From The Postmodern To The Pastoral: Two Recent Exhibitions in Hull (1/4) By Philip Wincolmlee-Barnes PortEst Exhibition Photographs by Andrew Quinn 'How to trap this transient thing?'

(1/4), (2/4), (3/4), (4/4).

PortEst (Red Gallery, Sept/Oct) was an exhibition by three Estonian artists - Jane Remm, Piret Peil and Minna Hint - in which the theme of portraiture was subjected to a variety of treatments in different media, making for a diverse and captivating presentation. Francis Bacon used to say (usually whilst somewhat addled) that he was trying to 'trap the transience' of human life with his distorted, and frequently disturbing, figurative works.

In previous eras of Western art - bearing in mind Papal, Court and aristocratic patronage - portraits were frequently a device for Popes, Royalty and gout-ridden members of the landed gentry to appear more rarefied, erudite (and often less unappealing) than was arguably the case. From the 18th Century onwards, for example, there was the phenomenon of the 'swagger' portrait, in which Dukes, Earls and their attendant mistresses would be flattered (and immortalised) by the craftsmanship of commissioned 'society painters'. ('Hello!' magazine serves a similar function for today's vain celebrities.) Artists these days, generally speaking, are much freer in dealing with their materials and subject matter, and it intrigued me as to how each artist in this show would deal with the broad theme of 'portraiture' in a contemporary context. In a sense, Jane Remm's work was the most 'conventional', being a set of four oil paintings executed in a realistic style. (Paintings hung on walls? It'll never catch on...) Despite their realism, however, there was a distinct strand of fantasy in her series Artificial versus Human, in which shop floor dummies occupy - sometimes with an air of menace - urban and outdoor environments with their human counterparts. In Meeting, for example, a young man squats in front of a wall covered with street art. He is seemingly being confronted or approached by three ominous tailor's dummies (they are erected on stands and have no hands or feet). Each is smartly dressed - one in the garb of a clergyman - and, despite their lack of animation, each fixes the youth with a cold, severe (and almost disapproving) stare.

Beauties in Nature likewise contrasts the lively figure of a woman beaming in a pasture with the immobile posturings of two lifeless mannequins beside her. Elsewhere Beauties in the City depicts a combination of real and dummy figures in an environment that is reminiscent of both de Chirico's eerie night time piazzas and a contemporary glossy fashion shoot. This scene in particular also recalls some of Edward Hopper's paintings, of lonely souls seeking one another out against an anonymous, unresponsive cityscape.

In Date the artist herself, with a somewhat ambivalent poise and expression, is stood beside a deserted motorway, and encounters a nude male dummy - it doesn't look as if she's about to embark on the most pleasant evening of her life...

During my formal art education the idea of 'the uncanny' was discussed at some length, as much modern art thrives on, and teases us with, the strange, the jarring and the unfamiliar. Remm's work is demonstrably in this vein, with these unsettling and incongruous juxtapositions, applying a kind of updated 'cold glamour' to the mannerist techniques used to more whimsical effect by many of the Surrealist painters of the last century.

There is, indeed, something unnatural about mannequins, whose exaggerated postures and chiselled features confront us - frequently from a somewhat lofty vantage point - from behind so many boutique and High Street shop windows. (Perhaps Remm has been reading too many modern horror or science fiction stories?) A curious, beguiling theme, and a strong and visually arresting body of work. 'I can see the light.' What is it about photographers and light boxes? I've seen a number of shows over the past few months that present photographic work in this way. (Given our current 'credit crunch' and carbon emission neurosis, I can only hope that Piret Peil, and others, are using those eco-friendly low energy light bulbs...)

Continued .... Next Page (2/4)

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