Art & Critique

Sandra Flood: The Greyhounds of Pleasantville

The discrepancy between dark palette and light mood creates an effect of surprise and subsequently suspense. In these greyhound paintings this stylistic feature (of mood and color counterpoise) finds a more comic than ironic expression. Indeed sometime I get the feeling the artist fully enjoyed and indulged herself painting these subjects — so unstrained looks her technique. The purpose here is to entertain — but the painter doesn’t limit herself to portrayals — she creates allusions and personifications, through visual means (the halos) or textual (the titles, which suggest human activity), stirring the viewer’s imagination. Perhaps the quiet temperament of the breed requires a more keen action from the owner, or the artistic “owner” of the subject, meaning the painter, of course.

Perhaps even more obvious is the correspondence between the prevalent background grays and the dogs’ color. In some pieces it may appear as if the animals have been painted with camouflage, so well they blend with their surroundings. But the contrary is the case: it was the colors around the dogs that were chosen to support the models. In a way this scenario is similar to portrait painting, only less intricate due to the animal nature of the portrayed. The artist’s choice of backdrop generates a rich scale of grays and browns — the variety within a single hue compensates for the general monochromatic scheme. Light, nearly broken at times, adds a touch of depth and a sense of interior space.

While playing with the subjects the artist alludes to their unstable status as pets. Furthermore, the games these dogs participate in as main players include shows and races, activities that may involve victimization and gambling. I think that these subtle reminders of the dark side of pet industry may invoke remote but nagging feelings of a possibility of abuse. Here the dark palette resonates directly — if only of an indirect and suggested sentiment. In a way these tensions unwind as a possible outcome of the suspense mentioned in the first sentence of this review. Sometimes it may appear that the long springy bodies are prepared to sprint into opposite directions — towards the owner, or away from him.

But these are esoteric developments. The general mood is of a pleasant and light communication between the out-of-the-frame owner and the pet; between the painter and the audience. We are meant to derive aesthetic pleasure from the accurate depictions of these dogs’ elongated graceful bodies. It may seem like overindulgence, but it isn’t. These animals must be beautiful in order to succeed at what they were born to do: pursue and catch moving prey. Observers who become caught up in the spectacle are collateral…

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 9:23 pm and is filed under Contemporary Working Artists, Sandra Flood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.