joseph scissorhands: Prunella Clough and Alan Reynolds

Alan Reynolds - Winter Image, 1958

"Prunella Clough and Alan Reynolds were largely influenced by the major developments in twentieth century art. Both with roots in figuration - Reynolds in landscape and Clough in the urban environment - their work becomes increasingly concerned with the formal qualities of painting. Whilst Reynolds’ practice steers into complete abstraction, it could be said that Clough’s paintings retain elements of the ‘real’ world. Both artists were, through their teaching, highly influential to an entire generation of artists that followed them and their impact continues to be felt today." - Annely Juda.

Prunella Clough and Alan Reynolds installation view

As interesting as Prunella Clough's work is I specifically wanted to catch this exhibition as I was interested in learning more about Alan Reynolds' transformation from representational artist to abstract artist. I had witnessed a similar transformation in May at Marlborough gallery's Victor Pasmore show (here). That show was revelatory but gave no indications of Pasmore's path into total abstraction, as it strictly separated Pasmore's abstract and representational oeuvres. Here at Annely Juda, Reynolds' journey from the representational to that of pure abstraction is writ large chronologically across their gallery walls, and makes for fascinating viewing. Reynolds's earliest figurative, colour works, to the stark, all-white, minimalism of his last pieces where he plays with geometric shapes within the picture plane are well documented here. Reynolds (1926-2014), was active as a painter in a period of 20th C. art which has come to be of real interest to me since last year's pandemic lockdowns. I particularly admire the abstract works created by other artists as well as Reynolds in this time frame, and they have become very influential on my own works of late. With Reynolds I particularly like the period in which his works verge on the abstract, but still remain partly representational. There is a particular tension in these images, and the fact that they are in transition and haven't quite reached a resolution into a totally abstract conclusion really intrigues me. You can see the process of the artist's brain wrestling with the puzzles of the formal pictoral elements, and trying to solve the problems he has set himself, and then wondering how he can best resolve them, reconciling his art with his own personal concepts of abstraction. I really enjoyed the colours and shapes created in Reynolds's paintings. My favourite in this show was Winter Image, 1958, a glorious little concoction of harmonious, muted colours and close tonal variations, criss-crossed by a tissue of spidery web-like fine lines, reminiscent of some of Georgia O' Keeffe's finest flower paintings.