304 FIELD OF FLAX by MICHAEL KIDD

MEDICI GALLERY, Cork Street, London

Field of Flax, 

I love Michael Kidd's work. It's audacious. He paints familiar  subjects - those which have intrigued artists through the ages: the countryside, coastal areas, buildings - but he dares to tidy up the world. Field of Flax gives the illusion of reality, but every stalk and blade and ridge is painted with a certain prickly mathematical precision and gives me at least the feeling that that is what a field of flax would look like if it tried hard enough. But at the same time we are blessed with curves and colours, so soft I want to run my hand across those inclines and dips. And beneath it all, contrasting with any lyrical response. runs a (still precise) sharp jagged wall like a row of teeth,

A Stroll around the Gherkin

The Gherkin is unique. Its bold and energy- efficient design has won many awards. (It is currently for sale. There are said to be 200 potential buyers and the selling price is expected to be more than £650m).
Kidd demonstrates his fascination with 'patterns and mathematics, the poetry of the indecipherable', and the  pleasure of  'playing with different perspectives - giving the illusion of the reality, and keeping it simple'.

The Calm Before...

Lastly comes this serene beach, each pebble in its place, the silvery turquoise sea apparently in a moment of torpor and the groynes like guns pointing downwards with military precision. No fluttering gulls, no crumbly footprints, no sign of any life at all. But the sky is lowering and the dashes of red quiver to gain attention. And then there is the title. We can guess how it ends...'The Calm Before...the Storm'.

www.michaelkidd.net/

www.medicigallery.co.uk/