73we see fragments of the face rather than the whole.
In some cases the eyes are closed, in others open
but not in contact with the viewer. There appears an
intimacy in our encounter with the faces but also an
ambiguity. Who are they? Why are we seeing them in
this provocative way? All of the portraits in the show
can be read either as male or female according to the
viewer’s preconceptions and the paintings seem to
slip between genders. Only one depicts the shoulders
and upper torso of a gender ambiguous sitter clad in
a sagging bra. Undoubtedly the artist’s queer identity
and his involvement with suicide prevention for the
LGBTQI community play a part in how these images
work. None appears openly happy but the colour and
luxuriance of the paint contribute positive notes. The
faces emerge from the skin of paint as if from behind a
veil and exude a somewhat troubling sensuality. This
is pronounced in the lips where the pouty fullness is
given tactile reality through the thick application of
paint.
Trolove has spoken of his interest in the liminal,
the transition between one thing and another or one
identity and another. These shadowy heads convey
that idea perfectly—as being at the boundary between
the private and personal, the public and visible.
Psychologically there are depths here that strip back
not only layers of paint but layers of pretence. The
title Tenderise indicates the layers of feeling found in
the latest works from warmth and softness to soreness
and bruising, which are evoked by the verb.
Trolove was born in 1979 and brought up in
rural North Canterbury. He studied visual arts at
Nelson NMIT and later completed an MFA at Massey
University, Wellington. He now has a studio in
Northland and is living and painting in a remote
location. He spent three years living in Spain and for
a time he ran an arts and social justice programme at
the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art, where he worked
on community arts projects with survivors of violence.
He has also been involved in suicide prevention
work with LGBTQI communities in New Zealand
and overseas, developing his awareness of the
psychological and emotional dimensions of the world
he lives in. Although now identified with paintings
of the human figure and portraiture, he originally
experimented with other practices including moving
image work and site-responsive installation art. The
beginnings of his portraiture can be traced to his
time in Barcelona where he practised as a street artist
making portraits to survive. It is only recently that he
has been able to make a living from his artworks.
While Trolove’s paintings are often described as
portraits they do not now conform strictly to the
expectations of conventional portraiture in which a
likeness to a specific sitter is expected, or an allusion
made through attributes to an identifiable individual.
Trolove was shortlisted in the BP Portrait award at the
National Portrait Gallery in London in 2015, 2016 and
2017, showing that portraiture was a starting point
for his latest works. Conventional portraiture begins,
and often ends, with the external likeness of a sitter,(opposite) JACK TROLOVE Gloaming. Water and Brass 2019
Oil on canvas, 1200 x 1400 mm.
(Private collection. Photograph: Alex Efimoff)
(below) Jack Trolove’s Tenderise at Whitespace Contemporary Art,
April 2019