Autumn 2004- Dublin: John Noel Smith at Green on Red
Review C109 Sometimes it is hard to get a grip on abstraction in contemporary art. You are first guided by the visual, drawn deeper by emotional engagement or an intellectual idea. Between abstraction and the conceptual lies the painter John Noel Smith, whose series of works entitled United field paintings were recently exhibited at Green on Red Gallery, Dublin. United Field Paintings could be seen as a development of previous ideas, using techniques similar to those seen in earlier works. references such as knots, tapestries and Ogham, an ancient Celtic form of writing created by vertical and angled lines, crossing a midline. Tradition is simplified and implied by a single visual metaphor. All paintings in this latest series take the same form, differentiated only by scale and combinations of colour. Larger works are constructed from two canvases, hinged together to create a gigantic diptych, the bottom canvas split further into two horizontal panels. Overlapping layers of brushed, thick paint combine to create a geometrical, textural symmetry. Roughly painted vertical lines stand out in contrast below; the bottom panel, a dark strip, through which specks of colour can be seen, sits heavily beneath. Some colour combinations, such as those used in Rubens (2004), work better, having more weight and presence. The three separate elements are disparate - smoothness beside roughness, yet as their title suggests they become united into one.  | | John Noel Smith: from United Field Painting , oil on canvas; courtesy Green on Red Gallery | Smaller works take the same format, using only a single canvas rather than the format of the diptych. The overall feel however is cruder, the idea condensed and the variations between the separate elements less marked. Smith's paintings work better on a larger scale, enabling the viewer to become more physically involved, the eye drawn by the changing, subtle patterns created by light as it moves across the top panel. The title, United Field Painting , is a reference to Unified Field Theory, more commonly known as the ''Theory of Everything', which physicists and mathematicians have been trying to crack since Einstein. Are Smith's vertical lines painterly impressions of String Theory, his layered, weave-like textures a reference to the idea of dimensions tightly curled up in a tiny geometric space? On a purely aesthetic level, Smith presents us with texturally beautiful works, balanced by pattern and colour which allude to more. Jacqui McIntosh is a freelance writer based in Dublin. John Noel Smith: United Field Painting , Green on Red Gallery, Dublin, April / May 2004
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