A EUROPEANS post impressionist influence permeates the 36 works by Fred McElwee. Though it is not that obvious, the artist concedes an indebtedness to Cezanne and Roderic O'Connor. However, a post impressionist emphasis on formal values is apparent in the work which tends as well to make statements that are idiomatic and systematic, particularly in his interpretation of trees, for which he displays some empathy The artist reaps a satisfying dividend from unspectacular almost mundane landscape motifs a we see in his interesting Midland Landscape.
The artist's approach, though repetitive, is always painterly. Still Life with an Elephant God seems to have paradisical and, perhaps Gauguin, connotations.