William Brickel: Far From Anything

There is a conscious ambiguity to be found in works such as A Looming Sadness (2021–22): of time in the ambiguous clothing, and of place in the ambiguous furniture and interior backgrounds. The ‘flat realism’ present in the charcoal drawings, paintings and watercolours – in colour, form and style – has been placed in a lineage of interwar artists such as Stanley Spencer, Austin Osman Spare, Winifred Knights and Edward Burra, whose works also sought to break with accurate geometric perspective in order to divert a viewer’s attention.

This exhibition also includes a new series of smaller oil paintings on board (Stranger #1–#5, 2022). In these works, which focus on the face, shy and withdrawn figures appear to be hiding, voyeuristically gazing at mysterious events occurring beyond the confines of the painting. Brickel describes how these characters can be understood to be in ‘a purposely shut off play; you never quite know the plot and you never quite know the people.’

Both meditative and psychologically charged, Brickel’s works included in Far From Anything are evidence of how portraiture can be used to render the universality of human experience. From alienation and isolation to kinship and desire, his tender compositions explore how by investigating our own histories – we can learn more about one another. ‘It’s up to the viewer to project and to pick apart,’ he observes, describing his recent works. ‘The line that I want to tread is always to encourage viewers to weave their own narrative onto what these people are doing and who they are, and to reflect oneself to them. Yet they remain wholly personal.’