I have been impressed by the Alison Jacques gallery recently; they seem to put on great exhibitions – the beautiful and meditative Moonmilk exhibition by Ryan McGinley transported the viewer into a world alive with vigour, movement and youth. The latest exhibition from another Ryan is not quite so fashionable and there was less hoo-ha surrounding it, but in the gallery I felt like I was seeing something very special, an exhibition from a young painter which viewed very much like an art history lecture.

Featured in Saatchi’s New-speak exhibition Ryan Mosley seems to be becoming a YBA for the new decade. Other pieces by him have reminded me of the grotesque and shocking works of Kara Walker or with his intricacy and colour, of Chris Ofili but the selection in Alison Jaqcues felt more historic, the blocks of colour and style immediately said post impressionism and early 20^th century art though the influences are many. In Here Lies the Artist (2009, oil on canvas) I was reminded both of Gaugin’s Vision After the Sermon (1888) and particularly  of Frida Kahlo’s What the Water Gave Me(1938), which Mosley must have had on his mind as he painted it. Other paintings showed influences as far reaching as Star Wars, graffiti, the faces of Degas’ chubby dancers and Hogarth’s morality tales. Hirsutus (Oil on linen, 2009-2010) shows a figure which seems wild with madness or alcohol, a carnivalesque freak, however, with time the figure seems to be more like a prophet or religious figure, I found myself reminded of Caravaggio and of icons in Polynesian art.

Mosley’s paintings are filled with music and joy. Severed limbs and skulls could be disturbing but bold blocks of colour and cartoon–like figures reward the viewer for patience and contemplation –each work oozes humanity and humour, even a piece which seems to show a monk whose brain had been scooped out, A Concave Friar (2009-2010, Oil on linen), was delicate, playful and compassionate. The gallery smelled of paint which added to the feeling that Mosley’s works are new and fresh, whilst being grounded in a huge array of art historical references. My favourite piece in the show was Southern Banjo (Oil on canvas, 2009) it felt like Disney, Gaugin and David Shrigley had combined forces to illustrate a modern fable, one of the best paintings I have seen in a long time.

Words: Helen Nisbet.