In this watercolour, acquired for the collection after Batarda’s exhibition at the end of his study grant in 1975, the highly accomplished drawing is – as in Ao Exp. Abs. 1 and 2 – reminiscent of cartography. But here, the grouped elements of the painting draw a V on a dark grey ground. From the bend in the V, a pale, discontinuous line emerges. Though irregular, it suggests a road, while at the same time reading as a descending arrow. This is the last painting that Batarda made before a three-year break. His original idea had been to call the work Chevron, a word that appears in two of the inscriptions on this painting. When returning to aquarelle in 1978, Batarda revisited this work in two other watercolours with Chevron in their titles. Chevron is not only the name of one of the oldest American petrol companies, but also means a V-shaped military emblem, sewn onto the sleeves of army uniforms to indicate the ranking and number of years that the wearer has served.

The verbal inscriptions in the painting include viewing instructions (drolly inviting the viewer to read the smallest letters by stepping closer to the painting), self-deprecating remarks, slang and chronological reference marks, suggesting that this cartographic reading also contains a panoramic view of art history (and of the artist’s own work) which moves downwards, as if it were depressingly drowning or immersing into the earth, to persist only as an archaeological comment on its own past.

MPS

May 2010