CATALOGUE 2026-27
Inside is a distillation of 40 years work in 14 pages, & an index. It's designed to introduce collectors & art lovers to the many themes of my work. I would be delighted to explain more to you about one should you be interested.
I trust Dale Hutchison who is highly skilled in all aspects of art management to also assist, advise with any questions you may have. I entrust the business side to Dale while I spend time in Italy creating more art.
Above - An image which has haunted me all my life. 'Dog of Comfort & Protection' was first created in 1983. Dogs are the most loyal & protective of all animals to humans.
For some time I've been working on making new versions of Christian religious imagery. It feels genuinely stimulating & meaningful. There is more interest in this than I would have thought - & I encourage others to do some if they're inclined, If they do so maybe art galleries will be interested.
I'm also working on is how to communicate the idea, notion, reality that it's possible to be an artist without going to Art School - there's no reason why you shouldn't succeed. Most of the best artists existed before Art Schools did.
'Only in the West does Art constantly change.'
Art from as far back as the 10th century influences my work.
I love beauty, narrative & skill.
All cultures create art - on walls, bodies, fabrics, ceramics, buildings using all kinds of materials, change happens only slowly. Only in the west does it change so often its hard to keep up with. Going from representational to abstract art & everything in between in just 100 years.
I'm not religious but I find Christian religious art increasingly attractive & I know others do too. I also encourage others to make their own versions of what appeals to them & I think if enough artists did so, galleries would give them a show.
Computers, mobiles, websites, AI, social media affect us all. Is there a price for the convenience & what will the long term effects be? What is the role of an artist today? Do we need censorship? Is modern art ugly? What is beauty? What has happened to the Soul?
Photograph by James Koch
City of Bristol, my UK home & it's famous Suspension Bridge.
This oil painting was made circa 1994. I never tire of this view where at night, the bridge appears to be hanging in the sky.
Bristol City is has beautiful architecture and tree filled public parks & gardens where people can sit, picknick, play & just relax.
Detail from the painting of Bristol Suspension Bridge. The light & atmosphere constantly changes.. Oil on canvas.1994. 70 x 66 cm.
There are at least three sides to my work - of nature & the landscapes around me, the imagination & the one which interprets what I observe of the world created by humans.
What is the imagination, what is it's purpose?
Imagination - Rather than draw what I see, I often as it were, 'draw' my thoughts, & find pen & ink best for this. It's fast & the results are immediate. The images come from memory, intuition & having looked at many other pictures. Imagination is hard to define exactly but is it perhaps the result of the interaction between the conscious & unconscious mind?
Science aims to prove things as unquestionable, but I think imagination is rather like being certain about the origins of the universe which can never be proved permanently because the goal posts change the moment you think it's been nailed!
A dream - of frescoes painted in Italy combining modern & past human life with nature & the life of animals.
DRAWING with a dip pen and ink is so expressive. It can be disobedient, blot & stall, but it's fun & rewarding when it works. It's also portable, inexpensive & only a few techniques are needed to begin.
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My response to the present chaos & confusion is by creating in my own work, contemporary versions of traditional Christian religious imagery in the hope it might encourage others.
The following four drawings & video are my personal interpretations, responses to aspects of the content of Christian religious art.
The strangeness of a world.
This slide-bar has humans, strange beings, churches, opposing forces - dark-light, chaos-order, people, imagined forms.
A fantastical hybrid faces birds & is contrasted with a calm tonal painting of trees.
Two illustrated books on Amazon -
'The Year 2020, World in Chaos'
& 'Eclipse 2023'
Between 2020 & 2023 I drew 140 pictures in two large sketchbooks about the Global Pandemic.
I used classical & modern images & each has a brief commentary.
Amazon Print £6.64. Kindle £1.65,
https://www.amazon.co.uk/YEAR-2020-WORLD-Seventy-Drawings-ebook/dp/B0BR5R4MQQ/ref=sr_1_2?
This photo of me was taken by my son in Italy. It is my favourite country, I love the people, history, art & the landscape. Although he cannot be here, Norman made it possible for me to be there. I'm surrounded by drawings I made there since 2016.
Norman Rickard. When He died in 2007 I made paintings about & in memory of him. I call this one 'Norman with Wings.'
NORMaN LOVED BIRDS, candle-lit dinner parties,
music & CHRISTMAS.
Norman Rickard, love of my life. We were the same age, born on the same day, at the same time, April 4 1952. He died on May 7th 2007.
The Consequences of war
Images of War 2003-15. 50 paintings & over 100 drawings
50.000 children were killed in Iraq during the 2003 invasion. I painted distressed, wounded, orphaned and dead babies and children in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Gaza. Not a single war has been stopped by war art. I see it as caused not by those in the front line but by those far away from it, who plan, design, implement, manipulate & profit from it,
It's known that diplomacy could prevent many wars, but sadly governments are rarely interested in that.
