Three by three

Julian Dashper: 1994, 2001, 2008
Simon Ingram: 1996, 2002, 2008
Salvatore Panatteri: 1998, 2003, 2008
Newcall
18 September - 6 October 2008

This unusual show of two Kiwis and an Aussie consists of three works for each artist. Dashper, the eldest of the three, has his works spaced seven years apart; Ingram the middle guy, has six years between each; and Panatteri (from Sydney) the ‘baby’, five years separation. Pretty clever.

The great thing is that within each year the artists have chosen their pieces carefully. The nine items though varied, really resonate and interconnect. All three artists are interested in conceptualism, monochromes and photography, though two technically are painters and the other uses photographic processes instead of pigment or canvas.

Panatteri has a large square piece of blue card that is in fact a protective layer covering light sensitive paper. It is called Untitled (Infinite Monochrome Black for Kazmir Malevich) and plays off against Ingram’s Spirit Level Painting, a yellow square fastened to a yellow vertical spirit level. Both works converse with Dashper’s Untitled (Self portrait as French Peasant) – a pair of small stretchers sandwiched together in a double thickness.

Another work of Dashper’s is a horizontal and vertical bar leaning against the wall as a potential ‘half’ painting. It reflects a work of Panatteri’s that consists of two thin brown triangles that seem identical but which are not. They are positioned to imply a third negative triangle placed between them, and are made of exposed photographic paper. Their shaped sharp edges catch the room’s fluorescent light, and are called Untitled (Incandescent series II).

This is an elegant understated show, perfectly installed in Newcall’s T-shaped room. Perhaps the work’s materials could have been listed in the catalogue in greater detail – the information is a bit skimpy and sometimes doesn’t really explain the production processes clearly. Nevertheless, the show is an exceptionally fine one.

Unusual 'abstraction'

Salvatore Panatteri
Rm 103, Achilles House
10 September – 4 October 2008

Sydney artist Salvatore Panatteri has a room in R103 in which he is showing two works on two walls, each an arrangement of 4-5 green and black rectangular panels fronted by clear acrylic. These minimal works are similar in style to the image above from another show. They are related to digital photography using the reproductive process as a kind of readymade. Small black squares are set in vivid green fields, like road markings, crenellations or pixels.

The colour process is Chroma Key on anodized aluminium. The works are intended as a sort of abstraction that is also a critique of individuality. Chroma Key is the method in film or television where a special masking background behind a ‘moving’ figure is used for the insertion other backdrops later. In Panatteri’s hands it seems a metaphor for social context or historical background.

As individual units or as sets, there is little effective dynamic of placement, no nuance of compositional setting. The lines and their alignments lack tension. The artist appears not to be interested in such visual appeal, perhaps because that would contradict his premise denying creative innovation outside the social.

Wonderful to have this Australian project here, but visually and conceptually (in my view) it seems lacklustre. I can’t get too excited about this ideational gesture. However next week Panatteri participates in a group show at Newcall with Julian Dashper and Simon Ingram. I’m looking forward to seeing how that turns out. In this show three quite different artists will be put together showing three chronologically spaced apart works each. A unusual combination.