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Piers Ottey We Love London
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I Do OK II - 138 x 92 cm
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Piers Ottey We Love London 28 August to 9 September 2014 at Hoxton Arches, Arch 402, Cremer Street, London, E2 8HD
Zimmer Stewart Gallery www.zimmerstewart.co.uk
"Piers Ottey's blunt, uncompromising images are extremely powerful� Peter Burton - Art Review 1980
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Graffiti by Ricky Dep - Just off Brick Lane WE LOVE LONDON Following his successful exhibition with Zimmer Stewart Gallery in Redchurch St in 2013, Piers Ottey presents his new body of
Woof - oil on linen 73 x 182 cm in progress in the Sussex studio 4 | Piers Ottey: We Love London
work “We Love London” at Hoxton Arches. Sussex based Piers Ottey has a studio near his home on the South Downs, and also one in Hackney, in London’s east end. Splitting his time between the two, and painting in both places, creates two streams of work. Many artists tend to have more than one distinct style and in Piers Ottey’s case one is more pastoral (for his South Downs and Alpine landscapes) the other is more edgy in response to the urban scenes he sees around the Hackney studio. The latter include figures, which are mostly absent from his other landscapes. As the title of the exhibition suggests, Piers Ottey loves London, he was born in Wimbledon, grew up there and went to art school in Chelsea. The “We” in the title is broader than being merely the artist and his
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gallery, he means it to refer to everyone who has an affinity for London, whether a resident or visitor, young or old: London is special to Piers, and these paintings are his expression of this. “I do OK” (oil on linen 93 x 173 cm) shows an artist painting graffiti on a wall off Redchurch St, the title is from a short discussion Piers Ottey had with the artist, and inspiration for the work. “We Love London I & II” shows a visitor to the capital, one who is enjoying seeing areas of the city, which are not perhaps on the majority of tourists’ list of places to see. This sentiment sums up how Piers Ottey chooses the subjects for his paintings – these are not London postcards, showing the obvious sites, though these may appear in passing they are by no means front and centre in the compositions. Much of the graffiti (if not all) shown in these paintings has now gone, or been replaced, Piers Ottey likes this transitory nature of his subjects and that his paintings represent a
Lichtenstein Cushion snapshot, a moment in time before the place changes and evolves as all parts of London do, and have done for centuries. Piers Ottey acknowledges the help of graffiti artists Captain Kris, Ricky Dep and Jamie when he was finding sites for his compositions: talking to these artists completely changed his view of this art form.
We Love London II - oil on linen 183 x 152 cm in progress in the Hackney studio
Recording places in a state of change is a favourite theme for Piers Ottey: He painted the Shard over twelve times as it was being built from the ground up, once it was completed and so would no longer change, his interest waned. The same is true of his Battersea Power Station paintings. These paintings are not nostalgic for a London past, nor are they sentimental, they are current, London in flux and record the “now”. Piers Ottey: We Love London | 5
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PIERS OTTEY Piers Ottey was born in Wimbledon in 1955, and went to King’s College School from the age of 7 to 18 years. Kings College is an independent school founded in 1829 by Royal Charter, as the junior school for the newly established King’s College of the University of London. Members of the teaching staff included Gabriele Rosetti, whose son Dante Gabriel Rosetti went on to found the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (with Millais). John Sell Cotman was also one of the early art masters, nine of his pupils became practising artists and ten architects. Walter Sickert, painter and printmaker later went there and the artistic strengths of the school continued. At school Piers Ottey was taught art by Robert Holloway, founder of the Art Society Press. It is largely due to his inspiration that Piers went on to study at Chelsea School of Art in 1974 and became an artist. The late 1960’s and early 70’s were an exciting time to be in London, especially around Chelsea “it was exploding” says Piers: Mary Quant, Glam Rock then punk – he immersed himself into all of it! This was also a great time to be in further education (before the “cuts” of 1978). Hockney, Caulfield, Uglow and other established artists of the day would just come in and talk to the students about their work. At this time Piers Ottey would see all the major exhibitions in London and travel to Paris for 6 | Piers Ottey: We Love London
major exhibitions of work by Matisse and to see the Barnes Collection of PostImpressionists and early Modern paintings. At around this time Piers saw Oak Arch Grey (Wimbledon Common) 1977-81 by Patrick Symons 1925-1993 (Purchased by the Tate in 1983). This painting and artist were another major influence on him in developing his own style shortly after leaving Chelsea School of Art. Like Piers Ottey now, Patrick Symons brought a rigorous approach to his paintings. He made numerous preliminary drawings and continually corrected his compositions, which can be analysed on many levels. He paid close attention to their geometry but also to their specific content. Symons frequently worked on one subject over a long period and this is one of an extended series of intensely observed paintings of Wimbledon Common, which he first painted in 1967. Compare this to Piers Ottey's series of Shard paintings, South Downs paintings and the Battersea series. Piers Ottey moved to West Sussex in 1980 and set up The Mill Studio Art School in 1994.
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We Love London I - 183 x 152 cm
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PIERS OTTEY’S PAINTINGS Painting mostly in oils, his subject matter has often been influenced by his travels (to The Alps and Europe) but he always returns to painting from the human form, London and local Sussex landscapes.
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something that happens between the idea and the finished piece, the indefinable hand of chance that can make a picture either sing or fail.
Piers' work has been exhibited in London, the provinces and abroad and can be found in private and corporate as well as public collections around the world. In June 2007 Piers won the University of Bath painting prize.
The le Vack Brough - 122 x 182 cm The process of creating the painting is as important as the final result for Piers. So changes in composition often can be seen in the finished piece. Mistakes, as well as drawing marks, are left to be read and used as anchors for the other elements added subsequently. Battersea New England - 122 x 183 cm The paintings are very personal with a mischievous quality, bordering on the subversive. The 'code' of colours often seen around the edge of his canvasses form a diary, a record of all the colours used to make the image and in the order they were made and used. For Piers, the edges of the picture are important, so is the geometry between the edge and the centre. The rectangle is his most common format; primary red and blue form his initial drawing. Piers Ottey's paintings do not just "happen", he follows a process; they are planned. That is not to say that the final image is predicted at the start, the process is an evolution and each decision influences the next: He says “Painting is an adventure, a complete mystery.” There is 8 | Piers Ottey: We Love London
"Surface quality should be special" he says and viewers should feel free to feel the surface of the work. The Zimmer Stewart Gallery, based in Arundel, have shown Piers Ottey's work for a number of years now; James Stewart, founder and director says "Piers Ottey's exhibitions are always exciting, original and well attended. His works are always in demand." Marc Steene, director of Pallant House Gallery, Chichester says “Ottey deliberately charts and reveals the process and thinking that goes into each of his paintings, detailing each colour as it is painted as a margin to his work. He willingly reveals the inner symmetries and relationships he has discovered whilst he creates the architecture for his paintings; two crossing diagonals may mark the centre of
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painting or lead the eye to a particular colour or form. There is a knowledge of tradition and the classical in his compositions, he cites Coldstream and Uglow as influences and often uses the golden section and other mechanics to hold a painting together. When questioned Ottey explains that he finds compositions simple but the process complex, though this might be because the compositions come easily to him and that the process is a longer and harder journey.”
Audrey in Kensington Gardens - 122x182 cm Norbert Lynton wrote in 1999 of Piers Ottey "His many conscious and instinctual choices, rooted in his experience of art itself as well as working with the visible world, give his pictorial statements some independence of it. At any one moment, his spirit, together with what drives him to be a painter at all, leads him to work on this and not on that. We, coming to see the results, may speak of direction and influence, but the possibilities before him at any moment are well-nigh infinite and all the time he is deciding what not to do, never or just today, and what to focus on and begin to work with. And 'working with' includes a whole range of processes, from experimentation to fine tuning at the end" Mary Rose Beaumont wrote in 2008 “Artists with a sense of humour are agile, deft and defy categorisation, which is wonderfully
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refreshing when the work is as challenging as is Piers Ottey’s. He revels in his power to puzzle the viewer, both visually in the paintings and verbally in some of his titles. He has a propensity to leave out important features in his landscapes whilst still titling them as if they were there, in other words the artist plays at being a conjuror.” “There is something intensely satisfying about Piers’s paintings: he stands plumb in the middle of our great European tradition of symmetry and order. The first painting I bought, some 25 years ago, shows the tip of the island of Skyros, an Ottoman castle a little offshore and the whole just appearing in a blue sea and sky. In the top two corners of this large canvas are two putti, their pale blue ribbons fluttering – an Ottey joke, and heaven! A simple painting, one might think, but everything is based on the golden section; the point where the puttis’ arrows would meet, the size of the island vis-à-vis the largeness of the sea. All is ordered, calm and satisfying. My last painting, Three Peaks from Piers’s 2014 Swiss series is equally large but far more complex. The craggy nature of the great mountains is rendered in multiple shades of black, brown, white, some etched in red, the whole twisting, turning in its grandeur and immensity – and always there is order. Underlying the whole are diagonal lines; not obvious but most certainly there and geometrically perfect, they carry the composition and settle it in the imagination.” – said collector Sue Marsh 2014 “Piers’ paintings bring light and colour to our home and joy to our lives” Say Fiona and Anthony Garrod, collectors. “For me Piers Ottey represents integrity” Elizabeth Dziedziczak-Mack, L’Artichaut & collector 2014 Piers Ottey: We Love London | 9
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Crucifixion - 73 x 182 cm
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I Do OK I - 95 x 174 cm
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Into the Light - Redchurch St - 90 x 140 cm
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WOOF - 84 x 188 cm
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Walking to Paradise Row - oil on linen 100 x 100 cm
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Gornergrat Blues - 122 x 92 cm
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Two Miles High - 160 x 90 cm
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BIOGRAPHY Born London 1955 Studied London (Chelsea School of Art ) 1974-1978 Moved to Sussex 1980 Currently full time professional artist, art teacher and trustee of The National Open Art Competition SOLO EXHIBITIONS INCLUDE 2013 – The Gallery, Shoreditch, London, ‘Form and Process’ 2012 – Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel 2011 – ‘London Seen’, Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel 2009 – ‘Alpine Paintings’ Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel 2008 – ‘Sussex Landscapes’ Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel 2006 – ‘Metamorphosen’, Galerie Stapfelhus, Weil am Reim, Germany 2006 – ‘New York Paintings’West Stoke House, Chichester; Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel 2005 – Saddlers Row Gallery, Petworth 2003 – ‘Figures’ Sheridan Russell Gallery, London 2002 – Saddlers Row Gallery, Petworth 2001 – Sheridan Russell Gallery, London 2000 – L’Artichaut Gallery, Chichester 1999 – Recent Works from Skyros, Deborah Bates Gallery, London 1994 – Seaford College, Duncton, Sussex; Stanstead House, Rowlands Castle, Sussex 1991 – Capron House, Midhurst 1989 – The Grange, Rottingdean, Brighton GROUP EXHIBITIONS INCLUDE 2013 – Highgate Contemporary, London, The LONDON Exhibition 2012 – Medici Gallery, London, Cityscapes; Highgate Contemporary, Piers Ottey, Phil Tyler, Work from the Figure 2011 – Medici Gallery, London, The Geometry of Painting; The London Group, Cello Factory, London 2010 – Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel 2009 – Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel 2008 – Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel 2006 – Oxmarket, Chichester, Piers Ottey and Michael Frith 2004 – Rowley Gallery, London 2003 – ‘Unpacked’, Chichester; ‘You are here’, Havant Arts Centre, Havant 2002 – Piers Ottey and Stig Evans, The Mill Studio 2001 – Peters Barn Gallery, Midhurst; 101 Goswell Road, Barbican, London; Beatrice Royal Gallery, Southampton 2000 – Sheridan Russell Gallery, London; L’Artichaut, Chichester; The Red Gallery, Marlow; Beatrice Royal Gallery, Southampton; Royal Academy, London
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1999 – L’Artichaut, Chichester; The Red Gallery, Marlow; Space and Light, Chichester Festivities; Bishop’s Palace; Portsmouth Open, Portsmouth 1998 – Chichester Open; Beatrice Royal Gallery, Southampton; Portsmouth Open, Portsmouth 1993 – Art’ 93, London 1990 – Four Sussex Painters, Paris, France 1982 – Amberley Fine Art Centre, Sussex 1981 – Amberley Fine Art Centre, Sussex 1980 – Sussex Artists, Brighton; Bath Contemporary Arts Fair 1978 – Stowells Trophy, Royal Academy, London PUBLICATIONS, REVIEWS AND PRIZES 2009 – Sussex Life, Piers Ottey, Artist 2008 – Essay, Piers Ottey, New Work, Mary Rose Beaumont 2007 – Winner Bath University Painting Prize. 1999 – Essay, Piers Ottey , New work from Skyros, Norbert Lynton 1999– Feature, Exhibit A magazine. 1994 – Landscape in a square , The Artist 1989 – Piers Ottey , New Work, West Sussex Gazette PUBLIC & CORPORATE COLLECTIONS INCLUDE Exxon Mobil, St Richards Hospital, Grant Thornton, Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery, Worthing Museum, Pallant House Gallery, St Thomas’s Hospital. PRIVATE COLLECTIONS London, New York, New Zealand, France, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Denmark amongst others. HOXTON ARCHES Set within a sensitively converted railway arch, Hoxton Arches is a hidden gem nestled in the heart of London's East End. Comprising of 2,500 square feet of space located mere metres from the Hoxton Overground Station and the popular Shoreditch area, Hoxton Arches is just a short walk from an extensive list of attractions including Brick Lane, Spitalfields Market, Broadway Market, Vyner Street and Hoxton Square, and is within walking distance of Liverpool Street and Old Street stations. ZIMMER STEWART GALLERY A contemporary gallery established in 2003 showing new work by emerging and established artists through an on going programme of eight to ten exhibitions each year. The work on show includes paintings, original prints, ceramics, sculpture and textiles.
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Zimmer Stewart Gallery 29 Tarrant St Arundel West Sussex BN18 9DG 01903 882063 james@zimmerstewart.co.uk www.zimmerstewart.co.uk