CRAIG WYLIE
Craig Wylie’s speciality is painting still lifes of fruit and vegetables, in oil, on linen.
Which doesn’t sound that exciting, until you see them, in the flesh (as it were).
Craig Wylie, 'L'Origine du Monde, after Courbet', 56.5x76cm, Oil on canvas
Not only does he – when he wants to – achieve a 3d-like photorealist likeness of the subject matter (you feel like you could pick up one of his tangerines, peel it and eat it); he also throws a twist or two into the composition, which can bring a smile to your face.
In this respect his work is reminiscent of a now-neglected still-life artist of an earlier generation, Arthur Easton.
A slice of melon might be precariously and incongruously balanced on the body of the fruit it has been cut from; a blurry half lemon looks like it’s about to crash into two elegant pears; a bowl of apples is placed so near the edge of the table, you feel you have to move it, for safety’s sake.
The colours of the background are carefully chosen to compliment the subject matter, so the paintings are extremely comfortable on the eye. And then there are the titles. ‘Cenotaph’, for a single avocado sitting in its shadow on a beige table; ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’, for four oranges in a ceramic bowl; and (best of all, this one) ‘L’Origine du Monde (after Courbet)’ for a green melon, thus infused with sexual charge.
Wylie is being shown at British Art Fair by Jonathan Cooper, at Stand 42 on the first floor, along with work by several other artists, including David Donaldson, Sarah Raphael, Norman Blamey and Leonard McComb.