Gallery exhibition
Tom Wudl
This exhibition represents a significant departure in Wudl’s art, with evidence of abstraction throughout the new work. Representational elements continue to be present, but are confined to the renderings of a limited number of icons. These icons include pips, eyes, flowers and the figures of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy – all of which are introduced to us in Legend, 2005. This work serves as a map to the characters in the exhibition. If Legend offers the viewer the possibilities of what she may encounter in this exhibition, then the large acrylic and collage on canvas entitled Associative Pluralities, 2005 encapsulates Wudl’s intent. Two large eyes dominate the central area of the canvas; abstract square forms appear throughout the composition, sometimes patterned by complex renditions of clubs and spade pips of varying scale. Gold leaf (a long-held favorite material of the artist) is used sparingly to create dramatic resonance against an enigmatic grey background that is shot through with swirling lines. Wudl’s stated aim is for those spontaneous gestures, together with the defined elements of the canvas, to be seen as a “protean repository from which any and all images might be created.”
