Eileen Agar - Ondine, 1972
"One should be able, ideally, to make paintings which throw off imagery of different kinds at different times to different people, continually unfolding different aspects of themselves" - Eileen Agar
I didn't get to see Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy the recent large retrospective at the Whitechapel gallery sadly, but was fortunate enough to be able to make it to this exhibition at the Redfern Gallery celebrating the art of Agar and featuring five invited contemporary artists. The work and spirit of Agar presides over this show like a high priestess whose acolytes pay due homage to her through their own work. Known for early associations with the Surrealist movement, this exhibition displays some fine examples of Agar's work ranging from her abstract paintings to her densely layered collages. The paintings demonstrated make you realise just what a fine colourist Agar was featuring a palette dominated here by a variety of cool blues and greens punctuated by contrasting hot oranges and pinks. I was also very impressed with how proficient Agar was with her collage technique, cutting and pastingg to create richly layered inventive compositions. Just across Cork Street is Waddington Custot currently hosting their Peter Blake: Time Traveller, an excellent exhibition of Blake's collages (here). Blake uses collage to tell imaginative, fantastic stories featuring famous figures. Agar uses the collage technique to exploit surface texture and pattern in her work, employing an array of materials to dazzling effect. Of the other associated artists invited to participate in this show it is perhaps Linder (famed for her 1977 Buzzcocks Orgasm Addict single artwork), with her surreal collages who works most closely in the spirit of Agar. They look as though they could have been created back in the 1920s at the height of the Surrealism movement. I wasn't aware of the paintings of Florence Hutchings previously, but loved these collaged paintings of tables and chairs which also looked as though they were conjured from an early period in art history evoking the Cubist works of Picasso, Braque and Gris. The last artist on show here whose work caught my eye was Olivia Fraser with her paintings which were more obviously influenced and derived from Eastern religions, but again still have the sense of the esoteric and mysticismwhich could similarly be attributed to the work of Agar. this is a really intriguing exhibition and the curators have done a good job with the premise of the exhibition and selection of artists and artworks.
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