Andrew Litten

Knowing that Andrew Litten is an artist who lives and works in Cornwall, it is tempting to think that his apparently ‘naïve’ paintings relate in some way to those of Alfred Wallis, the uneducated fisherman that became part of the founding myth of the St Ives colony of modernist artists when he was discovered in 1928 by Ben Nicholson.

There are some clear parallels. Litten’s work has many of the hallmarks of the primitive art that was championed by the  modernists. The paintings appear to have been made on materials found close-to-hand, and the mark-making is scratchy, scribbled and child-like.

Yet look more closely and these obvious similarities disappear. It becomes apparent that the two artists are, of course, very different. In particular Wallis’ subject-matter comprised almost exclusively boats, sea and land, and his most celebrated paintings are dumbly abstracted map-like representations of the landscape.

Such spontaneous, unmediated depictions of the Cornish landscape are, of course, no longer possible. There are so many existing representations that it has become impossible to paint Cornwall without, at worst falling into cliche, or at best intentionally or accidentally quoting other artworks. These issues were - to an extent - highlighted by the recent Art Now Cornwall show at the Tate.

In fact Litten’s gaze falls elsewhere. He uses naïve figuration as a vehicle for social commentary, and as a way of speaking about the human condition, and the abject and precarious quality of existence itself. In their totality, his portrayals of familiar domestic scenes, become tempered with humour and pathos, and are anything but naive. Describing the world around him, its obsessions, absurdities, and its beauty, he does knowingly and with great insight. He also makes clear references to contemporary life and lifestyles, which is an important aspect of what his work is able to do.

Litten therefore belongs more to a tradition of expressionist artists, like Otto Dix, the dadaist master of caricature. His recent work with its contorted human figures and acidic colours (eg above) in particular leans strongly in this direction.

Interest in this period of expressionism has increased in recent years thanks to the ubiquitous Tracey Emin, and the painter Martin Maloney, whose work epitomises ‘neurotic realism’: a disputed term that Saatchi coined to describe this new trend in contemporary art.

Yet, like many artists in Cornwall, being ‘trendy’ is of less interest than it is to artists in London, which, arguably, is one of the strengths of the local art scene. Litten very much belongs to this group of fiercely independent Cornish artists pursuing their own unique vision.

RW June 2007