Gallery, Hamilton.

*** For some time now, the work of Catherine Draycott has induced that rare thrill of excited anticipation which heralds the arrival of a genuine artistic talent.

Her self portrait, shown in the recent Biennial at the Bermuda National Gallery, for instance, was arguably one of the most arresting in the exhibition and, now, her solo show for Masterworks confirms that she is a painter who already combines a sure sense of draughtsmanship with a vivid sense of imagination. While not wholly surreal, her present work tends in that direction, presenting challenges for the viewer that are as much intellectual as visual.

The Masterworks series has been described as a series of workshop presentations, in the vein of `work in progress'.

This is undoubtedly true of Draycott, who is never loath to share her current preoccupations with her audience. The result is a small, but intriguing collection of work which provides a fascinating revelation of `the artist in progress'.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in her `Crow' series, a sequential set of `narrative' paintings which illustrate her current interest in literary connections -- in this case, the book of poetry by that name by the late Poet Laureate Ted Hughes. His symbolic use of the crow (partly inspired by the American artist Leonard Baskin), became a somewhat despairing metaphor for the legends of creation through the indestructible crow which `screamed for blood' throughout the various stages of birth and creation. While Draycott's images are in no way violent, there is certainly a palpable air of menace, achieved through a further use of `bird' symbolism where two girls wear owl masks, the girl in virginal white clasping the black bird. In the second picture, the intense theatricality of her work shines through, as a woman in a suitably `feathered' black dress, sporting an elaborate mask and headdress holds a cage through which the crow has presumably just flown, straight towards another recurring symbol -- that of a window reflecting drifting clouds against an infinity of blue.

The third study brings us, possibly, into the clutter of the artist's own studio where the window/sky image becomes a picture on her easel and the black prom dress (now an indispenable prop) has its skirts pulled dramatically aside to reveal a phantasmagoria of tangled feathers and leaves.

This idea is further explored in a much larger study of the dress which develops the theme in `Receding Garden'. Here, the drawn-back skirt reveals a veritable cornucopia of foliage where autumn leaves, dead hibiscus blossoms and Easter lilies flourish in an intricate design, painted in autumnal rust colours until, at the waist-line, there is a sprig of probably symbolic irridescent green thrusting through. The important thing about this work is the sheer beauty of the painting, highlighted by her inborn and unerring sense of colour. She sharply illustrates, too, that while she may reject representational art, she does so entirely through choice rather than -- as is so often the case -- through paucity of technical know-how.

Again, her gift for portraiture is reinforced in The Magic Robe, a frankly puzzling oil study where fellow artist Dan Dempster, clad in voluminous black robe and standing splendidly as his fiery red locks stream about him, seems to suggest through the positioning of his hands (clasped under his chin) that he is about to rip off the all-pervading mask of his own face. Adding a discomforting sense of doom is a mysterious, death-like figure hovering in the the background, shared with an unappeasing sea.

Masks (at this developmental stage of her career, at least) obviously ride high in Draycott's artistic psyche. She also uses them in the strictly theatrical sense, harking back to their origins in Greek drama, in her Dress Rehearsal, a most satisfying painting where the ubiquitous dress now clothes an actress who holds her hands over her owl-mask face; the `clouds' symbolism becomes the stage backdrop while the owl motif is repeated through five masks which hang aloft from the proscenium arch.

As her work clearly underlines, Draycott received a solid art education, first at the City of Bath College and Bristol Polytechnic in England, and then at the famed School of the Museum of Fine Art in Boston.

In her Artist's Statement, she notes the influence (among others) of Sargent on her work.

In her three Masquerade Studies this is apparent in the excellent, painterly handling of the sheen and sumptuous folds in her ball gowns.

Altogether, an intriguing show which gives an unusual insight into the progression from the admittedly higher reaches of art school conventions into the freer but essentially lonely world which confronts the truly creative artist.

PATRICIA CALNAN SOLO SHOW FOR YOUNG ARTIST -- Catherine Draycott whose solo art show at the Masterworks provided a grand finale to their Artists Up Front Series.

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