Callum Innes

Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
11 December 2007 - 9 March 2008

I've visited this exhibition on a couple of occasions now and came away with different impressions both times. Considerable writing has already been devoted to the explaining and interpreting of his work so I think I will steer clear of adding to this unwieldy mass of interpretation. Sometimes the modern art world can seem like some big pyramid scheme feeding on itself and destined for an ungraceful collapse, and the proliferation of theory a symptom of this self-combustion and self-propograting.

Imagine a spacious gallery filled with really big abstract paintings with panels of white, purple and black. On the other side of the room in another painting a jewel green tone contrasts with inky black. The fashion equivalent is the striking jewel green silk dress in the movie "Atonement", currently making waves. In another area an intensely bright orange panel jumps out. A tall painting of rusty red tones with many channels of lines created by the use of solvents to dissolve paint impresses. Callum Innes' paintings are serious works, part of a now-established tradition of large-scale abstract paintings. The titles often refer to the colours used in the works - eg. "Exposed Painting Cobalt Violet". Many of the visitors struggle with the works, unable to connect or comprehend - large scale minimal abstraction continues to challenge and provoke. One could argue that Callum Innes is a painter's painter.

These works are actually a kind of de-abstraction, paint is stripped away, surfaces are dissolved. In a world where so much is wasted and polluted one can't help cringe a little at the large-scale use of toxic solvents to scour and strip away layers of paint. His is one studio I wouldn't want to spend too much time in! But the end results are beautiful, refined and worth taking time to ponder.