Profiles of Contemporary Art and - ARTisSpectrum

Steven Dix
For Australian painter Steven Dix,
the imperfect world in which we live
provides perfect subjects, whether in the
form of majestic and cruel landscapes
or evocative man-made buildings and
objects. The Brisbane-based artist cites
the influence of his father, a globetrotting
photographer, and Dix’s acrylic
compositions in saturated tones certainly
have a very transporting quality. Bright
oranges evoke the searing heat and
Leaving Acrylic on Canvas 16” x 31”
cracked earth of the Australian outback;
swift clouds and golden fields call to mind
Van Gogh; sparse details of human artifacts are more jarring still, suggesting abstract expressionism in their pockmarked
flatness. But his vibrant compositions are always very clearly rooted in lived experience, and benefit from a great richness of
textural detail.
Dix’s paintings portray landscapes and communities in a beautiful, delicate balance between extremes. Menacing clouds glide
over parched plains; signs of human activity remain – a little worse for wear – against inhospitable, vacant backdrops, twisting
in the winds of time. Each acrylic canvas, with incredibly sculptural surfaces and thick daubs of paint, appears animated with
intense associations and meanings. It’s impossible to remain impartial in front of Steven Dix’s bold images, whose pictorial
force commands our attention, and then rewards it with sensitive details of brushstroke, shading, layering and the rhythmic
sequencing of tones. He brings distant, primal landscapes to vivid life.
www.stevendix.com/2009/index.php
www.Agora-Gallery.com/ArtistPage/Steven_Dix.aspx
Ping He
Traditional calligraphy collides with modern expressionism
in Ping He’s superb, dynamic acrylic paintings. Though
born and based in Shanghai, he’s a member of the Naxi
ethnic minority, and perhaps as a result of this, many of his
not-quite-abstract canvases portray either solitary figures
or starkly distinct pairs. Ping highlights not only China’s
twin compulsions towards ever-accelerating modernity
and centuries-old traditions, but also his own position as
a teacher in a cosmopolitan megalopolis and member of
a marginalized rural community. Appropriately, his figure
paintings draw heavily on traditional calligraphy. His human
subjects are composed minimally, from sparse, fluid yet
precise brushstrokes. Some appear skeletal, sketched from
light, quick strokes, while others are fuller and heavier with
additional layers of paint.
Backdrops and settings are often little more than muted
monochrome screens against which characters come
together in bold swirls and vigorous loops. Even when
subjects are seated Ping lends them incredible energy and
Ancient and Modern Acrylic on Canvas 26” x 28”
intensity. The legibility of every individual trace of paint amplifies the power, sharpness and subtlety of his vision. An expressive
palette bolsters the gestural marks that make up each humanoid form, lending them tangible characteristics even when they
take the form of rough columns of built-up lines in kaleidoscopic tones. Ping He’s subjects are evocative yet specific, formally
agile and visually mighty.
http://hi.baidu.com/pinghe_art/album
www.Agora-Gallery.com/ArtistPage/Ping_He.aspx
36 ARTisSpectrum