Frank Phelan 'Past to Present'

CRICKET FINE ART

CRICKET FINE ART 2 Park Walk Chelsea London SW10 0AD Tel: 020 7352 2733 Mobile: 07778 568 367 email: info@cricketfineart.co.uk website: www.cricketfineart.co.uk

Born in Dublin in 1932, Frank Phelan was educated by the Christian Brothers and in Tipperary at Rockwell College, before studying at The Royal Architectural Institute of Ireland.

He then worked as a draughtsman in a Dublin firm of structural engineers until 1953, when he, his father and his brother Brian emigrated to Canada. For six years Frank worked in Ontario at various jobs while taking classes at the Doon School of Fine Arts in Kitchener.

Around 1959, he returned to Ireland briefly before moving to London, where he shared a house with the sculptor Frank Morris. He found work as a stagehand at Joan Littlewood’s innovative Stratford East Theatre, and designed sets for the Unity Theatre and for Charles Marowitz’s Open Space Theatre Company. His theatre contacts eventually led to an introduction to Nancy Wynne-Jones, who invited him to be an artist-in-residence at Trevaylor, the Georgian house at Gulvel, near Penzance which she had converted to a kind of artist’s colony.

It was here that Phelan befriended the painter Tony O’Malley, who introduced him to many of the key figures in the early St Ives circle, including Roger Hilton, Bryan Wynter, Patrick Heron, Conor Fallon. Phelan also was particularly impressed by the work of Peter Lanyon.

“Allusion is the basis upon which painting could dispense with depiction without loss of meaning” – Harold Rosenberg.

The above quotation encapsulates my approach to painting, in tandem with intuition, with the qualification that a previous work may inform a later one. Architectonics will also show up now and then (having once studied the subject).

The advent of Cubism led to questioning the nature of 'reality' in the first decade of the 20th century.

This opened the possibility of depiction in a quite different and exciting way. It also opened the door to Abstraction, as a means of going forward as a viable idiom.

To transpose a quote by the Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva “Looking (ie reading) is complicity in the creative process.” If my work engenders that response, even some of the time, then my efforts will have been worthwhile.

Frank Phelan FRONT COVER :

Yellow Bird I ‘67 Oil 48 x 60 in 122 x 152 cms £16,000

Throughout the 1960s, he divided his time between Cornwall and a rented studio off the Fulham Road, developing a highly abstracted, compositional style. By 1966, he had had his first solo show of paintings at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, organised by Richard Demarco. This partnership was one of the most fruitful of his early career. He also showed his work at Demarco’s inaugural exhibition in Glasgow, in another solo show the following year at Demarco’s Edinburgh gallery, and in several important group shows, including an exhibition of contemporary British painting and sculptors at the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw.

During the past two decades, Phelan re-engineered and re-energised his style and technique, exhibiting new works in Dublin, Cork, London, Bath, Provence, Granada, and of course, St Ives. His paintings and mixed media works are now in private collections in England, Ireland, France, the United States, as well as in the State Collection of Ireland (OPW) and the Cork Institute of Technology & Arts.

CRICKET FINE ART REQUESTS THE PLEASURE OF YOUR COMPANY AT THE

PRIVATE VIEW OF

FR ANK P HEL A N ‘PA ST TO P R ESENT ’ at 2 Park Walk, London, SW10 0AD Tuesday 25th April 2017 6.00 – 8.00pm The exhibition continues until 6th May 2017.

Paintings are for sale on receipt of the catalogue.

The entire exhibition can be viewed at www.cricketfineart.co.uk

CRICKET FINE ART 2 Park Walk Chelsea London SW10 0AD Tel: 020 7352 2733 Mobile: 07778 568 367 email: info@cricketfineart.co.uk website: www.cricketfineart.co.uk

Blue Dominant Charcoal and Acrylic 60 x 72 in 152 x 183 cms £16,000 2

Venezia Oil and Charcoal 28 x 36 in 71 x 91 cms £5,000 3

Jack Cade 1450 Oil and Charcoal 36 x 30 in 91 x 76 cms £5,200 4

Medusa Oil 48 x 60 in 122 x 152 cms £14,000 5

The Factory Oil and Charcoal 34 x 50 in 86 x 127 cms £8,000 6

Troy Oil and Charcoal 36 x 36 in 91 x 91 cms £5,500 7

Agamemnon Oil and Charcoal 30 x 26 in 76 x 66 cms £4,800 8

Sea Green Oil and Charcoal 36 x 30 in 91 x 76 cms £5,000 9

Seraglio Oil 48 x 60 in 122 x 152 cms £14,000 10

The Dialogue 2001 Oil 30 x 50 in 76 x 127 cms £8,500 11

Collage II 2012 Acrylic, Linseed Oil and Paper 22 x 30 in 56 x 76 cms £1,500

Collage III Paper and Acrylic 22 x 30 in 56 x 76 cms £1,500

12

Cave I

Cave II

Oil and Charcoal 12 x 10 in 30 x 25 cms £950

Oil and Charcoal 12 x 10 in 30 x 25 cms £950 13

Geometric II Charcoal and Acrylic 38 x 50 in 97 x 127 cms £9,500 14

Nude Acrylic and Paper 22 x 30 in 56 x 76 cms £1,000 15

Untitled 02/16 Oil and Charcoal 36 x 30 in 91 x 76 cms £5,300 16

Untitled 02/17 Oil and Charcoal 36 x 36 in 91 x 91 cms £5,500 17

Behind the Wire Oil 40 x 50 in 102 x 127 cms £9,500 18

Kolophon Oil and Charcoal 48 x 72 in 122 x 183 cms £12,000 19

Collage II ‘09 Acrylic 22 x 30 in 56 x 76 cms £1,000 20

Architect Oil and Pencil 20 x 19 in 51 x 48 cms £3,800 21

Yellow Bird II Oil 57 x 47 in 145 x 119 cms £15,000 22

Figure Oil and Charcoal 24 x 20 in 61 x 51 cms £4,000 23

Taurus Acrylic, Charcoal and Paper 22 x 30 in 56 x 76 cms £1,000 24

Nude Oil 38 x 50 in 97 x 127 cms £9,000 25

Botallack Oil and Graphite 30 x 20 in 76 x 51 cms £5,000 26

Botallack II Oil and Charcoal 30 x 30 in 76 x 76 cms £5,200 27

Antarctica Acrylic and Paper 22 x 30 in 56 x 76 cms £1,000 28

Anascaul Oil 16 x 20 in 41 x 52 cms £3,800 29

Circe Oil and Charcoal 36 x 30 in 91 x 76 cms £5,200 30

Tuareg Interior Oil and Graphite 20 x 24 in 51 x 61 cms £4,000 31

Song and Dance Oil and Charcoal 24 x 30 in 61 x 76 cms £5,000 32

Born in Dublin in 1932, Frank Phelan was educated by the Christian Brothers and in Tipperary at Rockwell College, before studying at The Royal Architectural Institute of Ireland.

He then worked as a draughtsman in a Dublin firm of structural engineers until 1953, when he, his father and his brother Brian emigrated to Canada. For six years Frank worked in Ontario at various jobs while taking classes at the Doon School of Fine Arts in Kitchener.

Around 1959, he returned to Ireland briefly before moving to London, where he shared a house with the sculptor Frank Morris. He found work as a stagehand at Joan Littlewood’s innovative Stratford East Theatre, and designed sets for the Unity Theatre and for Charles Marowitz’s Open Space Theatre Company. His theatre contacts eventually led to an introduction to Nancy Wynne-Jones, who invited him to be an artist-in-residence at Trevaylor, the Georgian house at Gulvel, near Penzance which she had converted to a kind of artist’s colony.

It was here that Phelan befriended the painter Tony O’Malley, who introduced him to many of the key figures in the early St Ives circle, including Roger Hilton, Bryan Wynter, Patrick Heron, Conor Fallon. Phelan also was particularly impressed by the work of Peter Lanyon.

“Allusion is the basis upon which painting could dispense with depiction without loss of meaning” – Harold Rosenberg.

The above quotation encapsulates my approach to painting, in tandem with intuition, with the qualification that a previous work may inform a later one. Architectonics will also show up now and then (having once studied the subject).

The advent of Cubism led to questioning the nature of 'reality' in the first decade of the 20th century.

This opened the possibility of depiction in a quite different and exciting way. It also opened the door to Abstraction, as a means of going forward as a viable idiom.

To transpose a quote by the Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva “Looking (ie reading) is complicity in the creative process.” If my work engenders that response, even some of the time, then my efforts will have been worthwhile.

Frank Phelan FRONT COVER :

Yellow Bird I ‘67 Oil 48 x 60 in 122 x 152 cms £16,000

Throughout the 1960s, he divided his time between Cornwall and a rented studio off the Fulham Road, developing a highly abstracted, compositional style. By 1966, he had had his first solo show of paintings at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, organised by Richard Demarco. This partnership was one of the most fruitful of his early career. He also showed his work at Demarco’s inaugural exhibition in Glasgow, in another solo show the following year at Demarco’s Edinburgh gallery, and in several important group shows, including an exhibition of contemporary British painting and sculptors at the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw.

During the past two decades, Phelan re-engineered and re-energised his style and technique, exhibiting new works in Dublin, Cork, London, Bath, Provence, Granada, and of course, St Ives. His paintings and mixed media works are now in private collections in England, Ireland, France, the United States, as well as in the State Collection of Ireland (OPW) and the Cork Institute of Technology & Arts.

CRICKET FINE ART

CRICKET FINE ART 2 Park Walk Chelsea London SW10 0AD Tel: 020 7352 2733 Mobile: 07778 568 367 email: info@cricketfineart.co.uk website: www.cricketfineart.co.uk