Figures, sometimes in groups and sometimes on their own, are shown caught up in a wide variety of enigmatic endeavours in the paintings of Kai McCall. These puzzling scenes have a dream-like quality and might take place in a vast and alien landscape, within a theatrical interior, or near an icy cliff. The fragments of recognizable imagery compel the viewer to look for identifiable narrative in each painting. However, the overall meaning of the work eludes us. The paintings read more like a work of fiction with the concluding chapters missing; we are conscious of a conflict developing yet the resolution remains suspended in time, the outcome ambiguous.

Trying to figure out the story line is not the point of the paintings, however. Meaning is communicated by the way they are painted, and the elaborate cultural and stylistic references contained within them. Certain elements are rendered in the opulent technique of 17th Century painting with their rich colours and glazed surfaces. Other parts are painted flat and are rendered in tones that recall 1950’s illustrations. The combination of fantastical imagery and traditional figurative painting techniques has its roots in the work of a diverse group of artists including Tiepolo, de Chirico, Velazquez and Manet. But the stylistic and art-historical references are less important than is the sensation of endless mixture and visual variety that the artist weaves together in strange and ingenious ways.