Landscapes, Portraits and Architecture
Oils and Sketches By Anthony van Tulleken

For a retired industrial designer, trained at the Royal College of Art, accustomed to teaching the lifers in the psychiatric wing at Wormwood Scrubs Prison, it would seem that a brief move to Teddy Hall was a natural progression for a career dealing with the mentally exotic. Anthony van Tulleken's exhibition at The Hall covers a diverse and challenging range of subjects, and while perhaps not 'bodily-fluids-smeared-on-canvas shocking' does contain its own subtle disquiet. Oxford architecture, the Northern Canadian wilderness and portraits based on his experience at "The Scrubs" are all covered in what is an extremely diverse exhibition.

The same bright colours that capture the vigour and optimism of student life on a summers day, and the cheerful abstraction that twists the world to just the same degree as, say, a bottle of Pimms might, are used to much more sinister effect in his series of prisoners portraits. The bright colours here are those of government institutions and disturbed thoughts, the abstractions in these paintings twist the world to the view of the criminally insane. But the view is sympathetic, the prisoners are each painted on their own, isolated not just from the outside world but from everyone.

A sense of isolation characterises the vast windswept landscapes of the Canadian wilderness and perhaps this is how they sit so well amongst the paintings of The University and The Prison; they bridge the gap between the student dotted landscapes of Oxford to the isolated portraits of the prisoners.

Painting Oxford is necessarily like so many undergraduate essays, an exercise in carefully concealed plagiarism. The city has no shortage of water colours treading lightly in Turner's footsteps, but this exhibition has no such clichés and is well worth a visit. The paintings are for sale and with upcoming exhibitions in London and Bath it may be best to get on this bandwagon early.

Rodrigo Davies