CLIVE MCCARTNEY
FRIDAY, CHARLOTTE STREET HOTEL 30 X 42 cm Acrylic on Board
Front Cover: Twilight, Grand Army Plaza, NY 84 X 119 cm Oil on Board
Clive McCartney Solo Exhibition April 2013
CATTO GALLERY 100 Heath Street • Hampstead • London NW3 1DP Tel: +44 (0)20 7435 6660 • art@cattogallery.co.uk 3
RUSH HOUR CROWDS, GRAND CENTRAL STATION 122 X 182 cm Acrylic on Board 4
While Clive McCartney worked on this new collection for the Catto Gallery, he often painted to the music of the American minimalists such as John Adams and Steve Reich. Anyone familiar with these composers will probably recognise in Clive’s paintings a wonderful pictorial equivalent to the minimalists’ irresistible pulsing compositions. Take ‘Rush Hour Crowds’, the latest of Clive’s Grand Central Station paintings. This imposing work – far larger than Clive typically paints – has a rhythmic dynamic that’s almost musical in structure. And there’s a similar feel about other paintings in the new collection such as ‘Twilight, Grand Army Plaza’ and ‘People In Time, The British Museum’. All of these works expertly communicate the themes that have made Clive one of the UK’s most successful and best-loved artists. He travels the world to document the unique light conditions, architecture and ambience of different cities. And he admits that, yes, he is a bit obsessed. “I think I share with many artists the ability to focus on one thing and obsess over it for long periods,” he says. He’s been doing so for many years. Clive was born in India in 1960, and says he has “been painting for as long as I can remember. It is as natural to me as breathing.” He completed his art education at the Central School of Art in London, and taught at Dulwich College before becoming a highly successful full-time painter. Today, Clive looks for locations with a particular light – a light that blurs the line between figurative art and abstract line. Last year he found these precise conditions in Montmartre, the region of Paris where so many giants of art settled in the late 1800s. Clive was delighted to discover so much of the area away from the tourist hubbub to be unspoiled and quiet. It was here he painted “Study In White’, a trademark exercise in geometry that simultaneously suggests the melancholy of unwalked streets. “I became very interested in Proust when I was in Paris, and his ideas of time past and time present,” says Clive. “I’m not a symbolist painter, but I do like the idea of imbuing apparently ordinary scenes with a deeper meaning.” Montmartre also appealed because of its white buildings, another technical challenge for a painter who usually paints darker hues. He even experimented with a layered textured effect in these works to further suggest, he says, a sense of time passing. While many of those familiar with Clive’s work will be thrilled to see again so many of his trademark light-filled urban canvases depicting Parisian cafes, London bridges, Roman squares and Manhattan avenues, there will be equal delight at his new destinations. For example, Clive spent many weeks in Barbados relishing the challenge to depict its ‘ice cream colours’ for the first time. How commendable that a mature artist at the height of his powers should still want to push himself this way. And how excellent are the results. In the same spirit, Clive says he is now keen to take on the challenge of scale by painting even bigger pictures. Time to get a new ceiling put in at the Catto.
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CONVERSATIONS, CAFE MARLEY, PARIS 84 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board
THE LOUVRE, PARIS 59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Board
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TABLES ON RUE DES ABBESSES 43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board
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STUDY IN WHITE, MONTMARTRE 48 X 64 cm Acrylic on Board
OLD MONTMARTRE 43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board
EVENING TABLES, PLACE DAUPHINE 43 X 53 cm Acrylic on Board
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THE WOLSELEY 59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Board
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CLARIDGES 59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Board
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EMBANKMENT, EVENING 43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board
PEOPLE IN TIME, THE BRITISH MUSEUM 59 X 43 cm Acrylic on Board
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BOROUGH MARKET, LONDON 43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board
FLEET STREET, TOWARDS ST. PAULS 59 X 43 cm Acrylic on Board
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THE SANDY LANE HOTEL, BARBADOS 30 X 42 cm Acrylic on Board
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SANDY LANE 30 X 42 cm Acrylic on Board
THE CLIFF, BARBADOS 30 X 42 cm Acrylic on Board
CAFÉ, SAINT MARTIN 30 X 42 cm Acrylic on Board
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NIGHT LIGHTS, TIMES SQUARE 59 X 43 cm Acrylic on Board
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TWILIGHT, CENTRAL PARK 89 X 90 cm Acrylic on Board
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LA COLOMBE D’OR, ST PAUL-DE-VENCE 43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board
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THE OLD TOWN, CANNES 59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Board
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THE GRAND RESERVE, BEAULEAU - SUR - MER 43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board
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HOTEL DU CAP-EDEN-ROC 43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board
ROOM 86, VILLEFRANCHE TOWARDS CAP FERRAT 84 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board
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STUDIO STAIRCASE, MONTMARTRE 42 X 30 cm Acrylic on Board
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STAIRS, MADELAINE 42 X 30 cm Acrylic on Board
STREETS OF ST. GERMAIN 59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Board
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STILL LIFE WITH LLOYD LOOM CHAIR 43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board
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STILL LIFE WITH PENGUIN CLASSIC 47 X 60 cm Acrylic on Board
ENGLISH ATMOSPHERES, TUNBRIDGE WELLS 59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Board
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TANGIER 42 X 30 cm Acrylic on Board
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DARKNESS AND LIGHT, CAPRI 60 X 30 cm Acrylic on Board
STUDY IN WHITE AND OCHRE, TANGIER 59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Canvas
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BALTHAZAR, NY 43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board
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SILVERLIGHT, MANHATTAN 122 X 182 cm Oil on Canvas 29
FRENCH ROMANTICISM, THE LOUVRE 43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board
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STREET, MONTMARTRE 48 X 68 cm Acrylic on Board
STUDY IN WHITE, RUE DES ABBESSES, PARIS 84 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board
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THE WAILING WALL 30 X 42 cm Acrylic on Board
CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE 59 X 43 cm Acrylic on Board
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ARCADES, SAN MARCO 43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Acrylic
ROOM 32, THE SPANISH STEPS, ROME 59 X 43 cm Acrylic on Board
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THE NIGHTHAWKS, ST GERMAIN 59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Board
INSIDE AND OUTSIDE, PALAIS ROYAL 59 X 43 cm Acrylic on Board
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GARDENS OF THE TAJ MAHAL 50 X 76 cm Oil on Canvas
INDIAN PALACE, KUCHAMAN 59 X 43 cm Acrylic on Board
Back Cover: "The Belongers", Grand Turk 43 x 59 cm Acrylic on Board
CATTO GALLERY 100 Heath Street • Hampstead • London NW3 1DP Tel: +44 (0)20 7435 6660 • www.cattogallery.co.uk • art@cattogallery.co.uk Opening times: 10am - 6pm Mon - Sat • 12.30pm - 6pm Sunday • and by appointment