Finding joy in a Covid world

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24 Feb, 2022

 

Henri Matisse famously said, “What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter... a soothing, calming influence on the mind.” Matisse was referring to his painting The Joy of Life.

Joy, or more specifically ‘finding joy’, is the subject for an exhibition of paintings by three very different artists — Wendy Leach, Cliff McPherson and Ian McGowan.

The title for the exhibition Finding Joy was the result of a casual remark by Ian which Wendy picked up on: “Hey, a New Year’s resolution — find joy!” He was referring to his 2020 artworks, which had been heavily coloured by our first year of Covid.

The ‘joy’ idea took seed and Cliff was invited to join Wendy and Ian in ‘finding some joy’ in the studio in 2021. Their original concept assumed that 2021 would end up Covid-free. Of course, this was not to be.

The theme then became more tenuous — to try to find joy in a Covid world. This premise was a challenge for all three artists, as it could be a weighty proposition or a trite one. How to strike a balance?

For Wendy, shimmering early evening light contrasts with dramatic shadow, held high in a twisting thatch of pohutukawa on Mangawhai ocean beach, painted with clarity, majesty and enchantment.

This work captures Wendy’s fascination for her subject with all the expression she’s so well known for as a painter.

“I feel joy as a dynamic emotional energy. The power of nature energises and uplifts my spirit. In the surrounding darkness of Covid, I find light; alongside uncertainty and sadness, I find joy,” says Wendy.

In his paintings, Cliff demonstrates a deft and intense delight in the way colour – and the juxtapositions of spatial relationships – can communicate an endless array of subtle differences. These new artworks are in direct contrast to his 2020 Covid Dreams collages, which were shown at Mangawhai Artists Gallery in November 2020.

“The memory and echo of what drove those 2020 collages is imbued in these new paintings,” says Cliff. “Equally, the injunction to ‘find joy’ has played its part in the outcome, although I did not allow this to sit too heavily on my shoulders. The ‘finding’ part of the equation is expressed through a trail of arteries, pathways,

grids and connections. Joy might even be found in an underlying energy that runs within the paintings.”

Ian’s enquiry is an exploration into the conventions of the ‘spiritual’, especially when words are connected to visual values. His paintings explore the surprise of chance and change; a skein of entanglements, plying yet denying any concrete labels.

For Ian, the subject of finding joy came from left field, in that joy has never been much understood by him as a subject for painting.

“I have tended to side with issues to do with human threat; I had to dig deep to find some means to approach the challenge ‘joy’ represented,” reflects Ian.

The artists agree that the challenge for those who view the exhibition is to experience these paintings with joy in mind, to find the joy themselves, and internalise the experience.

 

n ‘Finding Joy’ is open daily from 10am to 3pm from Saturday February 26 through to midday on Wednesday March 9, at the Mangawhai Artists Gallery, 45 Moir St, Mangawhai.

Cliff McPherson, Ian McGowan and Wendy Leach explore ‘finding joy’ in their own artistic way

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