Karl Maughan
Karl Maughan
Recent Paintings and Prints
20 December, 2006 - 3rd February, 2007
Karl Maughan has often been asked if he is a photographer. At first glance his works do appear as such - enormous, larger-than-life size gardens filled to overflowing with flowers, leaves and trees. But, they are paintings - brushstrokes of oil painstakingly applied to form the super-realist impression of a photograph.
In Maughan’s gardens rhododendrons burn; blossoms uncurl and fern fronds seamlessly come to life as if they were a part of Alice’s Wonderland. Every bloom is complete and every leaf whole; there are never traces of insect strike nor does a single flower ever wilt. Void of natural imperfections his paintings could be glimpses of an eclectic paradise.
Each work is made up from sections of different gardens transported from Maughan’s prolific photographic archives and rearranged into new and convincing arrangements. All gardens are up for grabs as far as Maughan is concerned; often segments of landscapes from opposite hemispheres are paired together in his compositions. At a distance the works could be the photographs themselves but rather, the gardens are made from a myriad of tiny brushstrokes. Maughan is so successful in his approach that his shows in New Zealand always sell out and he has the accolade of being in the prestigious international collection of Charles Saatchi. Their inexplicable quality lies largely in the application of the paint. The subject matter, though not superfluous, is not where the significance lies. Maughan’s works are articulate, entirely compelling, unified pieces that give a Modern perspective on the techniques of painting that are at least as old as the Impressionists.
Maughan attributes his choice of subject to gardening parents and although not incidental, this choice moreover enables him to explore the effects of light and colour in his environments, and to, of course, show off his talent as a painter. Despite being well versed in botanical genera Maughan is not a gardener himself, although he does like the idea of it.
