Atmospherics 1939

Conroy Maddox made this surrealist world from oil on canvas, calling it Atmospherics. It’s playful and slightly bizarre, like a dream you almost remember. The colours here are muted, yet distinct, flowing into each other like the changing weather. Look at how Maddox applied the paint, it’s so thin you can see the canvas underneath. It makes the forms feel light and airy. There is a real sense of space with the objects floating independently within the picture plane. See the red figure in the center? It's like a dancing, playful presence, but also a bit like a pipe. And what about that levitating globe? Maddox seems like he's in conversation with artists like Yves Tanguy and his biomorphic shapes, but with a touch more humour. It's a reminder that art doesn't always need to make perfect sense, sometimes it just needs to open a door in your imagination.