ANITA GROENER'S new works are cast as diptychs - which suggests a rather portentous format, but in fact there is little or no formality involved.
Some are small oils joined side by side; others are simply two small "panels" on paper, and in both genres the interaction is keen. It is almost the equivalent of a duo in music, in which two contrasting instruments combine, weave together, create patterns and move apart again.
Anita Groener's earlier paintings were rather in the New Expressionist vein, with aggressive colour and a quality of strong, almost hectoring emotionalism. Her new diptychs, however, have a light and even playful touch, content at times with effects which are only slightly more than decorative. There is an occasional hint of Eighties New Image painting, but there is also a frequent use of collage like techniques, with areas of sometimes clashing patterns and shapes inset, or imposed, on the existing picture plane.
As I said, the touch is generally light and the accent is not heavy. There are no obvious points to be made, whether about politics, gender, or what have you. Plant shapes, patterned forms, half emerged shapes and latent images counterpoint one another with a neat sense of rhythm and placing. Sometimes the surfaces are blurred over in a painterly way, giving a sense of unity and also softening the tone overall. Squares and rectangles are often touched in, but there is no sense of a formal, geometric "grid." These small, trim pictures, though quite artful in their way, are about "spontaneity" rather than form.
