Major feature in this issue is the work of Shaun Smyth an artist who has created an astonishing series of paintings and drawing documenting the building of the incredible engineering achievement that is known as the Mersey Gateway Bridge. Tubes also interviews Ian Mood who’s exhibition 'on common ground' is on Exhibition the Burslem Art School Stoke-on-Trent. Plus a feature on Formal and free abstract painting. With Alan Clement Evans, Bruce Lyons, Jonathan Powell, Ron Coleman, Megan Chapman and Clive Croft.
This new and broader audience targeted magazine will of course continue to featureArtists from the UK, but they will form only apart of the Magazine and in not the majorityof it, as in the past.Tubes magazine welcomes two new artistscontributors, David Traves and LaurenceCausse-Parsley, who will writing about Artfrom their own perspective. Laurence hasmade two smaller contributions in this issueto kick off her own column and David haselected to write fuller articles and essays,the first of which, he decided, that I was hisperfect subject for a two part essay.However, I needed some convincing above painting: “We all get Stoned.” 160 cm x 95 cm” (63 x 36 inches) to allow Tubes to publish this particular oil on canvas. As my own artistic ethics and Private collection acquired 2014: Sweden.editorial morality shouted out at me to notallow the magazine to publish an essay I would like to thank the very small number of people in the UKon art with it’s own Editor as the subject who have supported the magazine materially and continually fromexample. David promised a non-bias its inception and the Galleries who have engaged with me as theapproach, and therefore I decided to face Editor of Tubes and have been accommodating to me personallythe slings and arrows of his opinion of my and the Magazine in general. And to the many artists in the UKown Art, which I have to say has been who have allowed me access to their private studios and havecontinually attacked since 1986, because been, in the main, quite open and frank about their views on Artof my refusal to forego experimental art and and the Contemporary Art scene in the North West of England.succumb to creating commercially viablepaintings. And of course, many thanks to many of our 26,000 readers who have sent messages of gratitude to painters Tubes magazines forSo his brutal honesty has not fazed me, in keeping on a path that many other art magazines fear to tread.fact I welcomed the honest criticism, that’shard to come by these days of political Denis Taylorcorrectness. Artist, and Editor of painters Tubes magazine (UK) 2016 to 2018.
3 TUBES contentsFront Page and pages: 6 to 11 front page and lead article ...a bridge..so far...paintings by Shaun Smythpages 12 to 16...Ian Mood on ‘Common Ground’.pages 17 to 21. Pauline Rignall... ...Myths and Psychologypages 21 to 24. Formal and Free Abstract....essay and featuring the artists below:page 25...Alan Clement. page 26 Brue Lyonspages 27 to 28...Johnathan Powellpage 29...Clive Croft.pages 30 to 3... Megan Chapmanpage 32... Ron Colemanpages 33 to 35...David Traves, article about the Editors Art.pages 36 to 37... there is still life in Still Life and featuring the artists below:pages 38 to 39... Michael Wellerpage: 40:..Steve Capper. pagespage 40 to 41... William Packerpage 42. Ivan Taylor at Barewall Gallerypage 43. Colony Gallery. New Spring Exhibition.pages 44 to 45. Anne Aspinall at Contemporary Six.page 46. Steve Capper one show at Gatewway Gallery.page 47: introducing David Traves a new artist contributor.page 48. Laurence Causse-Parsley. new artist contributorpage 49. Dave Coulter - “Meet the Artist”page 50. Introducing Tubes International Art Magazinepage 51. Hester Berry. New Artist at Cheshire Art Gallery.back page. Cheshire Art Gallery. the ‘Continuum’ exhibition Tubes magazine on line & in printpre-order a printed copy today for delivery to your home 18th May 2018. £7.00 +pp (UK only) email: [email protected] or message: www.facebook.com/painterstubes/
4 photograph:©Lee Harrison Photography a bridge...so far paintings of the Mersey Gateway Bridge Shaun Smyth
5 A bridge...so far (painting and drawings by Shaun Smyth)Shaun Smyth is an artist who has created an astonishing series of paintings and drawing documenting thebuilding of the incredible engineering achievement that is known as the Mersey Gateway Bridge. I’d first caughta glimpse of this work on line and decided that a personal visit to his Studio in St Helen’s was needed to viewthe work ‘in the flesh’ so to speak.My visit, in March 2018, coincided with some freak freezing cold easterly winds, accompanied by snow driftsin parts of the North West of England. Despite my familiarity with very cold weather, living as I do in Sweden,I was not prepared for the ‘panic’ that the public train system in the UK seems to experience every time thereis an unexpected cold snap. Train connections cancelled and little information to help passengers reach theirdestinations seems to be the norm, as the unexpected bad weather always happens on a Sunday when the staffare at less than at half strength and the information desks are all closed. Despite the cancellations and delays,Shaun and I managed to re-arrange a new meeting place, which was several miles away from the originalrailway Station to a small railway station at Wigan, one I was able to get to from Manchester. From the Wigan station Shaun took me to take a look at the bridge itself, which even from a distance of a few miles, is pretty impressive. The Halton Borough Council had acquired two of Shaun’s paintings of the Bridge before and were quick to purchase yet another painting, which was installed at their Council Building reception. Shaun had arranged for me to view that too, even though it did mean a Council official having to ‘open the doors’ especially for us, as it was Sunday and subsequently the building was closed. My immediate reaction to the work was how Shaun had composed the work. The bridge seemed insignificant in relationship to the vast open sky, which in turn reminds the viewer that humankind may well be able to construct these immense structures, but nature and the cosmos is and will always be, the greatest ‘builder’ of all. This particular painting celebrates that as a reality and at the same time does not detract away from the bridge itself. Just the opposite in fact, as the bridge shown in this work encourages the viewer to get closer to it and find out just how it was built by human-hand. The reason for the bridge to be constructed in the first place was clearly outlined in the ‘project’ details from the very onset of the project in 2006... ...”A second road crossing over the Mersey has been a long held aspiration of Halton Borough Council and its neighbouring local authorities. In 2006 the Mersey Gateway Project, a major scheme to build a new six-lane toll bridge over the River Mersey between the towns of Runcorn and Widnes, was agreed. The new bridge will relieve the congested and ageing Silver Jubilee Bridge.”Clearly, those concerned for the project felt that the huge costs (estimated at well over £600 million) of buildingthe Bridge, would be justified, albeit over a period of time and generate jobs and revenue for the district, as ithad also been decided that bridge should carry a ‘Toll’.Shaun on the other hand, saw an opportunity to record not only it’s construction, but viewed it, with somejustification, as an historical documentation and a possible fantastic series paintings, ones that deserved histotal commitment.
6Here is what he had to say to me recently about why the bridge project was important to him...“...the River Mersey has played a significant role throughout my life; my proximity to itbeing a source of inspiration for my work. The decision to buy a property closer to whereI was brought up in Runcorn came at a good time, due to my interest in the continuousredevelopment of the geographical landscape of Halton. In particular the innovativeconstruction and development of the Mersey Gateway Bridge. My personal connectionwith the Mersey Estuary is much deeper than simply living and working close to the river.It is a part of my personal history, my father having worked on the Manchester Ship Canalthat runs alongside this particular stretch of the Mersey. What is always in the back of mymind, is the excellent advice from the influential artist and my mentor, Mike Knowles...“that an artist should paint what is seen every day.”The Gateway project is a monumental piece of engineering and I was so excited to recordthe development, one of the biggest bridge constructions of its kind in Europe, happeningin my home town and I was overjoyed to be a part of it. I was captivated by the beautyand elegance of the bridge design, the triangular geometric shape of the tower cablestays resembling the masts and sails of a ship. The play of light [on them] I found to be aninteresting and major challenge to paint, as they disappeared and reappeared in the everchanging sky, reflecting in the surface waters of the estuary. The movement in the naturalelements surrounding the man-made structure became another aspect that I wanted toexplore further. Conveying the sheer power of the natural environment against the iconicstructure that was appearing before me, it became almost an obsession...”
7I was to become fully aware of that obsession when Shaun and I left the Council building and the bridge behindus then travelled a short distance to his home and his studio.After a welcomed hot cup of tea, one that returned he colour to my hands and face, I was also warmed by thewelcoming to his home that his delightful partner and wife gave me. Jacqui filled me in of the background oftheir lives together and confirmed to me that all dedicated authentic Artists benefit hugely from a supportivepartner. It was also evident that their ‘togetherness’ played a massive role in Shaun’s art generally... “ happy artists create more and live longer than sad ones..” Tubes UK Editor with Shaun in his Studio photograph: ©David TraversAfter our tea and chat. Shaun and I went into his studio, which is an autonomous building connected to theirlovely home. It was here that I had the pleasure of looking closely at the drawings Shaun had made. Someof them were extremely large, all of which held the power of a keen artist eye for detail and an obvious totalabsorption in the subject matter. “....in 2015 the first initial drawing studies were created looking across the shore of theMersey Estuary, focusing on how the construction was transforming the surrounding landmass. Ibecame fascinated in recording the continual changing of the light, and the tide and the speed inwhich the construction of the bridge was rapidly taking shape. The paintings and drawings werecreated in conjunction with that pace, one that was happening before my very eyes..”
8 Shaun began to disseminate a large stack of finished paintings and placed each one separately outside in the garden to enable me to gain a better view of each one in natural light. He put one work next to another until I’d seen enough to appreciate how much work he had really done, which was impressive in itself. And each piece was as good as the next, some were better than others, from a ‘personal’ liking point of view, but all were of an excellent standard. The variable light, colour and tonal values reflected the environments effect of the construction, almost step by step. Shaun explained the how volume and variety of the work evolved, here are what he had to say... “...the construction [of the bridge] was a continuous process as the building workers were on 12 hour shift rotations, working throughout the night. The opportunity to create a series of nocturnal panoramas of the reflecting light on the estuary and the Manchester Ship Canal was challenging for any artist to try and capture both the evening light and the atmosphere. I relished the opportunity to experiment with a darker tonal palette to express subtle changes in colour due to the unnatural man-made lighting reflecting in the water, sky and the Gantry Wall, one which separates the Manchester Ship Canal from the Mersey Estuary. Each painting soon became a key point in the development of the bridge as the structure was getting closer to completion and connected to both sides of the estuary....”
9You’d be mistaken to believe that the ‘bridge’ bank of work is allthat Shaun’s art is about. His art encompasses ‘nature’ and the‘environment’ with equal passion as the bridge has done these pastyears. He also teaches art and has great enthusiasm and pride for thework his students create under his tutorship, inspiration that he himselfwas shown by his own art mentor and teachers, Alan Evans and MikeKnowles and the late John Charters. Here are two short extractsfrom the statements they made which accompanied an introductoryexhibition of the bridge ‘the Crossings’ Shaun mounted last year. “...Shaun is an artist of studied depth who pursues a topic with tenacity and vigour over months and years. His subjects are landscapes. These can be areas of outstanding beauty here or abroad but more often aspects of the built environment where the subjects are much closer to home...Shaun has an affinity with, and respect for, the work of Creffield, Auerbach and Peter Prendergast....” Alun Evans. “...I first came across Shaun Smyth in his early student days atart school in Widnes....Even then his eagerness to forge a careeras an artist was apparent. Subsequently I was his tutor for a timeduring his undergraduate years and was again impressed by hisenthusiasm and sense of purpose...in this most recent work and the series responding to the dramatic panoramic landscapes of the Mersey estuary, Shaun has found the subject matter whichbest allows his vision to find expression. It is no coincidence that this is the landscape with which he is most familiar and within which he has grown to maturity.”Mike Knowles, NDD, DFA(London), RCA. Emeritus Professor in Fine Art, Liverpool John Moores University.
10 The ‘bridge’ series of work is not finished yet, despite the bridge itself having been officially opened and now in full operation. Shaun told me recently that he is now continuing to paint the total series from his sketches and create work showing the bridge as a vital connection for both sides of the Mersey. He is also preparing to make special specific sketches to the constructions team workers as a sign of respect and gratitude for the ‘extra-special’ co-operation they gave him during the long and precise artists recording of ‘the Bridge.’ “...the bridge opening celebration in October 2017 was a big part of Halton’s history and being there to witness the event was an amazing experience which I also documented as a painting and as a celebration of the project. I continue to record the bridge through my journey’s over it and the surrounding new road layout, which I am continually inspired by, with the changing light, the weather conditions and the continual moving traffic...so these works are the bridge, so far, I’m sure there are more paintings that are still to be created...”
11 Tubes magazine editors comment: It seems to me that the title for this article the bridge...so far’ is indeed the right one.I believe that it is not only a major construction but an a major artistic project and achievement, onethat deserves an equally major exhibition, where the full extent of the paintings can be exhibited fora general public. And the series of work is more than justified for such an exhibition to be mounted in a major National venue. Shaun shouldn’t have to go ‘too far’ to find the support he needs to make that exhibition a reality....Tubes magazine have already signed up as a platform for the exhibition, and I have personally offered Shaun my help to curate the show for him. Denis Taylor. Artist and Editor painters Tubes magazine was talking with Shaun Smyth 18th March 2018
12 Ian Mood... ...on Common Ground
13 “Common Ground” Ian Mood and his new project in Burslem Stoke-on-TrentI have known of Ian Mood’s painting for a few years now, I’d first viewed his work atan exhibition at Gateway Gallery in Hale, Cheshire. I thought then that his work held astrange ambiguity to them, one which was aided by an almost ethereal light that madethe eye realize the form that lay behind the ambiguous brush strokes. The work I viewed,at that time, were mostly landscapes scene’s with the City of Manchester used as a focalpoint in the distance. So, when I discovered that he was to set about on a new project,specifically related to a contemporary view of his home town, I decided it was time wemeet him and his art face to face.I caught the early train to from Manchester to Stoke where Ian and I had arranged tolink up at the Burslem School of Art, a few miles outside the Centre of Stoke. It was herethat Ian was to mount the exhibition ‘Common Ground.’ This was a specific project hehad envisaged through the inspiration gained form his Grandfather, who had ‘taken-up’painting upon his retirement. His Grandfather, himself a gifted painter, created work fromthe area in which he lived and the birthplace of the family. Ian’s idea was to revisit eachof the paintings and create contemporary versions of that bank of work. To enable that hehad, with the help of the Barewall’s Gallery, secured a second floor temporary studio inBurslem Town centre with the Art School being a perfect venue for the show.Ian introduced me to Neil Dawson, a Trustee member. The trust is responsible for thebuilding and it’s activities. Neil is passionate about the building and the School. And theimportance to maintain the heritage of the past. He explained to me the crux of theirmission... painting ©Ian Mood. image: Courtesy of Gateway Gallery, Hale, Cheshire.
14 photo: Burslem School of Art, kindly supplied by: Barewall Art Gallery Stoke-on-Trent. www.barewall.co.uk telephone:01782 258 843 “...the Burslem School of Art aims to contribute positively, and significantly, to the continued use of our heritage building; to supporting existing and new artists; to promoting education and lifelong learning; and to ensuring the cultural opportunities, art exhibitions and events within our building are nurtured and accessible to everyone.” The art school originated in 1853. In the nineteenth century each of the towns making up the (future) city of Stoke-on-Trent founded its own art school, the Burslem school moving into the Weddgewood Institute when it was completed in the 1860s. In 1905 the art school moved across the road to new purpose-built accommodation designed by A.R. Wood, a local architect. The new building with its distinctive large windows helped the art school become pre-eminent in the district. By 1993 the Edwardian building was abandoned, left empty and boarded up until it was awarded a 1.2 million refurbishment grant in 1999. The Burslem School of Art in Stoke-on-Trent has been operating successfully since its refurbishment reopening in 2000, under the guardianship of the Burslem School of Art Trust (BsoAT), which is now in partnership with The City College. The Trust’s obligations in terms of outputs and outcomes have been fully satisfied and the building continues to offer a range of educational and creative enterprise spaces, as well as a diverse programme of exhibitions and events. BsoAT activities occur mainly outside the core teaching hours of the Sixth Form. The building’s restoration and creative focus has been a catalyst for further regeneration in the town, which has embraced this enterprise theme following the School of Art’s lead. Rooms in the building are named after local successful artist over the last 100 years. The Trustee board members wish to create opportunities for enjoyment and training in art, design and culture to assist employment prospects for the local community in the BsoA building. These opportunities are enhanced by use of the excellent exhibition space in the BsoA building, art projects in the community and promoting the heritage of Burslem. Classes already consist of the ex Royal Doultons figure painters, various art classes, art clubs and adult learning classes. Their activities also include high quality Art Exhibitions such as the Keele University Three Counties.
15Ian’s project ‘CommonGround’, fits in perfectly withthe Schools ambitions andmission and Ian himself iskeen to contribute to theartistic regeneration ambitionsand recognition that BurslemTown is pushing to achieve,by way of the new directiveof ‘equal sharing’ (away fromLondon) of the available culturegrants for the North West ofEngland, as outlined in theBritish Government Ministry ofSport and Culture report (#4),published in December 2017.After our meeting with the ArtSchool, Ian took me to his new(temporary) studio where hehad only recently moved in.It is a fine space with goodlight and it looked like Ian hadwasted no time at all in gettingdown to the beginnings of hisnew work. Dotted about weresome paintings he liked to keeparound him. Two in particular caught my eye, they were almost monochrome smallish works, but withthat ‘ethereal’ quality I had spotted over two years ago at the Gateway Gallery. We talked about how veryoften, an artist can create a work in spontaneous immediate strokes of purity, without thinking about theoutcome or worrying that ‘what was painted’ had any specific finishing point. “I like to keep those two (pointing to the monochromes)where I am working, because of exactly that reason.”Ian also paints ‘figures’ and heseems to want to achieve thesame, spontaneity with theirexecution as he does with his‘landscape’ paintings. But thatbelies a deeper talent coupledwith a strong sense that heknows his own abilities andhow he can develop his positiveauthentic artistic attributes overthe coming years. He is anambitious artist, in the full senseof the word, although that iscoloured with what most originalartists feel, that is to reach alevel where each work is a joyto make, and a joy to view, byothers. paintings ©Ian Mood. Image Courtesy of Gateway Gallery, Hale. Cheshire.
16Ian the artist, is as pleasant to be aroundas Ian, the person. His character is selfassured but he gives attention, with obviousrespect, for other artists, their work and forpeople in general. At this point in time, I feelhe is a ‘balanced’ artist, mature beyond hisyears, essentially keen to nurture his paintingand protect them from any mis-understandingthat the ill-informed or miscued conclusionsthat a casual viewer may arrive at.A viewer may need ‘time’ to ‘get-in’ to some ofIan’s paintings, but I personally feel, it’s timeworth taking. And the time I spent with himwas well worth the full day I had allotted forthe interview. Ian has exhibited at a numberof Galleries far and wide, but his work is alsooffered by two ‘local galleries’ and is soughtafter by collectors on a regular basis. BarewallGallery and Trent Art Gallery are two of hislocal stockists, both of whom Ian told me, helphim provide the financial stability that allowedhim to purse the new ‘Common Ground’project. His enthusiasm for the project isundoubtedly propelled forward by the personalconnection Ian has with his Grandfatherswork. That family connection that re-joins thepast with the present using visual intelligencecombined with the contemporary artisticabilities Ian has in natural abundance.The ‘common ground’ that many artists above paintings ©Ian Mood. Image: Courtesy of Gateway Gallery,share, is to go beyond the normal, to push Hale. Cheshire.the boundaries of the accepted, to break newground and forge paths where they do not below paintings ©Ian Mood.exist - Ian is sharing that common ground with Image: painters Tubes magazine ©2018.his Grandfather, and along the way there canbe no doubt that the unexpected road to new‘art’ will be discovered once again. Common Ground the Exhibition Burslem Art School July 27th 2018 Denis Taylor with Ian Mood in Stoke. Friday 16th March.
17paintings:©Pauline Rignall. Photograph: painters Tubes magazine ©2018 “Myths and Psychology” the figurative paintings of Pauline Rignall “Myths are dramatised psychology, an expression of the innerlife through the creative imagination. They are both universal andpersonal, being symbolic of the patterns and energies operating in the cosmos in society and the individual.” Pauline Rignall
18There was nothing mythical about my recentmeeting with Pauline Rignall in hercottage studio nestled among the very lovelyand quintessential English Derbyshire hills. AsI stepped off the train Pauline was waiting togreet me at the gate of the small country railwaystation. And in less than a few minutes we weresat at her dining table enjoying coffee and a pieceof home made cake, talking Art and painting ingeneral. Pauline is a gentle sensuous soul onethat is reflected in many of her paintings, albeitnot that obvious to the casual observer of herfigurative paintings. However, her landscapepainting do reflect a serenity and an appreciationof the beauty of nature that surrounds her.Pauline’s has a deceptive strength of characterthat is partially masked by a playfulness andgenuine love of Art and literature. I first becameaware of her as an artist when she contactedTubes with a submission to be included inthe ‘landscape’ feature of 2017 (issue # 5).Unfortunately the magazine was oversubscribedwith hundreds of landscape painters examples,so it was impossible to include them all, Paulinenever made it into that issue. However, amongthe landscapes were one of two figure paintingsthat intrigued me and I contacted her to discovermore. Over a few months she posted someexamples of work that she returned to after sometime. Pauline explained that they was a recentmoment of inspiration which spurred her to‘take-up’ figure painting once more. “...a recent inspiration has been an ancient Sumerian myth documented by the psychologist, Sylvia BrintonPerera in “Descent To The Goddess.” It centres around the Goddess Innana; the sky goddess who visits her sister Ereshkigal in the underworld. This drama later evolved into the myth of Persephone and Pluto... ...I found the image of Innana being left naked to die on the stake,emerged into my painting.This symbolizes the female cross andprefigures Christ and Odin. She is theancestress of the Gnostic Sophie. It isa complex myth connecting the dark side of the feminine which has beenoutcast in the social and internalised structure of patriarchy.” paintings and drawing ©Pauline Rignall
19 paintings and drawing ©Pauline RignallFor readers not familiar with ancient writings on this subject, the basis of the myth is to put over themessage for a journey we all should take and at the end of it ask ourselves, what is the meaning oflife? Although the stories that sprang from the Goddess are varied and have other ‘shades of meaning’interpreted from them, Pauline has considered and absorbed into her work contemporary reasoning,like male and female relationships, exposure of the soul, independence of mind and freedom of thefemale spirit, all of which is personified in her paintings. Which are painted with vigour and energy.“...Ereshigal is Innana’s dark compliment; her shadow. Together the goddessesmake up the bipolar complete pattern of the archetypal feminine. I hope to beexploring further too the symbols of the snake, as wisdom and the Goddess.”Her colour palette is often dominated by a rich [darkish] blue, a colour that the Ancient Greeks regardedas Holy. A fact I discovered from my years living on a Greek island as a ‘Kaliteknis’ [Greek for artist, butliterally translated ‘as good at drawing’]. Perhaps it was the colour of her figure painting that attractedme?After our brief discussions at the dinner table we ventured upstairs to her Studio where I found the wallsto be covered in her new work, some almost finished some still very much in progress. Pauline tookme through her process as I looked at the work in the flesh for first time. There is something luxuriousand sensual about her painting. I found them to be strangely relaxing, although the ‘back-story’ of someof them may not have been intended to be so. We talked about how, over the centuries, society hasdeveloped to condition us in what we can and what we cannot openly display or discuss, or indeedeven use metaphors for, be it physical sexual experiences or sensations. “ Her colour palette is often dominated by a rich [darkish] blue, a colour that the Ancient Greeks regarded as Holy.”
20 paintings and drawing ©Pauline Rignall “Perhaps it was the colour of her figure painting that attracted me?”The ancients seemed not to have that ‘19th century inbred psychobiological’ restriction as much as todayssociety seem to have, which is usually conveyed to us as behaving PC (politically correct).As an artist Pauline is a deep thinker and it was refreshing for me to meet a contemporary artist that isn’t sooverly self concerned with pleasing the crowd by painting images that are commercial, but using paint as an artform and as a mode of expressing classical ideas in a truly original and authentic manner.Like us all, she has to pay the rent, put food on the table and buy essential raw materials to continue her questof original art creation.Pauline has been successful with a number of large paintings in galleries, the Cupola Gallery in Sheffield,the Bessemer Gallery, also in Sheffield, plus the Silson Gallery in Harrogate, to mention a few. In late 2017,Pauline was also commissioned to create a large landscape painting (2000mm x 1000mm) for a client of theRivers Edge Gallery, which is a sign of her broad public appeal.
21 paintings and drawing ©Pauline RignallIt is a fact that many painters these days have difficulty placing their work in galleries, especially with thegrowing numbers of artists competing to interest galleries enough to show some of their work to the public,work that could bring welcome financial support. Fortunately, Pauline has managed to place a number ofsmaller landscape paintings in the Derwent Gallery recently, which is good news for her and to some extentpleasing for me, as many of her landscapes display the artistic bravado that can only come with a painterwho has a natural gift and the in-depth experience that Pauline has gained over the years.Our time together passed all too quickly and before long we headed back to the railway station, where Iwas to catch my train back to Manchester. We chatted as we made our way towards the station platform,and I talked of my own experiences of life and Pauline told me some of her own personal details, which wasa discussion that will remain private between us.One snippet of information that I believe I can tell the reader and one I think is only known by a selectedfew people, is that many years ago, Pauline was the model for Leon Kossoff. Today, of course, Kossoff isadmired and imitated by the many, but when she was a model for him, I suspect, he wasn’t admired thatmuch at all.Maybe, Pauline was inspired by him and his work? However, her process and method of painting is all herown.One day I do hope future painters will be admiring the work of Pauline Rignall with equal respect that is nowafforded to Leon Kossoff, although I doubt that few could imitate it. Denis Taylor Artist and Editor of Tubes magazine was talking with Pauline Rignall at her studio on March 21st 2018. ©paintersTubes magazine 2018
22 FORMAL and Free abstract Two part article covering the beginnings of formal abstraction and abstract ex- pression from the early part of the 20th century to today. painting above: “Mondrian tangles with Malevich.” ©Denis Taylor 2012
23 Formal and Free Abstraction Part OneFormal abstraction, Hard Edge, Minimal painting, Geometric Abstraction, call it what you will,what is common with all these descriptions of what you could say is a singular related artmovement is a way of creating a painting using straight lines, a work of Art where the paintingitself is the subject and not a painting of a subject, of a human emotion or of a sensation.Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), was the painter who declared that he was only concerned with“the beauty of the 90 degree angle” in his work, can be rightly seen as the main artist whobrought formal painting to a world wide audience, although there were many artists, equallyimportant, who walked along side Mondrian on that same path. One in particular perhapsexplored the ‘formal abstract’ path well before him and that was Matisse. His later ‘collage’ worksthe Snail comes to mind, and is perhaps the best early example of formal art. Another artist wasMalevich, even though his tag for ‘freedom from natural form’ was ‘Suprematism.’It was Mondrian who, after many years of trying to reach a pure simplistic painterly system,finally arrived with the self christened tag for his way of painting - ‘Plasticism’ - which became thecopied ‘new style’ for a whole ‘cool’ generation in the 1960’s.It wasn’t until the outbreak of the European 1939 war that forced Mondrian from Paris to Londonand then onto New York, where his work was was given a full retrospective one year after hisdeath, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art 1945. NYC. During the 23 years he lived and worked inParis, he never had one showing of his Art. His work was little understood by most of the generalpublic then and even up to present day that could be said to be still true. Mondrian was in facta deeply spiritual person and an art theoretical thinker, in a non-traditional-non-religious- totallyartistic sort of way. Not unlike Malevich, he also believed in a logical conclusion art thinkingdogma, one which provided Mondrian and Malevich, as they saw it, with a positive road forwardfor their Art and the whole of humanity.“..in order to approach the spiritual in art, we will make as little use as possibleof reality - because reality is opposed to the spiritual. Hence, there is a logicalexplanation for elementary forms. As these forms are abstract then we are in thepresence of abstract Art.” ...statement by Mondrian in 1927.It was from this basis that all ‘formal’ art has sprung, like the branches of a tree grow in variabledirections following the passing of time as our planet travels around the Sun. The artists whofollowed these three innovators eventually returned to ‘formalisation’ of their art in reaction towhat could be termed as ‘Free Art’ - These ‘Free Artists’ (abstract expressionists, for example)included Jackson Pollock, William De kooning, Philip Guston, Robert Motherwell, Adolph Gottlieband a host of others. (note: many of these artists will be covered in Free Art in Part Two of thenext issue of Tubes international art magazine ).Among the re-formalisation and ‘call to order’ artists were a group of Californian Artists who werelabelled ‘Hard Edge’ painters, around the1960’s through to the late 1970’s in the UK, which eithercreated the ‘fashion’ or perhaps more correctly ‘popularised’ the style of the ‘Mondrian’ look,one that was encompassed in the trendy clothes of the new breed of yuppies in the UK and the‘cool’ dudes in the states. This ‘trend’ itself being a reaction to the short lived ‘hippy culture’ thatbecame so self destructive by tripping on various mind bending drugs such as LSD. continued...
24 Ellsworth Kelly was one of the re-formalisation artists. His work of 1962 (at the age of 39 years old) created impersonal pieces three colour toned paintings after returning to NYC from Paris (1954) where he, without no doubt, remembered the later collage work of Matisse and was absolutely the heir to Mondrian’s Plasticism theories (1956 paintings). Along these same lines were the artists, Al Held and Alexander Lieberman. Frank Stella was another branch of the ‘hard edge’ painters, differing only in that he ‘monotoned’ the style and then ‘shaped’ it with cut out or shaped artwork. It could be said that the minimalists and optical artists such as Agnes Martin, Claude Viallat and Bridget Riley, were examples of another branch of the hard edge painters development. The more you trace the back-story of ‘formal art’ the more you begin to realise how much Art today is a direct descendent of the original pioneers of the genre like Matisse, Mondrian, Malevich. On the following pages Tubes has selected a few of todays artists working in this genre. We asked them to say a few words of how they saw their Art. Also included is one or two who are sort of bridges between Formal and Free painting and in the next issue Tubes will go into that back-story to discover where it all these past movements leads us in the Contemporary Art World. Article by Denis Taylor for Tubes Magazine - ©2018 issue #8 Ellsworth Kelly, Broad Street studio, New York, 1956. Photo credit: © Onni Saari. From Ellsworth Kelly
25 ALAN CLEMENT Alan Clement Evans paints under his christian names Alan Clement. He grew up in Scotland then lived in Bangor, Northern Ireland for 25 years and in Cheshire for 20 years. Now he splits his time between his summer studio at the Electric Picture House Artist’s Co-operative in Congleton, Cheshire and his winter studio in the Canary Island of Lanzarote. Tubes Editor caught up with in his studio in Congleton. and found that Alan is an artist who never approaches galleries for representation, he doesn’t offer his work for sale on the internet or any other market. When his work is shown, it is usually marked ’Not For Sale’ “I’m not driven to sell work - In fact I rarely think about it. An artist friend once pushed me to put a work forward to the Royal Ulster Academy Exhibition. It was accepted, hung and sold. Don’t get me wrong, I love galleries. Some major gallery owners - like Oliver Gormley in Ireland - are good friends. It’s just that I seldom see a gallery anywhere near where I live in the North West that is interested in abstract work. Maybe if I stumbled across one - but I’m not looking”. “What really screws up a lot of art is the urge to wrap it up in meaning. I see people searching the surfaces of my paintings for meaning. In fact, they can put whatever meaning on it they like. Or no meaning at all. The surface should be meaning enough as it is. Why try to understand art - it’s enough if it helps the viewer to grasp an echo of some personal past emotion. When you look at flowers in a park on a beautiful summer day, you just get pleasure from it. There is no “seeking meaning” in it. That is true of non-objective art - the art I like to do. It is exactly what it is.” Alan divides his work between acrylic, oil and cold wax and Giclees in very small limited editions. He was taught oil and cold wax techniques by top American artist Rebecca Crowell who flew from a freezing Wisconsin winter to a Lanzarote summer to give him a week-long personal master class. He starts with a drawing and a pre-selected colour and structure. Painting in layers, the work changes constantly then is left to “cook” on the walls of his studio. Changes are constant. If changes fail, the painting is gessoed over completely. Tubes asked him when he knew when a work is finished.above: “I’m afraid of Yellow.” “That’s easy. It’s only finished when it goes to the framer. ©Alan Clement If it hasn’t got a frame on it, it will stay a work in progress. I like to leave the ghostly lines of past decisions in my art. I never remove them. In fact the ghostly lines are one of the parts I like best. I want my art to look still, balanced, tonal and somewhat austere. Yet still, I want to leave evidence of my hand even with hard edged geometric abstraction. The Irish abstract artist Richard Gorman describes his own work as ‘a balanced austerity. And, of course, a tonal ‘rightness’. That’s exactly it.” Alan’s main influences are; Richard Deibenkorn, Henri Matisse, Ellsworth Kelly, Frederick Hammersley and the Irish artists Richard Gorman and Colin Middleton. To view Alan’s work go to: www.alanclement.com
26 BRUCE LYONS photo: painters Tubes magazine ©2017 painting ©Bruce Lyons 2017 Bruce is a sort of cross-over abstract artist who uses texture, formal abstraction and expressionism, this seems to fill the blank space between absolute formal abstract and free abstract painting. His unique art is exceptionally delicate and time is needed to full appreciate the delicay and the hidden power that lies behind it. Our Editor visited in his studio in 2017 and met up with him again in Manchester Cit Galleries in 2018, where Bruce explained his inspiration and process in detail. ....Wabi-sabi In traditional Japanese aesthetics, Wabi-sabi is a world view centred on the acceptance of transience and imperfection; the word ‘sabi’ meaning rust. There are many varying forms and textures which can be seen in decay of all kinds. Most people are indifferent to the beauty of what nature can do to man-made objects when left to its own devices. One of my favourite train journeys is the arrival into Liverpool Lime Street station. For the last mile of the journey the track is cut into sandstone walls approximately sixty feet high. This escarpment, made at the time of the industrial revolution, as well as having added remedial brickwork and large areas of granite has been taken over by various mosses, lichen and plant forms which create a beautiful stage set for the passenger who cares to look up from their smartphone. This sort of decay is all around us, particularly where there are objects made from metal which are exposed to the elements. My interest in the beauty of rust and other natural processes of decay has been prevalent in my paintings for many years. At one time I used to depict the various colour changes which occur within the oxidation process using oil paint and acrylics, but I discovered that I could used iron filings and iron powder to create a much more natural affect. I discovered that rust can be created in a relatively short period of time – overnight in most cases and, even though I don’t quite know the reasons, beautiful colours of all hues can be created. The possibility of creating surfaces of varied and fascinating textures and colours was now at hand by simply layering my canvas with iron powder and filings. written by ©Bruce Lyons 4 April 2018
27JONATHAN POWELLin between painting The late Welsh painter Roger Cecil had a quote pinned to the wall of his studio.“And I struggle, towards what? Impossible to say, but I can recognise it when I see it!”“…Abstract painting is about pure instinct as a painter. Self-sufficient imagery built around working oneach painting as a personally specific ritualistic event. It’s a fascinating explorative and investigativeprocess with endless possibilities that can keep a painter hooked forever. It’s an exciting world where atany point in the development of the painting it will divert its course and anything can send it spiralling into another direction. The process is akin to archaeology where the painting goes through weeks and months of repeated painting and scraping back, each time revealing an unexplored world of faint shadows, and ghostly lines. A place I like to call ‘in-between painting’ where voids and shapes slip between colours and out of reach narratives that then point the way for the next applications of paint. Re-charging certain contours of the paintings past history whilst igniting new frictions and adding fuel to new quarrels creates an addictive puzzle, trying to find a visual form on what it’s like to think. The decision to embrace complete abstract painting is a pretty recent one for me, but something that had been slipping into my work gradually for a while. My work in thepast 10 years had passed through a succession of related themes: perspectival recessions of crowdedcityscapes, massed inhabitants, isolated individuals who erupt into being, empty buildings haunted andredundant; out of all this, the work evolved in ways that reflect a pervasive anxiety about urban living.Large cityscapes morphed into den-like structures cobbled out of the failures of previous buildings.The paintings [of 2014 -16] became highly improvised and depicted provisional structures that float around in an indeterminate spaces, they are not really located, they drift while they seemingly expand as assemblages with no signs of actually being built, because no life or activity is apparent, they seemed to grow like plants, but they lack the expression of organic development shown by actual plants.In 2014 for the solo exhibition ‘When webuild again’ at Mission Gallery, Swansea,the ‘buildings’ became hybrid forms, atonce mechanical and biological, humanand inhuman. They could be derelictremnants or an improvised beginning. DIYspace-stations; certain of the structureslook like formidable, if rather dysfunctionalinsects, others again seem to sproutaerials and cameras into a bituminoushaze, yet again, they could be microscopicdiatoms.All these ambiguities mobilise imaginationand resist definitive interpretations.paintings and images ©Johan Powell
28continued...These buildings were imagined spaces;painted or drawn from a starting point ofnot knowing what the building would looklike. These were structures that floatedin my imagination and present the viewerwith topography of mind. The character ofthis topography is pervaded by a sense ofdereliction. In the paintings, bitumen is usedto corrupt the oil paint; the eternal purity ofcolour encounters the corrosive chemistry ofdecay. While colour in its self does not die, itnonetheless vanishes and re-appears like aspirit; paintings and civilisations on the otherhand, do indeed perish. So, the building anddestruction of the painting during its creationis a very important part of my process. paintings and images ©Johan Powell My current approach to work does take great inspiration from our distant past and the very beginnings of art, when painting was a ritualistic event. Cave paintings were created from finding structure and meaning in the lumps, bumps, cracks and shadows of the rock walls. Created by people over generations and thousands of years recording the passing of time on an epic scale. I paint large amounts of quick fire paintings on paper a week, which inform the canvas’s I am about to start work on. These then develop over months through periods of building up instinctive layers of paint and then scraping back to reveal a new course of direction. I work on around ten paintings at a time with some being left untouched for long periods. My work it has evolved from depicting a straight forward building to organically growing structures to the shapes and instincts growing from that.” written by ©Jonathan Powell April 2018
29 Clive Croft Make Space Studios LondonClive is a London based artist who studied art at Curtain University in Western Australia.He came to the UK for an MA in printmaking at the Slade and never left.Subsequently Clive was picked by Christies’ for their post-graduates show. In the following years hetaught art at the Richmond school of Art. Committed to his day job, he only worked by phases on hisown art. The following few years he dedicated himself to a very successful business venture, whichClive had created manufacturing hand-crafted exclusive Chinoiseries objects.When this venture drew to an end, Clive returned to painting and developing a complete new bodyof work inspired by Reiki, flux of energies and astrology. The resulting paintings were big canvasescovered in geometric patterns, exploring the themes of planets and spatial energies.Today his latest painting, XN+1=MXN(1-XN), shortlisted for the RA Summer Exhibition is part of a seriesof very colourful canvases, exploring the mathematical theory of chaos, “The process repeats ad infinitum. Chaos within order and order within chaos.”As the artists himself puts it. This kind of thinking was inspired by Clive’s friendship with an imminentmathematician he met as a student at UCL.To view more of Clive’s art please visit : https://www.clivecroft-art.com written by Laurence Causse-Parsley
30 MEGAN CHAPMAN My work has evolved into an intuitive, visual diary of my interior language. The foundation is in the balancing of shape and line with colour, texture, and atmosphere. I enjoy creating meditative places to get lost in, as well as dynamic spaces to explore relationships—such as how we dance between our inner and outer selves and each other. My work uses colour to explore our connection to the world as we navigate the push and pull of life. When Denis Taylor, artist and editor of Painters Tubes magazine first responded to my work he mentioned my two decades of dedication to abstract expressionism. The funny thing is that I had never thought of myself as dedicated to it but obviously, I am—so much so that I have never seriously considered working in other genres. As an artist, I have, of course, dabbled in all manner of mediums but abstraction is always the grounding force in my work and life. Even though my dedication to abstraction is the same dedication I have to my own breathing, I do find abstraction frustrating at times as I would really like my art to have the ability to speak or sing. I want my work to pull people into a world of feeling and storied vignettes and, unless the viewer is already inclined to walk into that world or enter into the moment of the work, it is incredibly hard to pull off with colour, line, and form. However, I enjoy this challenge and I initially use my titles to help pull the viewer into my world that hopefully will become theirs. My motivation for painting is simply because that it is what I am and what I do. I am a painter and I love the viscosity and pigments of paint, the smell, my old paint brushes, the tools, and drum-tight canvases. I know these things and they know me, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Painting is a great way to hide from the world while also being productive and giving something back. It is also a great way to share and connect with the world when the hiding part is over. It is the only place where I (mostly) feel like I know what I am doing. To paint is true liberation and that is why I have stuck with it. I feel my most free when I paint and I feel most like myself. Painting is the way I share my secrets and my truth; it’s the way I see the world, and it’s where I create my own. The work is me, and I am the work. I love being part of this strange alchemy.
31In my current body of work, I am intrigued with the concept of what is enough to make a painting.What is enough to make my hand, heart, and eyes sing? This is not the same as what can I get awaywith but instead what is the essence—the stripped down bare bones kernel of everything I love aboutworking as a painter. The thrill of the quick gesture of a loaded brush with a mix of charcoal powder andwater, the brush marks still plainly visible as it cuts across the painted canvas. The way the charcoalpowder separates and opens to reveal its earthy connection as it sits next to the punch of white, blue,grey, or yellow—my goal is to take up space with pure nothingness; to take up space with the edge ofthat charcoal smudge. I want to let the white and muted palette envelop me and the viewer and theblackness to tell the secrets locked in our hearts. That black brush stroke, that swath of white—it’senough.I work from my studio at The Out of the Blue Drill Hall in the community of Leith in Edinburgh. Thefloor of my studio is littered with paint covered papers and my canvases, some finished and some inprogress, lining the walls. I work with my headphones on and my music turned up too loud.I am currently represented by three galleries located in different areas of Edinburgh:The & Gallery on Dundas Street in the New Town, Union Gallery in the West End and the Velvet EaselGallery located in Portobello. I have several pieces included in ‘Spring,Thy Name is Colour,’ on untilthe 1st of July, at the Velvet Easel Gallery. I will also have four large-scale paintings included in theupcoming ‘Summer Garden Party’ exhibition this July at Union Gallery.My paintings are in collections throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, and Australia. I wasborn and raised in Fayetteville Arkansas, earned a BFA with honours in painting from the University ofOregon, and currently live and work in Edinburgh, Scotland. UK. Learn more about Megan’s at www.meganchapman.com“everything I love” 80 cm x 80 cm “acceptance” 80 cm x 80 cm“return home” 76 cm x 76 cm “the space between” 120 cm x 100 cm all work mixed media
32 above: Ron Coleman in his Studio. Three formal abstracts ©roncoleman RON COLEMAN “…my hard-edged painting - I suppose I’m continually (subconsciously) on the lookout for something different, colour combinations, limited palette tonal compositions, an eye-catching composition, for example. I was aware of the de Stijl movement, Theo van Doesburg and Mondrian whilst I was working in a more abstract expressionist way, but I had no room for hard- edges in my painting at the time. The work of Hans Hoffman was an early influence on my progress, as he seemed to bridge the gap between expressionist and hard-edge, and it was his bold use of colour that fired my imagination. British artists John Piper, Ben Nicholson, Peter Heron, Terry Frost, Howard Hodgkin, Margaret Mellis and Gillian Ayres, are just a few that come to mind that fed my in-depth interest in abstract painting. Experimenting and pushing out the boundaries is something I’ve always turned to at intervals. I don’t have the patience to labour over a painting, it has to begin to work within the first few days, otherwise it’s put aside and a fresh canvas is brought out. I learnt, quite early on, not to be precious with my work and I sometimes, regrettably, over-paint a perfectly acceptable piece. My thoughts on hard-edged evolved from some ‘vertically aligned’ expressionist paintings I’d done recently that later began to include hard- edged single colour stripes amongst the softer edged painting. These three examples illustrated are purely hard- edged abstracts, and they were painted together as a threesome over a period of days. There was practically no pre-planning involved, the forms evolved intuitively, and I was balancing colour and form in a similar way to my approach to an expressionist abstract painting.I feel these three paintings sit well together but individually they are strong enough to hang alone. “
33“midsummer conversations” (aka: ‘colour interactions’ ) ©Denis Taylor 2012-2017 The Editor Specifically, I had failed to interview or attend the exhibition of a suitable artist to write a By David Traves piece on. I needed to discover a contemporary artist, whose work was if only from my ownWhen I first suggested a feature article that perspective, fresh, exciting and insightful.would allow readers to ‘get to know the They needed to be a professional painter,editor’ as an artist and as a person, Denis’ successful enough to have a body of work ofdisapprobation was clear and undisguised. some depth, whilst still niche enough that aHis fears that, at its best, the piece was going reasonable percentage of the readers wereto feel like there was a vague hegemony at unfamiliar with their work. Finally, and mostwork and at worst a shameless self-promotion, importantly to get a real sense of the artistwere understandable. Still I argued ‘Tubes’ is behind the compositions, it needed to beabout painters and Denis is first and foremost someone I had met, or at least spoken to on thea painter and an artist. And for those readers telephone recently.who like me knew him only as an editor, writerand art critic, it couldn’t fail to be interesting to Then when I had almost given up on arrangingfind out a little bit about his own artist pedigree, a decent interview or attending a suitablywhile gaining a small insight into the man. splendid yet reasonable off the beaten trackDenis’ stayed firm on the point, explicitly stating exhibition, to have anything worth submitting tohe was “not over enthusiastic to put myself in ‘Tubes’ in time for the next issue, it happened.the mag.” But eventually agreed I could at least I was scrolling through Facebook (that bestattempt it. of friend to the serial procrastinator), when I should have been writing or editing my ownMy own reasons for wanting to use Denis as work. Then in amongst the sea of memes,a feature artist were slightly divergent from advertisements masquerading as news andthose I had put to him and yes do I realise the meals of casual acquaintances, wasupon submitting this article those motives will a photograph of a collection of paintings.inevitably come to light. Although I genuinely They were oil paintings on canvas, congregatedstand by my afore mentioned argument. closely together and there almost unnaturallyMy main reasons for wanting to write about the vivid colour pallet spoke to me of summer.editor of ‘painters Tubes’ as an artist, were in Chiefly featuring semi-abstract female nudes,fact far simpler and inevitably more self-serving. the lines of their full, not to say RubenesqueI had a deadline that I needed to meet, if I was figures languid and bathed in colour wereto have had any hope of making the next issue. faintly reminiscing of Gauguin.Thanks to multiple deadlines and the practical Their sexuality, while overt, was not necessarilynecessity of working multiple jobs; I had as so the primary focus of each image. Geometricoften happens, not allowed enough time for the shapes framed theses nudes alongside aproject I enjoy the most. contrasting fluid aspect to their representations of light.
34 “This work pulled together several schools of painting.”To be honest I wasn’t immediately sure whether I likedthe art work or not, but that didn’t matter, it interested me,it had arrested my attention and there would be plentyto say just regarding these few pieces. I scrolled backup a fraction and saw that “Denis Taylor” had postedthe picture. Without hesitation I took a screenshot andmessaged Denis with his own image, the caption reading“Are these yours?” Fifty minutes later a reply came backbeginning “Yes they are my paintings”.There it was my interview had already taken place(admittedly the artist had only discussed the work of otherpainters), the subject of my next article had been hidingin plain sight. Now all I had to do was to convince Denisof this. From the outset I was aware the most challengingaspect of this article would be convincing Denis, hehimself was the feature I’d been looking for. Essentiallyselling Denis Taylor the editor, that Denis Taylor the artistwas not only the painter that ‘Tubes’ should be talkingabout but was in fact my discovery.Despite the well documented ego of both painters andwriters, I knew better than to assume this would be aneasy pitch. Denis resides in Angelholm Sweden with hiswife, where his studio is also located. An establishedmember of the international art community Denis haslived, painted and exhibited work in multiple Europeanlocations. He can nowreasonably call himself thefounder, editor in chief and awriter for his own art magazine.This accurate description ofDenis, nevertheless conjuresup an inaccurate image of theman. A native Mancunian,Denis has lost neither hisaccent or his characteristic no-nonsense approach to doingbusiness. Outspoken andunpretentious there is little ofthe flamboyant artist about him.When I met him earlierthis year I found his artisticviews considered, butuncompromising and firm.He makes no attempt to bediplomatic or appeal to amainstream, when it came tothose who he perceives to havetaken the composition aspectaway from art and replaced it with empty theory andmarketing. Nor does he respect those who others mayterm patrons of the arts, but for him have simply furthermonetized the international art scene, for their own good. Artists information: Denis, was enrolled Manchester High School of Art at the age of eleven years old (1962). He has exhibited in three European Countries, curated national and international exhi- bitions for the W.O.R.K Swwedish art group as lead artist from 1996 to 2008. His current studio is in Sweden with a second summer studio in Greece planned for 2019
35 He explained during our first meeting how the statement “Turner would not today, be able to win the Turner prize” is in fact true, because the marketing machine that sees numerous copies of the same artists work simultaneously exhibited in a carefully coordinated international promotion effort simply didn’t exist in Turners day. The layers of inspiration running through Taylor’s own art are clear, but his work still refuses to be neatly characterised by a single movement. His work has the clear marks of the great impressionists and post-impressionists, when he painted late Monetesque shimmering waters, but in a far brighter more contemporary colour pallet. As Denis himself puts it: “ “ Water is a wonderful visual stimulant for the imagination, to paint it showing the inerrant transient quality is a challenge for any painter ”. At other times his abstract intensions are morefirmly established, as he moves further from the representational. Perhaps his signature is his startlinglybold colour pallet, as Taylor’s work suggests he is every bit the colourist. Still I suspect Denis is not strivingto reflect any one artistic movement, nor the work of their seminal practitioners. During our only day spenttogether he pointed out that too many British expressionist are trying to be the next Kossoff and while wemust take inspiration from everywhere, ultimately it is originality an artist should always be striving for.I saw so much potential for a piece on Denis I decided, to use an Americanism, to swing for the fence!In the end suggesting a two-part feature on him. The first based on my initial impressions on him, as anewcomer to his work and after only one meeting in person. Then sometime later a follow-up giving a morein-depth insight, after I have got to know both himself and his work a little better. Of course if you are readingthese words you will know I have been successful in this endeavour and if not I shall chalk it up as anaudacious, but inevitably failed experiment in circumventing a deadline.David Traves was talking about Denis Taylor the Artist Article (part one) ©DavidTraves 2018Photographs -’Denis in his studio painting.’ March 23 2015 by Marianne Arnberg ©Arnberg.All original and authenticated paintings ©Denis Taylor
36 there is still life ...in Still Life painting Geogio Morandi. Bologna 1953. Photograph:© Herbert List.
37 there is still life in... Still Life paintingIn the upcoming issues of Tubes we will be taking a long hard look at Still Life as a specific genreof painting. Still life has been a subject covered by artists for centuries and it is one that many haveexcelled at. The work of Giorgio Morandi (1890 - 1964) is arguably one of the great’s of still life andpossibly one of the greatest artists that Italy has produced, is a ‘stand-out’ painter of Still Life.His path to still life painting as his speciality was undoubtably propelled by Cezanne, who work heseen as early as 1907. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna. He visited Florenceand was struck by the work of Giotto, Masaccio and Ucello. His earliest work, known, is in facta landscape painting from around 1911. He was in contact with the ‘Futurists’ of whom Boccioniand Carra he met and no doubt digested their theories on their new approach to painting the newbrave world of industrial and mechanical wonders. He also exhibited with the ‘futurista’ at the LiberaFuturists show in Rome.It was in Rome after 1918 that he met Geogio De Chirico and seemed to be much influenced byhis use of the mannequin heads De Chirico used often in his work. After many years of work, andafter he had shaken off the influence of Di Chirico and a few seminal exhibitions where his workwas applauded, he was made professor of of printmaking at the Academy in Bologna where heremained until he retired in 1956.Morandi was a quiet man, a person who liked regular habits and circumstance, his apartment in theCity of Bologna was his winter residence and during summer he would go to a country retreat inGrizzana, which is on the outskirts of the city, where he often paint landscapes. But it is his still lifepaintings of bottles, vases and other objects that were specifically arranged in a variety of groupingsthat he is mostly famous for.It is the space in between these objects that Morandi seemed to be more concerned with ratherthan the objects themselves, although his delicate, almost monotone approach to painting themcreates an ethereal quality that allows the space to become real. Above all it’s the ‘quietness’ ofpaintings that reside in the viewers eye and mind. Still Life is a silent subject, and the beauty andthe skill is to paint objects that seem to breath the air that surrounds them.In the upcoming articles on Still Life Tubes will examine the work from the very early periods,including the works of the Masters of the 16th to 19th century. For now we are delighted to bringyou just two artists examples, ones that not only create special still life pieces, but are alsoaccomplished artists in other genre’s.(Aknowledgements: Historical facts and opinions gleaned from the writing of Eward Lucie Smith and frompainters Tubes Editor’s discussions with the late Nigel Whiteley phd. F.R.S.A).Giogio Morandi. Natura Morta 1939 32cm x 56.5cm Sold for £2,500,00 at Christies NYC.
38 Michael Weller ....is one of the painters who has created life in Still Life paintings.. Michael grew up in Winchester. He studied librarianship and realised early on he didn’t want to be a librarian. Going to life-drawing classes cheered him up. Later, he took a second degree in Fine Art printmaking at London Metropolitan University. Then he attended Lavender Hill Studios, a traditional atelier-style painting school. He came back to Winchester to paint. In 2015 Michael won both the Winsor & Newton Award and the Le Clerc Fowle Medal for an outstanding group of paintings. He is represented by GrandyArt in London and teaches oil painting in Brighton with the New School Of Art and in Winchester at the Colour Factory Michael draws and paints in a traditional style, from life. We asked him to say of words about his own take on painting... “...for a long time I liked Mark Rothko.” “...out of all the abstract expressionists, I still find Rothko the most moving. I don’t believe in flying off to foreign shores, or even taking all my painting equipment up some steep hill (today I don’t – maybe tomorrow). Painting something nearby means having more time to paint. Structure and form are important. Not too many forms. And I like to hold back, so as not to kill it. Painting needs intervals where nothing is happening. The person who is looking at it finishes it. Over time, painting from observation becomes very absorbing. What is that colour? I like it when the image is emerging from the paint. It’s the thing and it’s paint. But the drawing has to be strong and the tones convincing. I very much admire the paintings of Sagy Mann, the blind painter of Peckham. Contemporary American perceptual painters. Nicolas de Stael. Someone once said my paintings were like a pale echo of de Stael – I was quite pleased about that. And I was told at art college that there was something to be said for a painting that lives in someone’s home, perhaps the last thing they look at at night before they go to sleep...” ...Michael Weller 2018.
39 left: ‘Blush Pears’bottom left: Coffee, Pear, ‘Cup, Milk.images © Michael Weller Middle right: Milk, Cups, Clementine, Marmite.images © Michael Weller
40 image “Two Fish on a blue plate with a Butterfly passing by” ©Capper2017 “The other artists still work we shall be looking at is Steve Capper.” Steve is no stranger to Tubes as his work has featured in a couple of early issues. However, knowing him as well as the Editor does, it was he that suggested that the Still Life paintings of Steve deserve looking at in depth. The original way he applies his perspective and simplistic colour lines are what makes Steve’s still life’s stand out from the crowd. There is a new exhibition of his work (where Still Life paintings are on show as well as his landscape work) that has just opened at the Gateway Gallery in Hale, Cheshire. It is well worth a trip to see for your self why the Editor of Tubes has one of Steve’s still life paintings in his own personal collection. “...Tubes new contributor, Laurence Causse Parsley recently caught up with William Packer, the well known art critic and paint- er who has created Still life work. On the following page here’s is what she had to say..” above: William Packer. Photograph ©Paul Mellon.
41 William Packer at the Piers Feetham Gallery “Recent Still Life and Other Thoughts” above: ‘Look out’, oil on linen. Recent Still Life and Other Thoughts has given me thebelow: ‘All Over the Place’, oil on linen chance to meet the charming painter and art critcic, William Packer. Student at the Wimbledon School of Art, art critic at the Financial Times for 30 years, writer, renowned painter member of the New English Art Club, Mr Packer remains an approachable, amicable and modest gentleman (despite a most impressive resume) who talks about his work without artifice or affectation. The core of the exhibition is made of still life paintings representing meadow flowers in simple vases or bottles. These flowers appear modest and magnificent at the same time, observed with tenderness by the artist who tries to catch the personality of each of them. The background, fast surfaces in muted blues and greys offers a subtle case for these fragile flowers whose yellow or purple petals light up Packer’s paintings. One can feel the soft light coming through a window, maybe a light breeze ever so gently caressing the graceful and ephemeral buttercups, field poppies or iris. In some paintings, there is a wilted flower or yellowish blade of grass. Quietness, shadow and light, suggestion of decay…the classics of Still Life as a gender explored with an elegant and modern approach. A few portraits attracted my attention: women’s face and upper torso, on a background of studio or art gallery walls, passing characters painted as if they just happened to be there.They display the same modesty as Packer’s flowers, yet a touch of cadmium red on the lips or the nails of these inconspicuous women gives them a formidable presence. The painting ‘Gallery Girl’ (not shown) refers to William Packer’s personal experience as a selector for exhibitions. The artist recalls the shadowy presence of the art students endlessly carrying paintings to the selection committee. right inset:’ Cubist coffee break’, oil on board William Packer Recent Still Lives and Other Thoughts, Piers Feetham Gallery, 475 Fulham road, London SW6 1HJ, until May 12, 2018. ©written by Laurence Causse Parsley April 2018
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44 A Welsh Connection Celebrating 50 years of painting exhibition at Contemporary Six Gallery Manchester Saturday May 12 – Thursday May 31, 2018 Preview: Saturday May 12, 1–5pm Contemporary Six, 37 Princess Street, Manchester, M2 4FN When Manchester-born artist Anne Aspinall used to visit her aunt in Harlech as a child, she didn’t realise that one day she would become widely known for her oil paintings of the coastal North Wales landscape. After 50 years as an artist, working across different media and subject matters, Anne is continually drawn back to this beautiful part of the country to capture the majesty of the landscape and scenery. A Welsh Connection, a new exhibition launching at Contemporary Six on May 12, celebrates the strong affinity that people from the North West have with North Wales. The exhibition of thirty-five paintings capturing coastlines and harbours illustrates Anne’s skill in depicting reflections, light, and movement. Anne, 68, who now lives in Macclesfield, said: ‘I have always loved that North Wales hides its best places and keeps them a secret. If you are open to its charms, it’s a place that gradually seeps into your being. Whenever I go there, I have that feeling of going home’. Anne explained that as she gradually preferred painting landscapes, the buildings came to represent people in the composition. ‘Very few people inhabit my paintings’, she said, ‘but the ghosts of the past are there in the old buildings and the still-visible scars on the landscape.
45“...I am drawn to places where people have lived and worked over centuries, the edge of land and sea,harbours, hill-farms, the remains of the early Industrial Revolution’. Chapels also fascinate me, theiroriginal role all but gone, but they survive as a link to the past and continue to have a place now ascommunity centres, play groups, artists’ studios and family homes. Or they sit, gently decaying andwaiting.”Contemporary Six owner Alex Reuben said: ‘Anne is one of the most technically gifted painters in theNorth West, and this exhibition is an opportunity to see many of her beautiful works. Her landscapesappeal to all kinds of art-lovers, and they will make you love the Welsh coast and countryside as much asshe does’.Anne Aspinall was born in Didsbury in 1949 and now lives in Macclesfield. Having trained at ManchesterCollege of Art & Design, Anne’s work has been exhibited across the UK and internationally, and can befound in collections in Europe, the United States and Australia. Contemporary Six 37 Princess Street, Manchester, M2 4FN [email protected]: 0161 835 2666 Opening hours: Tue–Fri: 10.30am–6pm, Saturday: 10.30am–5pm and Sunday: 11am–5pm.
46 Steve Capper in his studio. photograph ©Denis Taylor
47introducing our new artist contributor David Traves, Photographer and WriterDavid Traves’ writing is immensely variedboth in its style and content. He writeseverything from reviews for art andphotography exhibitions (being himself anaccomplished photographer), too travelwriting. He spent three years acting aswriter in residence and librarian at OBAEnglish specialism Academy. Davidhas travelled extensively and uses thisexperience to fuel both his art and travelwriting. An English Literature graduate,he also writes short stories and children’sliterature.Heres what he has to say for himself....“...I have been lucky enough to usemy photography to capture the peopleand places of five different continentsand dozens of countries. Examplesof my travel photography have beenpublished and my art photographyis now “prize winning” after takinga prize in the Runcorn open andbeing displayed in the Brinley galleryon multiple occasions. I also holda critical arts degree and have hadmy photographic and arts reviewspublished, including for the ‘open eye’and ‘art in liverpool’.Davids’s writing exists as art reviews,poems, children’s literature, travel blogs,articles, short stories, research papers,and more. It can be seen beneathpaintings in exhibitions, published online,in blogs and on Amazon. Each pieceis in its own way personal and gives aprofoundly personal insight his perceptionof the world around him.Tubes looks forward to reading his articlesand in particular the Editor is lookingforward to reading part two on his Art.
48 introducing our new artist contributor Laurence Causse-Parsley. Artist. Born in France, She was formerly educated at the IEP, in Paris. From here Laurence attended the University of Nottingham in the UK where she gained a Master’s in Political Sciences before she began a five year training program in Fine Art at the Yves Desvaux-Veeska in Paris. In 2003 she studied to become a fine art guide at National Palace (Ku Kong) of Taipei, Taiwan. Her passion for Art was obvious from the moment Tubes magazine the first moment the magazine met her person at her London Studio. From 2011 Laurence has been involved with various disciplines of art including collaborative projects for Magazines illustration, cross disciplinary shows, the Vault festival with Umbra Choreography (Creation Box). She was also a finalist at the East West exhibition at La Galleria, Pall Mall, London (2015) and has exhibited her Art snce 2012 in a number of established galleries from Edinburgh to London. Her current studios are in London at the Make Space Studios (SE1.) painters Tubes to become an artists contributor based on her perceptive abilities and love of Art. Laurence is new to article writing as such, but Tubes believes that future artists interviews and essays will be a perfect platform for her to further develop her understanding that will enhance her already natural artistic gift for painting and creating works of Art. Laurence is known as LAC in the art world, to see more of her work please go to: www.art-lac.com
49Dave Coulter meet the artist Saturday 12thDave Coulter is one of North West best May 12 - 4 pmloved painters of the scences aroundManchester. Cheshire Art Gallery are Cheshire Artproud to represent his work in one of the Gallerylargest collections in the North West ofthis Artist. 13 Ack Lane East, Bramhall,Meet Dave at our gallery where he will Stockport Cheshire, SK7 2BEexplain all about his work and his back- [email protected] of growing up in the industrial tel: 0161 217 0625Cities of Manchester and Salford.And how today he continues to recordhis visions of these modern Cities in adramatic and unique style, one that hehas become famous for.
50 INTERNATIONAL ART MAGAZINE TUBES “...the Trees become her.” the fabulous paintings of Professor Natham T. Lewis new TUBES international art magazine issue # 9 to be published September 2018