced. A work like David Graham’s painting which won the Hay’s Prize has the impact on the public of a sock in the eye, while other works evoke no response at all. “I don’t want to infer that the value of these works has been diminished; the value to the public has been diminished. “The small intimate gallery will allow a painter to mount an exhibition of a group of works that illustrates their progress and formation of ideas. Other painters will profit through the exchange of ideas and the critics and the public will be able to see the development of idioms and would be prepared for the major work of selected

group showings. And by mounting a one-man show a painter who regards himself as a professional will preserve his integrity.” MacFarlane would like to see the Christchurch galleries mount realjy good exhibitions of selected paintings and sculpture and send them on tour. This would do something to even the imbalance which has resulted through the Auckland City Art Gallery’s fine efforts. “I don’t care to see so much energy going into these massive group showings that drag on through the year and that, incidentally, take the valuable time of most of the serious painters in the town.' Too often they are asked to hang exhibitions of secondrate works,” he said.

CRITICISM NEEDED “Inevitably art criticism suffers. How could anyone hope to sort out a few intelligent remarks about the latest Art Society exhibition. “Even the recent American water-colour exhibition passed by with little useful writing by local critics. This was an exhibition of exploratory works by artists we know Only through their major works. It had a day-by-day quality that gave the painter a tremendous insight into these artist’s creative processes. “One critic condemned these works for lack of faithfulness to 'accepted water-colour values. Surely the essence of this work lay in the rich inventiveness of these painters exploring their medium! “We need good criticism because it can be so helpful. A critic can say something about our work that a friend might be too kind or embarrassed to say.” Quentin MacFarlane was

born in Dunedin in 1935 and studied art under James Coe and at the Canterbury School of Art, graduating in 1957 with honours in painting. He has taught in secondary schools, at Paparua Prison and for

Adult Education. He is married and has two children. He is modest about his work and aware that he is not giving his full undivided attention to his own painting yet his record includes a successful one-man show in Auckland and inclusion in many touring New Zealand painting shows, the foremost being the Auckland City Art Gallery’s Contemporary New Zealand Painting Exhibition. He was chosen to exhibit in the 1963 Paris Biennale and his work is represented in several galleries’ collections. INDIGENOUS FEELING Bill Sutton, who opened the present exhibition, described MacFarlane as the epitomy of a new generation of Canterbury landscape painters, and praised his work for its strong indigenous feeling. The show consists of a selection of work of the last three years, 21 paintings and some drawings concerned with the distinctive form of the Canterbury landscape. MacFarlane says a painter should say what he responds to rather- than say too much about his work. “In my own case. I’m instinctively drawn to the landscape. I like sailing off Banks Peninsula, I spend a lot of time climbing, and I enjoy travelling. I don’t go out and sketch something. I like to think—l store experiences;

going somewhere is like recharging my batteries. Like most young painters, MacFarlane wants to explore the new developments j n painting that express the quality of this age, but he points out that many develop ments arise in the big urban centres in a more complex environment “I don’t readily respond to an urban environment and feel that in New Zealand at least this subject has been better coped with in poetry and short stories,” he said. INTEREST IN COLOUR MacFarlane is fascinated by colour, although he has no favourites, and has spent a lot of time working on various tonal combinations. He uses plastic-based paint with pigments he has ground himself.

*'l began using synthetic material for painting when I was still at art school,” he explained, “because I had originally started my working career as a paint tinter in a large paint factory. “The rich quality of rawpigment in barrels, the mixed colour before it is ‘pastelised,’ really impressed me, but it took the sobering influence of an art school training to make use of this experience. “I must have been one of the first to use the then new plastic-based colours. I must admit, though, that it was only through having a good understanding of oil paint, and not just the cake-icing variety we see so much of today that I finally understood the different properties of each pigment. “The other reason for using synthetics was the time factor that plagues any teacher. I used car enamels for a time but the restriction of colour range forced me to mix my own paint and the PVA and acrylic binders seemed to be the best under a variety of conditions.

“I frequently work on canvas now, painting my work on prepared rolls, and when the painting is finished I stretch it on to a frame when I am satisfied that what I have been trying to say in paint has some value. Most of my sketch paintings are worked on thick cardboard or hardboard.” MacFarlane works in a studio with a very low roof, often late into the night, and takes his work outside for periodic appraisal. “I only paint when I feel like It, when I feel the results are going to be valid—valid to me,” he says. “I paint when I enjoy painting. When it becomes hard labour I become disinterested.”