A View from Nowhere

E.M Forster once said that cities are places where men, in hurrying to find one another, lose themselves. Such notions are evident in the latest collection of Andrew Kinsman, which is inspired by his recent move from Bristol to London.

The experience of living in a city, so well known for its populated streets, is captured in an ensemble of anonymous, solitary figures. A striking sense of isolation is achieved by contrasting minute focus on the subject with absent focus in the subject. There is no eye contact here and it is impossible to tell who or what has taken the attention of these individuals, surrounded as they are with textured emptiness.

In the painting above (entitled: Camden tube station), two men's paths cross fleetingly. Our eye is drawn the back of a man whose downcast look could equally be a sign of despondency or detachment. Whatever the cause, it remains unknown to the viewer and unnoticed by the individual in the centre of the frame. This second figure, though central in the composition, is moving away from the detail. The effect of the motion renders him into almost obscurity and as we gaze beyond his blurred face, we notice that he does, quite literally, fade into the background.

The second painting (entitled: Southbank), features a seated man, whose faded jacket, canine companion and flattened paper coffee cup suggest he is homeless. Though he occupies the same space as his orange-tan hound, his facial and physical expression convey a sense of total unawareness of the large, muscular dog at home on his lap. This is a man preoccupied with weightier concerns. Similarly, he is seemingly oblivious to the outside world. Something in this world has clearly alerted the dog, whose gaze is drawn directly ahead and out of the frame; a world acknowledged by the animal and inhabited by the viewer. This acknowledgement suggests that the animal is perhaps the only link between his owner and the material environment in which he resides.

The realistic style, for which Kinsman is renowned, is coupled together with de-saturated greens, greys, browns and blues to give a cool and impartial authenticity to an objective observation of the otherwise unconsidered moments that are so central to life in the city.

Written by Catherine Herring.