James Pagella - Cymbol Dreams

The Urban Coffee Lounge, 349 Smithdown Road
31st May - 11th July

Reviewed by E. Hughes

Looking at James’ work, there is no reference point to hang a thought on; they are excellently stylised paintings/drawings, of what style, I know not. They are quixotically his own.

Some of them are psychedelic, even psychotic, collages that scream a thousand voiceless thoughts.

My first impressions of his work are that they are Aztec or Inca design like the spaced out frescos of heaven and hell and other places the Incas (or was it Aztec?) so earnestly painted, dreamed of, fantasised about and sacrificed thousands for. Disjointed faces, eyes, stylised lines and phantasmagorical colours clash and collide, to reveal James’ mind. What was he thinking?

The two large murals, one called ‘Twat Wow’, are like lost dreams half-remembered from a long-dead civilisation. Ancient and Modern. Memories from long ago, dreams that sear lazily into a psyche, till what is strange becomes normal, and what is normal becomes bizarre.

Many artists, in whatever field, are searching for a higher muse; it is an imperfect road, but when that muse is held, well then something wonderful may be created. To capture a fleeting moment, a thought forever solidified and caught in that precious, precarious thing we call existence.

The paintings are a great backdrop to the Urban Coffee Lounge; the coffee isn’t half bad either!