Rocks and Flowers Exhibition
Every so often I put myself through this and it has got me thinking, why? We daubers and scribblers live fairly isolated lives. Unlike actors or musicians, we work alone and only those near and dear to us normally get to see our efforts. They tend to be kind in their evaluation of our work and we carry on scribbling. I suppose those of us who do this need to keep doing it, as we have done since childhood – something makes us want to make pictures. It’s that primitive, I suspect. On the whole, we make them for ourselves to see where it goes, what happens next, but occasionally we stick our heads above the parapet and let others see what we have produced, in public displays.
It is quite a palaver getting a show together – photograph work, send pictures and CV off to galleries in the hope that they like your work and offer you a show. Many galleries charge a hire fee and then there is the cost of a private view, not to mention the cost of painting materials and the mounting and framing of work. All this at a time when artists are mounting a campaign for realistic payment for their efforts. www.payingartists.org.uk
Having secured the exhibition it then becomes a public spectacle and we hope that lots of people see it, the press review and promote it and that we sell the odd work, to people who will love and value what we have produced. That’s where we are up to – watch this space for pictures of the private view – if I haven’t sent you an invitation and you would like to come, please e-mail me – and hopefully some good press and comments in the book, I left in the gallery.
UPDATE: A few photos and a review.
Rocks& Flowers
Recent work by Paul McKee
An exhibition of painting and drawing at The Wilson, Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum.
25 June – 9 August 2015
Paul McKee is used to working behind the scenes (as Senior Exhibitions Officer) at The Wilson, Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, but now he is taking centre stage with an exhibition of his work.
Paul spent eighteen years at The Wilson as Senior Exhibitions Officer, Curator of Fine Art and Arts Development Officer, before leaving to paint full-time, last July.
Rocks and Flowers comprises of Paul’s newest work, and is a celebration of both the English coastline and the artist’s passion for painting.The show includes pastels and watercolours painted in the last few months and is infused with the energy of an artist who has new found freedom, and time, to dedicate to his work.
Working in the tradition of British romantic landscape painting, ( Paul is inspired by Palmer, Turner and Piper), and energised by a fresh perspective McKee’s haunting, and memory-infused, work is invested with an abstract twist – making the paintings suggestive, dream-like and full of poetry.
Informed by the artist's memories of visits to the coast of North Devon these paintings are as fluid, mutable and coruscating as the coastlines that inspired them.
These are vibrant paintings, reverberating with energy and a van Vogh-esque intensity of vision.
Particularly of note are Paul’s cool and fluid Rock Pool Studies; a series watercolours vividly creating the impression of lucent aquatic depths.Though McKee’s knowledge of flora and geology is extensive, he wears his learning lightly in these works, deploying a deft and subtle touch.
There’s enough diversity in this show to satisfy fans of expressionism, impressionism or modern abstract work. There are light, celebratory pastels and more brooding pieces such as Valley of the Rocks, in which the scale and magnificence of the Devon coastline is depicted in a darker, deeper brush.
There’s a range of still lives in this exhibition too. Sumptuous, brightly coloured blooms with withering leafs and overblown blossoms, suggest darker themes such as death and decay, and contrast with his frothy, airy, pastels.
These are painting which provide a feast for the eyes, and enough metaphorical significance to satisfy art-lovers who look for narrative within painting.
McKee’s aim was to convey some of the joy that painting brings to him, and this exuberant and spirited exhibition succeeds in communicating the artist’s passion for the sea life, flora and mutable weather of this island and his love of painting itself.
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