2001

If on the one hand Dunlop’s paintings are essentially handsomely composed planes of colour on canvas, on another, some of his works in the present show are as psychologically charged as a visionary landscape by Giorgio de Chirico or Yves Tanguy. Time and space have little reality in paintings which present almost surreal associations of images and ideas. Children’s toys, fish, vegetables, birds and kitchen utensils, the artist’s paintbrushes and the art works of friends and strangers, are all presented rising elusively from nebulous surrounds. These objects are spread before us as if in a land of dreams. – Sue Smith, 2001

“How can art keep you involved for 40 years? If it means something… Something quite new and authentic was flowering and you happened to be holding the hose… What price can you place on that?” – Ray Hughes 2001

“Don’t plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow and turn into months. Before you know it, you’ve got yourself a bad year.” – Tom Waits

“A cultured hand.” – Robert Hughes, 2001

“I see my life as entering and exiting a series of theatres. The ocean is a theatre, my studio is a theatre and my kitchen is a theatre filled with drama and intimacy and chaos. My input is found in these everyday theatres.” – James Drinkwater, 2019

“Dunlop’s work stands up well with a wide range of artists whose work resonates with his own free colourist style – from the sensuous, decorative painting of Matisse, William Scott and Brett Whiteley to the roughly applied brushstrokes of Philip Guston and Alberto Burri; from the playful wandering line of Paul Klee to the carefully modulated forms and inky backgrounds of Modigliani. Dunlop’s works range from claustrophobic biospheres of beautiful and menacing animals and plants to images of barren, dusty vistas containing vessels, utensils and art objects which emerge mysteriously from kitchen tables that morph into cabinets.”  Sue Smith