Dexter Dalwood

Dexter Dalwood is showing work from the last twelve years at The Tate St Ives. Dalwood starts by selecting an historic moment, place or person. A collage is then made in the place of the traditional study or sketch, which is then scaled up and painted onto canvass. This transition works well as the array of marks, patterns and textures from the collage give the paintings added intrigue. And the canvasses are mesmerising in parts, asking the viewer to think, trying to solve the mystery; who is it, when was it? But..... the answer is there, its in the title, right next to the painting, and it left me feeling like i knew everything, when i didn't want too. Titling paintings is a far too large subject to cover here, from 'Still life with fruit on a stone legde' (Caravaggio) to 'Adam' (Barnett Newman) to 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' (Hirst) and everything 'untitled' in between. But although I really liked some of the paintings, the punchline titles did not give me the due time to figure things out for myself, and more importantly, learn stuff in the process of that deconstruction.