Feb 14th 1986 Skyline Art Review by Don Wood

REMEMBER THE DAYS OF THE OLD SCHOOLYARD?

Cynthia Breusch’s new exhibition, Schoolgirl Series, opens at HANG-UPS GALLERY, Red Hill, on Sunday,16th February.

As the name suggests, the drawings are all of schoolgirls, and for anyone familiar with Cynthia's work, it will come as no surprise to find that they are all wearing hats.In fact, they are all wearing school uniforms of one sort or another, often standing as if waiting to have those dreaded 'school photos' taken.

However, these are not portraits, but rather studies of the moods and feelings of the time of the late primary and early high school years when everything is new and exciting, and sometimes rather frightening and daunting too. Cynthia's girls face this new world with the brash insecurity of the pre- and early teens; knowingness and innocence combined into that contradictory package that any parent who has had daughters of this age will instantly recognise.

Cynthia works in pastel, and has used fixative to build up layers and textures, and although she is perhaps best known for her impressionistic renderings of light and shade, in this exhibition she has chosen to work to a large extent in solid colours; dark blues and aquas, reds and oranges, reflecting perhaps the strong opinions of this age, often and quickly changed, where things and people are usually either hated or loved and not much in between.

There is also, in some of the dark tones in these works, a feeling of hidden, inherent menace; perhaps that of the beckoning, unknown adult world which will soon claim them from their familiar routine of school and friends. But then, as any schoolgirl knows, a hint of danger always adds a touch of spice to any story.

A number of the drawings are of girls at play, and show, the exuberance in movement of this essentially awkward age. This exhibition is an evocation of a period that most adults prefer to forget from their own past, but this gawky, vulnerable opinionated time has a charm that Cynthiahas expertly captured.

Schoolgirls are often the subjects of artists, often male; but it is obvious that this exhibition draws on personal experience.

The image that stays in my mind is of schoolgirls standing, just slightly off balance, and not quite sure what to do with their hands.

Schoolgirl Series on until 2 March