Elizabeth Neylan’s colourful oil paintings have, as their beginnings, places she has visited or literary sources including myths, songs, poems and sayings – from Keats to Bob Dylan. For Neylan the colour, form and content of a work have equal importance. The immediate visual impact of the images, with bold shapes in vibrant primaries and strong pastels is supported by a sophisticated use both of visual symbols and textual references.
In a series of works, exhibited as part of “Route Map,” Neylan depicted stories from The Arabian Nights. In 40 Thieves Ali Baba’s forty thieves hidden in oil jars are represented by a single jar with “x40” written on the front. Such economical and humorous conveyance of meaning is typical of her work. In Mystic Tea Party pink and brown blobs instantly convey biscuits and, in works including Luxor, white triangles and brown half moons effectively represent boats.
Fascinated by the transference of words into visual form, Neylan’s almost iconic symbols could be classed as an in-between stage, between images and words. Conversely titles such as Grey Matter and Reds Under Beds, with their visual referents, take the visual / textual exchange· in the opposite direction. Her work involves a playful treatment of its references, drawing upon shared cultural forms and knowledge. It does not, however, rely upon the viewers’ familiarity with its sources. The work may be appreciated for its visual effect or provide an arena for one’s own invented narratives.
Sometimes Neylan’s own stories are more personal or obscure. In Seven Ages of Mary she represents different stages of her mothers’ life. One image, representing the peak of her mothers’ life (1935-45), shows her wedding and first cottage alongside a dancer in red shoes that references Hein Heckroth. Heckroth taught at Darlington alongside Mary and designed the film “Red Shoes.” In evocation of World War 2, the dancer is shown, hanging over an abyss. Other works are based on Neylan’s personal experience. An ongoing selection of works, including Luxor, depict rivers or coastlines that Neylan has visited. Usually painted as if seen from above they become swooping arcs of yellow green and blue. The aerial perspective recalls maps – again drawing upon a more objective symbolic language – but the colour and paint handling lend the works an individual quality that exceeds any shared, symbolic code. The strength of these works is their ability to function in several registers at once, visual and literary, personal and collective. Different paintings give different weight to each of these aspects but all remain accomplished compositions, able to contain this multiplicity of allusions.
