Man as underdog

KEN KIFF *

Marlborough Fine Art, W1

THE British painter Ken Kiff (who died in February) takes the viewer on a magical mystery tour through mythical landscapes painted in saturated colours. At the heart of almost every work is a confrontation between people, animals and monsters that leaves at least one of the protagonists wide-eyed or open-mouthed. We are meant to be both bewildered and enchanted.

Kiff 's basic repertoire was established in the mid-Sixties.

His men are like plumper, cartoon versions of Giacometti's stick figures, while his women are luscious earth goddesses, la Brigitte Bardot.

Stylistically, Kiff is indebted to German Expressionism, but his colours ( particularly the lipstick pinks) suggest the influence of commercial art.

The earliest work in this small retrospective is a recognition scene, Man Painting on Yellow (c1965). An artist has been painting a portrait on a piece of paper laid on a tabletop. As he leans over, he suddenly seems to recognise his own image, and is transfixed-like Narcissus seeing his own reflection in a pool. Kiff intensifies the confrontation between man and his image by painting everything else in a searing yellow, as though the world beyond is burning up.

Kiff 's women become increasingly malevolent and marauding.

Goddess in Street (c1980) is a cross between the multi-armed Indian goddess Kali and King Kong. She gleefully ogles the viewer and is in turn stared at by lots of little men. Another work in the same series (it is reproduced in Andrew Lambirth's comprehensive Ken Kiff, Thames and Hudson, pounds 32) shows a bug-eyed man reduced to a gibbering wreck by a knife-wielding goddess.

Woman in Sky (c1999) is a large, cloud-like woman who hovers threateningly over a little man strolling in a landscape.

What we are seeing here is not so much a battle of the sexes, however, as the women rarely seem to notice the men, and the men seem incapable of taking any action. Indeed, the principal subject of these paintings is male disorientation and dithering.

They are tragicomic images: we look in vain for knights in shining armour.

Until 25 January. Marlborough Fine Art, 6 Albemarle Street, W1.

Tel: 020 7629 5161.

Copyright 2002
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