The just opened exhibition at Traffic Jam Galleries consists of two greatly contrasting solo displays that are at the same time complementary .

Lynch-Memory’s works are all abstract with a strong horizontal ‘line’ in the compositions. Some works are vibrant and bold, leaping out at the viewer. Her other paintings in the exhibition feature a  calmer, more meditative approach. Her goal in her artworks is to create for the viewer works that enhance positive emotions and a constructive mind place .

‘Amplitude’ and ‘Balance’ are dominated by blue tones, resembling the sea .

‘Echo’ features vivid hot pinks with delicately textured lines, whilst ‘Momentum no. 1’ is blips of wavy lines in browns and purples.

‘Equalize’ is in rather neutral tones of olive green and light purples with delicate crinkled lines.

‘Thickly textured Home’ is in dark browns resembling a burnt tree trunk. Words are visible- are they the fragments of memory lingering?!

‘Bright Orangey Revive’ demands the viewer’s attention. The bottom half of the painting is dominated by a series of red dots.

The composition ‘Contemplative Silence’ is divided into thirds: white at the top,  then main body of the work is in blue, with indistinguishable words, and a grey brick like bottom section. This work is reminiscent of viewing the sky or sea trapped behind a wall.

In the sensitively textured ‘Synergy series 1-5’ the works are mainly divided into three sections of composition, with subtly floating colours.

The eponymous work for this exhibition, Damien Cooper’s ‘Resonate ‘ is mostly in blues and greens with fine wavy lines similar to waves of the sea .

The Momentum series is full of autumn like browns and purples and there is a sense of enfolding and moving downwards. Could it be a meditation on the Earth?!

Cooper’s work, collected under the title ‘What Once Was’, is an absorbing series of in-and exteriors, but often with a slight mysterious twist. In his paintings he seeks to question what is beauty and how we perceive it .

In the dynamic, interlocking lines of ‘Close to the Edge’ we see a blue and white chair on the edge of a swimming pool. We are left pondering the ominous shadows.

‘The Façade’ features a house with ghostly reflections on the floor. There is a sense of abandonment and decrepitude and it is disturbing as the shutters and swings doors appear to be out of alignment and the pot plants are wilting.

‘The Last Prawn Sandwich ‘reveals a deserted restaurant with all the chairs and tables neatly stacked, with sinister shadows on the walls. The number three appears to be important as there are three pineapples, a drink and the last sandwich on the counter ledge along with three chairs. It is as if a meal has been interrupted. Why there are three more pineapples on the ground? Where is everyone?

We are presented with the exterior of a large house in ‘Four Is The Magic Number’, with four surfboards of various sizes propped against a wall. The window above the very neat and tidy garden has four bars .The left side of the piece is dominated by the incisively textured, strongly vertical lines of the railings .

The colour turquoise dominates the delightful interior of a room in ‘Waiting At the Spa’ with its curtains, table, chairs and sofa, with a charming flower arrangement in a bowl and books on the table.  There are many varied and incredibly detailed textures on display. Through the window we can see trees, or are they just an illusion?! And why are the lamps at different heights?

‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ is unsettling, with the locked door, slightly off kilter areas and the swimming pool.

‘In What Once Was’, again it is as if we have just missed people – where are they?! A table is set for four, a bottle of wine in the middle, with chairs and a very pleasant sea view. The stripes of the cushions on the chairs lead our eyes to the middle of the work.

‘The Suite’ depicts another interior of a room, mostly in blue tones but this is varied by the use of soft purples and oranges. There are many books on the table. We can see outside, but in the room things are just slightly off kilter including very wonky blinds. The pattern on the cushion on the chair, and the blue dotted line on the curtain, lead our eye to the back of the blue chair, facing outside.

A table is set for three invisible people, glasses at the ready, in ‘Halcyon Lunch’. A very small pot with a large plant leads our eyes to wavering trees visible through the porch railings. There is a pinkish colour in the sky. Is it a sunrise? Is it a bushfire? There is a rough torn curtain and a fallen awning and cascading stripes and textures.

‘Sitting Here in Silence, Still I Don’t Get No Peace’ is dominated by the jutting pool and rolling mountains.

The exhibition at Traffic Jam Galleries runs until Friday 30th April, 2021.

https://trafficjamgalleries.com/exhibitions/

Featured image : Emma Lynch-Memory ‘Resonate’