In the intervening three years since I first wrote about it in 2013, the ambitious white walls of The Merchant House Gallery, in Lowestoft, have supported a host of local talent. So far, the gallery’s interest has been focused on the Yarmouth Five, whose real talent in depth is hauling the art scene on the East Anglian Coast firmly into the limelight. The current show of John Kiki’s recent paintings is no exception. Kiki, I am told, is perhaps more of an acquired taste than his other Yarmouth colleagues, but I for one have the flavour inextricably now on the end of my tongue.
Kiki has patiently described several times in the past his antipathy to the significance of ‘subject matter’ in his work, saying it is not of ‘primary concern for me’. Instead he places his own emphasis on experimentation, process and freshness in the creation of his work, all of which is both apparent and true. But most artists are unreliable narrators, and I want to describe what I see in his recent work in addition to all this activity. Kiki comes from a large Mediterranean family, but for a long time now has been embedded, along with his studio, in the seedy, energetic and glittery cradle of Great Yarmouth. It seems clear to me that these two visual and mythic places account, at least in part, for much of the imagery that emerges through his spontaneous working methods. The twin poles of Greek Mythology and Seaside Mythology infect and inflect his imagination in a way that cannot be erased. Repeating motifs of horses, riders, centaurs, goddesses, dances, graces, performers and dance macabre all belong just as much in the bustle of the fairground and the seafront as in the ancient myths. And added to this rich source material in his subconscious are the core figurative concerns of western art, the nude, the artist and model and the portrait. His are contemporary interpretations, yes, but they also plunder work from the giants of the past, from Picasso, with his lovers, dancers and guitarists, and particualrly Velasquez, whose infantas, the children of Iberian monarchs, occur repeatedly as motifs.
How do these varied references appear on his canvases? Very rapidly is the first thing to say, and he is indeed a remarkably prolific artist. Acrylic, squeezed directly from a bottle, is used to draw freely and fast, directly onto the surface, creating a determinedly two-dimensional image that then mysteriously morphs over time, losing bits there, acquiring bits here, often physically cut and pasted from one image to another. Streaks, splashes, areas and edges of colour are included and layers and texture emerge from the process, as pattern, balance, composition and look are reworked towards a satisfactory synthesis. It then receives a title! The final work, despite its figurative basis, has a flat abstract quality and a colour balance that powerfully underpin the joyous and fun figures cavorting on top. ‘Painter’s paintings’ they certainly are, but they are also accessible and gorgeous for the rest of us too.
John Kiki trained at Camberwell in the early 60s, under Auerbach and other well-known colleagues, before moving to the Royal Academy School, where he began to develop the distinctive style that is still evolving. He has exhibited widely, including in New York, Barbican, Haywood Gallery, Serpentine Gallery, Germany, Zagreb and Zurich, but has exhibited locally too at many venues. One of his best works, the large Nessus and the Ladies, riffing on the myth of the Centaur, Heracles and his wife Deianeira, was purchased in 2007 for the Castle Museum Collection from the major show he had there that year. Now is a good time to catch up with what he is up to now; make a trip to Lowestoft this week!
At the Merchant House Gallery, 102 High Street, Lowestoft, NR32 1XW
12 March - 2 April and from 9 - 30 April 2016. Open: Tue and Thur-Sat 11am - 4pm.