Amal Ghosh’s enamels and Peter Daglish’s linocuts stand out for their purity, simplicity and detachment from the confines of the norm and represent forms of art which not only ought to be taught but are, in a very fundamental manner, significant. 

Enamelling, the technique of fusing coloured glass powder onto a metal surface under high heat, has long been associated with jewellery and ecclesiastical objects.  It was, however, popularly regarded as a hobby predominated by ashtrays and plates decorated by amateurs enamelling pre-cut copper shapes in home kilns.  Amal Ghosh’s engagement with enamels, though, far from being a hobby is an incredibly diverse and specialized one encompassing a wide range of techniques, styles and textures. 

Ghosh’s search as an enameller – his artistic oeuvre is a vast and multi-faceted one – is for clarity which begins with a basic image.  The two-dimensional image contains within it the secrets of the three-dimensional subject that it represents. Together, they generate the work of art.  It is a fundamental expression of artistic ideas to the extent that the enamels speak eloquently to their audience.  Furthermore, the use of a specific and internally consistent vocabulary of elements and themes over the years has allowed Ghosh to develop a coherent and evolutionary means of expression.

Peter Daglish’s incisive linocuts hark back to the graphics of Hogarth and Daumier.  Linocuts are relief print produced in a manner similar to woodcut. The wooden block has a thin layer of linoleum which can be cut away in any direction to produce a raised surface that can be inked and printed, producing either monochromatic or multi-coloured images.  Daglish makes incredible use of the medium’s strong graphical potential to exploit the bold patterns which are integral to his work.  His use of colour, while exuberant in its own terms, also allows for shading and texturing the image. 

Daglish’s linocuts brim with the fineness and foibles of the human condition and are both perceptive and funny.  He is able to explore the earthy and quotidian as a reproach to the spiritual and a negation of the ideal and is able to perceive incongruous relationships and express them in a pointed manner.  His women are celebrations of pure energy: stylized, curvilinear and more than faintly kinky.  Their sensuous lips and extravagant hairdos show the artist’s taste for precise detail and stylized though highly idiosyncratic motifs.  In what they encompass or allude to, these works transcend the beautiful, the comic, the grotesque or even the quest for objectivity.  They are a relentless scrutiny of the world ranging from scathing social commentary to opulent ornamentalism.  On all scores, though, the artistic attention is contemplative rather than confrontational. 

There is a definite element of both artists chuckling quietly to themselves, stepping back and observing the exhibition with a sardonic eye.  This is art which can be both loved and respected for its audacity and its touch.  Both showcase humour, lost time, youthful beauty and eternal desire.  Ghosh and Daglish stimulate both visual and intellectual appetites.