Ian Dorsett

A Critique by Jon Madge


Ian Dorsett

Ian Dorsett's work is at once both engaging and challenging. Comforting, recognisable forms live amongst seemingly abstract splatters of paint and cruel, almost dystopian imagery on brightly coloured, man-sized canvases. This seemingly abstract coalition of symbols, however, is not without its order. Actively inviting closer scrutiny, by virtue of its imposing size and miniscule detail, a host of repeated images and interplaying symbols are revealed. Crouched men, rifles and fighter jets litter every surface of Dorsett's work as if they are a wallpaper to his world: a deliberate aesthetic which is hinted at by the artist by his inclusion, among the more harrowing recurring images, of a pastel coloured wallpaper flower.

At the centre of one canvas, close to life size, a naked figure holds two guns and stares straight at its audience. Rendered in delicate brush strokes and a palate that draws heavily from Fauvism, the solitary figure is typical of the life drawing that appears in Dorsetts work. This adherence to established technique helps to root his work, although contemporary in subject matter, firmly in artistic tradition.

The balance of delicate, sensitive pain...

University of Kent at Canterbury, Canterbury, GB, Fine Art,