I've been a fan of the work of
David Tress ever since I was introduced to it in 2005 by
Katherine Holmes when I did
courses with her at
Malham Tarn Field Centre . He also has a very good reputation as a tutor and I've been trying , without success, to get on one of his classes for years at various venues, they fill up so quickly. So I'm thrilled to have got the last place on his workshop at
Lund Studios in September 2018.
Yesterday I went to see his exhibition at
Messums Gallery ( and spent so long poring over the surfaces, taking notes, that they offered me a coffee!) I bought both the book and the catalogue but you really need to see them in the flesh to appreciate the layers and marks.
They have a huge physical presence, built up of layers of torn and cut collaged heavy watercolour paper overlapping the edges, with impasto paint scratched into. They have such energy and sense of place
I loved the graphite drawings too, the paper distressed and torn and marks scored into the surface.
After lunch at Bruton Place Pizza Express , I was intending to go to the Jasper Johns at The RA and was reading the article about him in the Friends magazine. But then an advert for exhibition of
Jeremy Gardiner at the Paisnel Gallery caught my eye and I headed there instead.
Also involving layers of heavy watercolour paper but excavated precisely with a knife and painted with watercolours and Jesmonite. I loved the abstract compositions and colours which reminded me of Wilhelmina Barnes- Graham. The series were based on lighthouses ( including Portland) . Personally ( and it is a matter of taste) I wasn't so keen on the photographic realism of the lighthouses themselves but the coastal landscapes they were set in were wonderful. Again I bought the catalogue and also the book of the
previous exhibition which was collage and oils( and includes a film on CD)
So I'm now delving in my stash for watercolour paper to tear, cut , layer and incise.
No comments:
Post a Comment