Running to catch a train… or that’s what it feels like! For the first ten years of my life as a professional artist, I exhibited up and down the UK several times a year, took my work to Dublin, Singapore, Los Angeles and New York. It was a whirl of activity, lots of fun, and hard work. These days, I choose quality over quantity. As any artist knows, there are galleries and then there are galleries! I now choose to work with only a handful of them who have worked with me for years, who understand my work, and with whom I have close relationships. To them I owe a huge thanks!
Bang up to date, I now have two exhibitions hanging at the same time: one at the newly branded and relocated FORWARD GALLERY in Birmingham, and one at RED HOUSE ORIGINALS in Harrogate.
THE TOUR PASS COLLECTION: ACCESS ALL AREAS
FORWARD GALLERY: 5 Cannon St, Birmingham B3 2BB
0121 236 0920 | Tim@forwardgallery.com
Firstly, opening on Saturday 26th July, is the exhibition of the new TOUR PASS COLLECTION: ACCESS ALL AREAS at Forward Gallery. What is a tour pass? It’s that little plastic laminate that musicians and crew wear around their necks on a lanyard, giving them access to all areas backstage at a gig (AAA). It’s a disposable piece of rock’n’roll paraphernalia, colloquially known as ‘a laminate’. For fans it might be a valued piece of memorabilia if they can get their hands on one. Just like with my paintings of studio recordings on cassette, the tour pass collection started with a shoebox full of tour passes all tangled up in lanyards. One day I saw them as paintings. A theme emerged. In the Pop Art tradition of elevating the mundane, this became a thing I got stuck into. A few people sent me passes they had in shoeboxes in their lofts: special thanks to Mark Bedford from Madness! The collection comprises 25 original paintings, limited edition prints, and, if you can get your head around this, a DELUXE EDITION printed in a larger format on thick acrylic panels; these have special fittings on the back so they can be easily mounted on the wall. They POP!
I will be at Forward Gallery from 11am-4pm on Saturday 26th July so feel welcome to drop in.
BLUE SKY PAINTINGS: JOURNEYS ACROSS AMERIC
RED HOUSE ORIGINALS: 15 Cheltenham Mount, Harrogate HG1 1DW
01423 884400 | richard@redhouseoriginals.com
Next up, BLUE SKY PAINTINGS: JOURNEYS ACROSS AMERICA will be opening at Red House Originals in Harrogate on August 14th. This is a collection of original paintings and limited-edition prints. The myth still beckons. America and its dream. As a musician, touring America means basically playing where the water is. The East Coast: Boston, NYC, DC, Philly, and the West Coast: Seattle, Portland, SF, LA, and San Diego. Chicago and Denver is just a way to get from one coast to the other and, if you’re lucky, you get to do Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston on the way back. The ‘flyover’ States (that enormous bit in the middle) are the bits that fascinate me these days. In recent years, I’ve been fortunate enough to spend time in both Texas and South Dakota. Photos from these visits constitute the subject of many of the pieces in this exhibition. Also included are some ‘blown-up’ prints from my Americana collection; some of these were painted small (maybe too small) and I was curious to see what they would look like scaled up. They make more of a statement. Of course, the commonality in all these paintings/prints is the blue sky. I’m drawn to the intensity of the colour, the light/shade and always aim to represent its fullness.
