Liz Neal
Lotus Eater
4 Mar — 10 Apr 2004

In Book IX of Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus recounts how his ships are buffeted by winds for nine days en route from Troy to Greece. They finally come to rest in a land populated by Lotophagi, men who eat lotus plants. The lotus eaters are benign but their food is not, sending Odysseus’s men into a trance-like state in which they lose all desire to return to Greece. Instead, oblivious to Odysseus’s orders, they wish only to remain in a lotus-induced state of dreamy forgetfulness.

Indolent decadence permeates Liz Neal’s new works. An exquisitely painted Native American couple are locked in an embrace against a deep blue background. Their total immersion in each other belies the inevitable doom awaiting their way of life. Nearby a butch young man poses, flexing his muscles. Text is scrawled over his taut body, ‘Fuck me in the morning when I can feel it.’ Sexual and sensual arousal are only momentarily possible in those brief hours of consciousness after waking, before the day grows older and the very capacity to feel is replaced by half-conscious lethargy.

Neal’s manipulation of paint expresses the physicality of flesh and continues a long tradition that starts with Titian. The freedom of her brushstrokes emphasises the transitory nature of what is caught on canvas - youth inevitably fades and pleasure is followed by comedown. A tea set and a coffee set are invitingly arrayed for the viewer, yet their razor-sharp edges are a warning for those who choose to stop and linger. For as with Odysseus’ men, relaxation is not momentary, it is the first step to an eternal languor.

Liz Neal is also showing at Transition Gallery in conjunction with STORE. Whilst living in North London between 2001 and 2003, Neal used the front room of her flat as her studio — and painted herself in. Every inch of wall space, including the ceiling was covered with unstretched painted canvas, stitched together and then stapled to the walls. Re-installed at Transition, Neal’s Room is a vision of sexual abandonment. A closer look reveals intimate diary-like entries scribbled in the crevices of the work, which transform the piece into a living archive of an artist’s life and practice.

Liz Neal was born in 1973. She did her BA in Fine Art at Middlesex University before attending the Royal College of Art. She lives and works in London.