Seascape reflections

Press, 17 April 1979, Page 24

Seascape reflections

Neil Dawson. “Seascape.” Robert McDougall Art Gallery, until April 30. Reviewed by Michael Thomas.

Boats and their reflections are the subject of Neil Dawson’s sculptural installation, entitled “Seascape,” which takes up two exhibition spaces at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery. Cone shapes slant across the gallery space at head height in the first room. Covered with nylon mesh their circular bases represent the surface of the water and on each is placed the shape of a boat with its reflection actually constructed from the same material as the boat.

As one looks up at the constructions the experience is strangely equivalent to looking down on to the surface of the water from above, and many of these pieces were inspired by the boats Neil Dawson has seen on looking down to the sea from his house on Clifton Hill.

I Small wire models of | boats are arranged below the I eye level in the adjoining room where a continuously changing slide show of yachts and their reflections is shown together with a display of working drawings for the exhibition. I This installation is the [first of a series of small [exhibitions of a non-com-mercial nature which are to be held at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery during the year. The shows will include written information particularly when the artist confronts the public with new and difficult ideas, and Neil Dawson’s display in-

eludes documentation of the different categories of items in his exhibition. Neil Dawson has exhibited widely in New Zealand, and represented this country together with other invited sculptors at the Mildura Sculpture Triannual in Australia last year. He is a tutor in three dimensional studies and drawing at Christchurch Technical Institute, and held a small but successful exhibition of small “house installation” sculptures at the Brook-Gif-ford Gallery in October. This show represents his very latest work and it reveals an artist engaged in an ongoing process of visual research. The drawings, sketch models, slanting discs, and slides are each technically competent and are presented thoughtfully with consideration for the gallery space, but there is something incohesive about the exhibition as a whole; it does not quite come together to make a unified statement. There are several underlying themes and concerns evident in the individual exhibits, and Neil Dawson succeeds in creating perceptual tricks — the illusion of a reflection which is a solid form for instance — which are clever but visually somewhat “dry.”

The items themselves will fascinate all who go to the show, but for those who wish to understand the ideas behind each place written explanations are available. Neil Dawson himself has also been present to explain the work at certain times. The show is an educational experience that should not be missed.