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MICHAEL DUNN
Jack Trolove paints directly and boldly, slashing layers
of thick oil paint onto canvas. His process is tangible
and exhilarating to observe for it seems to happen as
we watch, especially when viewed close up. Marks of
the palette knife are left unrevised, ridges of paint, like
miniature mountain ranges, rise across the surface of
the canvases. Viewed side on, the paintings are like
relief sculptures and have projecting lumps of paint
sticking out and casting shadows across the surfaces
nearby. The paint is so thick that in the recent show,
Tenderise, areas were still moist and malleable and far
from dry.
Trolove’s colour is vibrant—no white—and with
strong blues, reds and yellows layered on over and
Be Kind
Jack Trolove’s Tenderise
under one another or butted together. He paints with
all the energy of an abstract expressionist and his
colours, forms and tones can seem independent of
conventional representation. This is because close up
the paintings are largely abstract and it is only further
back that the faces emerge from their hiding places
in the thick skin of paint. It can be said that there are
two major experiences to be had: one the close up, the
other more distant. Both are valid for the viewer and,
taken together, they contribute the layers of meaning
to be found in the paintings.
In all the recent works there are heads formed from
the layers of paint. Colour and tone both contribute to
the drawing of features such as eyes, mouths and ears.
More than life size, these heads are cropped at chin
level and above the eyebrows and at the sides so that