by the way...

'Weird Nightmare' oil on canvas, 100x 120cms, 2011

 

‘That Black Country glow’ my Dad remarked at the weekend on seeing the orange sky in a recent small painting of the M5. Historically, at its industrial peak, that orange glow in the night sky from the foundries, has been well documented from people as diverse as Queen Victoria to Tolkien. It’s weird that I hadn’t thought about its own possible significance in any way before in my paintings of the post-industrial Black Country. That orange sky is a recurring motif. I’m glad that my Dad, Tipton born and bred, did though.

That orange sky fills a large part of the first painting that I did based on this landscape, ‘Weird Nightmare’, back in 2011, which was recently exhibited in Nottingham at The BoHunk Institute in ‘By The Way’. I’m pleased to say I sold it the other day.

Sian Stammers, photographer and curator of ‘By The Way’, is keen to develop the exhibition as an ongoing project and extend its reach into the West Midlands, with my help. This is exciting. I hope I can help.

The orange sky is absent, as are most things, from this new large painting I’ve just completed based on the post-industrial landscape of the Black Country. It’s not quite like anything I’ve made before. I was thinking about Giotto a lot when I made it, and listening to susuma yokota’s ‘Sakura’ album, and Harold Budd’s ‘Abandoned Cities’. I’m not sure if this is significant, but they are great records.