AN ENGINEER IN PAINTS
ART by Ivor Francis

The Advertiser Friday 31st January 1970

As an artist, Ian Chandler at the Bonython is a product of technological space-age thinking. His is a sort of science fiction in paint which does not in any way prejudice aesthetic considerations. Inspiration stems from ideas about humanoids, light, time and motion and pre-visions of strange mechanisms to come. A surrealistic symbolist, without the usual metaphysical abstractions that bewilder the lay viewer, he is clear, logical and easy to follow. "Towards And Across" expresses exactly what the title suggests. In the top, shapes move forward while in the bottom they move horizontally, in both cases generating visually exciting experiences of expanding motion. In "Distillate," a viscous substance forms patterns of sinister fatty globules; in "Light, Time, Motion" the three title elements are statistically defined.

Precise

Even though the function of Chandler's futuristic machines is esoteric, they remain convincingly meaningful in the artistic context of probability, as "Sensorspore," for instance, shows. Contemporary scientific achievement is reflected not only in the subject-matter of these excitingly stimulating peeps into the world of tomorrow, but, also in the precision of Chandler's own workmanship. He explores with a laser-beam the fading darkness of the already quickening life to come, illumination its gorgeous promises and delineating its embryonic shapes with the eye and hand of a prognostic draftsman. Use of oils, as if they were acrylics, is quite spectacular, proving their obvious advantages. James Cleary, an amateur, is showing watercolor landscapes ar the Lombard Street gallery. There is a potential in his handling of composition and washes which could be developed under professional tuition.