Island

Judging from this show of his latest work, this young painter is beginning to fulfil the promise hinted at over the past 10 years since his graduation from Camberwell. Now, eschewing his past love-affair with the red vastness of the Australian desert, the artist has moved his palette into contemplative blues and greens inspired by a trip to Ireland. But rather than a break with his previous work, this should be seen as evidence of a thoughtful continuity. In a series of complex and ethically beautiful canvasses, Elwes comments on the universal preoccupations of mankind, linking the traditional iconographical devices of the Outback with those of the ancient peoples of the Celtic twilight. These are not merely landscapes, but synoptic hieroglyphs whose language we might do well to re-learn.

Iain Gale in The Week, June 3 1995