At first sight, I was underwhelmed by Brinsley Tyrrell’s show, Ohio Lands Forever, at Busta. The large-format pieces with their electric colors and ropey splatters struck me as gimmicky and shrill. Tyrrell’s enamel on steel technique threatened to skid out of control–obsession with process has shipwrecked many artists.
But after a couple of processions around the gallery, I saw a poetic temperament escaping from beneath the ponderous technique. A brooding sense of place inhabits the stronger pieces. Landscapes are selected for their solitude.
The successful works here have a efficient and spontaneous touch, as often seen in monotypes.
[Photo is mine but work is copyright Tyrrell.]