Patrick Caulfield’s paintings look specific while giving us tantalisingly little to go on. Where are we? Seemingly, a spotlight moves, the disc of dislocated brightness slithering over tablecloth, tankard, swirly-plastered wall and simulated half-timber. Could this be a Vermeer-themed hostelry for the discriminating guest? Details punctuate the ambience. Take a pew, why don’t we, and let each picture absorb us.
Things like chained pen sets and buttoned-effect wallpaper are stimulants for Caulfield, his eye-catchers, his wherewithal. Everything about them, the silhouettes they present, the shadows they cast, the angle they are seen from, the way they are painted, is calculated to clue us in; intense colour, deployed with verve, makes the details float and shine like heraldic devices in immaculate picture space.
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