Carnival

This work, like Kea, was done in a period when Philip Trusttum was in an expressionistic mode, shifting away from the landscape to more personal images. It is one of a suprising number of paintings he completed during 1965. Michael Dunn has commented, ‘It is noticeable with Trusttum’s kind of neo-expressionism that it largely lacks the angst, blackness and social criticism of [Rudolf] Gopas and [Philip] Clairmont. His imagery seems more positive, more a celebration of life and of creative energy than a morbid kind of self-analysis.’ Certainly the title of this work is demonstrative of the features that Dunn has attributed to Trusttum’s paintings.