The term gothic comes to mind when viewing Cuerden’s painting. Whether he paints the overpowering institution or the mock-Tudor suburban home these buildings are depicted as repositories of mystery and terror, sinister buildings and landscapes of disquiet. Autumnal vegetation contrasts sharp, black timbers and a toxic, yellow light. These structures describe a house of nightmares, violence and taboo, so often the basis of Gothic fiction.
However, the genesis of these paintings is not literary or fictitious but autobiographical, and unlike Gothic narrative, there is no clarification or revelation of what lies behind the terror or mystery.
The artist has based the works on houses that were the site of painful and traumatic events, but the paintings are not confessional. Moreover, they are perhaps powerful because the poisonous past is not allowed to burst out. We are kept on the outside. The locked door, the placid, polished surface makes one aware of an oppressive silence charged with secrecy. The painting is unable to say what has happened.
In most, the placing of the house in its setting is implacably calm. Set at a discreet distance from the viewer, settled in its landscape with neo-classical composure, the house survives as a repository of secrets, of clandestine acts protected from revelation under the thick veneer of lacquer.
Richard Cuerden, Behind Presbytery Doors, 2006
Oil on Board
22 x 32 cm
Richard Cuerden, St Anne, 2006
Oil on Board
22 x 32 cm
Richard Cuerden, The Witches Grave, 2006
Oil on Board
22 x 32 cm
Richard Cuerden, Grassington, 2006
Oil on Board
22 x 32 cm
Richard Cuerden, Rossall School, 2006
Oil on Board
22 x 32 cm
Richard Cuerden, Ashton House, 2006
Oil on Board
22 x 32 cm