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From: art reviews Category: Art Date: 18 January 2010 Time: 05:58 AM Review: Visible Invisible: Against the Security of the Real http://www.parasol-unit.org 25 November 2009 – 7 February 2010 Artists: Cecily Brown, Hans Josephsohn, Shaun McDowell, Katy Moran and Maaike Schoorel Quite a long title for basically a show about abstract painters who put a little bit of figurative titillation in. Brown's paintings like most of the work in this show have that "working really hard to look like they discovered what they're doing" look. Basically all artists these days, and Brown shouldn't be singled out, take a significant style from the 20th Century or even a style derived from a style, and add in their tiny marketing twist: paint a portrait but make everything white so it looks like there's nothing there, or make an abex painting but really it's derived from a subject (gasp!) or have a load of brushstrokes that look free, but actually they're deliberate and based on a philosophical text. You get the idea, and then the artist gives it to you over and over again, and the work looks manufactured. McDowell's paintings the closest thing to real art here. Real art doesn't need to be novel, but usually it looks fresh, as though the artist (at least) has seen something for the first time. It aint happening under the parasol.