DANNY MARKEY
DANNY MARKEY
NEW PAINTINGS
20 Cork Street London W1S 3HL +44 (0)20 7734 1732 info@redfern-gallery.com redfern-gallery.com
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Danny Markey – New Paintings
Ever since his first exhibition at The Redfern Gallery back in 1993, Danny Markey’s subjects have always been found in the city in which he lives. Whether it be south London, Tokyo or Los Angeles, Markey has always been drawn to paint the humdrum but ephemeral aspects of city life, in particular shop fronts, car parks and motorways. As he explains, these places feel somehow quite special, in that they “haven’t been around for artists in the past, and will be gone for artists in the future”.
But, since moving a decade ago to a small village in Somerset, he admits that his impulse to paint dissipated dramatically. He struggled for a long time to respond artistically to his new home in the countryside, failing to connect with the endless expanses of fields and trees.
One afternoon, looking from a train window, Markey glimpsed in the distance a newly erected line of pylons stretching across the countryside. These controversial, manmade alterations to the natural land reignited his painterly impulses and have since become a recurring motif in his work. He returns to the pylons time and again, setting them against seasonal shifts and changing light. Sometimes they stand illuminated against a clear blue sky, or half-seen against a cold autumnal mist. In others they become almost majestic, when silhouetted against a particularly notable sunset. Through these fleeting backdrops, Markey’s interest in finding ephemeral subjects continues once more and as with much of his work, Markey is moved to paint en plein air. As such, the paintings are typified by bold, confident brushstrokes and vigorous execution.
Goal-posts erected in fields, themselves manmade interventions within the landscape, have also caught his eye. Although he has painted football-related subjects for the past three decades, these latest oils are different. Removed of their urban context, they contain subtle reminders of the current Somerset locale – while an informal kickabout takes place, often between his own children, tiny pylons can be seen in the distance and rolling fields abound. In some of Markey’s earlier scenes, painted in south London, the football pitch is the only respite from a world of tarmac and concrete. This may be a new life in the country but Markey is still able to find poetry in the ephemeral.
Stream, Somerset, 2016 Oil on board 23.5 × 29.5 cm
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May
Roadside
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View, 2019 Oil on board 29.7 × 38.2 cm
Tree, 2014 Oil on board 19 × 13.1 cm
Joe in a Man United Shirt,
5 Studio, 2021 Oil on board 29.3 × 23.4 cm
2015 Oil on board 14 × 13 cm
Poppies and Clouds, 2016
Oil on board 23.5 × 29.5 cm
Caravan and Red Tree, 2014
Oil on board 23.5 × 29.5 cm
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Hedge and Yellow Field, 2016
Oil on board 23.5 × 29.5 cm
Pylons on the Road to Yeovil, 2021
Oil on board 23.3 × 29.3 cm
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Spring Tree by a Path, 2015
Oil on board 29.5 × 23.5 cm
Purple Flowers and Orange Swings, 2015
Oil on board 20.5 × 24.3 cm
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Hill in Springtime, 2019
Oil on board 30.7 × 38.4 cm
Joe in a Green T-Shirt, 2018
Oil on board 20.4 × 24.5 cm
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Halfway Line, 2018
Oil on board 23.3 × 29.3 cm
Blue Rashford Shirt, 2016
Oil on board 23.4 × 29.4 cm
Houses, White Van and Goalposts, 2018
Oil on board 23.4 × 29.3 cm
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Pylons and Big Clouds, 2019
Oil on board 30.5 × 38.5 cm
Red and Black Footballers, 2019 Oil on board 23.6 × 29.5 cm
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Yellow and Blue Footballers, 2018
Oil on board 23.5 × 29.4 cm
Centre Circle and Houses, 2019
Oil on board 29.9 × 38.4 cm
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Blossom in Sunshine, 2019
Oil on board 20.3 × 24.5 cm
Tree Next Door, 2019
Oil on board 20.4 × 24.4 cm
Hill with Daisies, 2020
Oil on board 20.4 × 24.4 cm
Pylons, Clouds and Yellow Fields, 2018
Oil on board 30.2 × 38.5 cm
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Goal with Orange Nets, 2019
Oil on board 30.8 × 38.3 cm
Pylons, 2019
Oil on board 23.5 × 29.5 cm
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Edge of a Field, 2017
Oil on board 23.5 × 29.5 cm
Pylons on the Edge of a Town, 2019
Oil on board 30.5 × 38.5 cm
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Daisies,
Oil on board 30.5 × 38.4 cm
Yellow Field and Storm Clouds,
Oil on board 22 × 29 cm
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2017
2017
Meadow, 2018
Oil on board 28.3 × 29.5 cm
Lilac Tree, 2017
Oil on board 29.5 × 23.5 cm
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Sunset Pignano, 2019
Oil on board 29.2 × 23.3 cm
Sheds by the Roadside (I), 2016
Oil on board 30.5 × 38.5 cm
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Mountains and Telegraph Poles, Pignano, 2019
Oil on board 23.5 × 29.3 cm
Volterra, 2019
Oil on board 29.3 × 23.3 cm
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Telegraph Poles, Pignano, 2019
Oil on board 23.4 × 29.5 cm
Volterra Sunset, 2019
Oil on board 29.4 × 23.5 cm
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The Road to Yeovil, 2021
Oil on board 23.4 × 29.4 cm
Cornfield and Star, 2016
Oil on board 20.5 × 24.5 cm
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Blue Field, 2020
Oil on board 20.5 × 24.5 cm
Photograph of Fiona, 2017
Oil on board 29.6 × 29.9 cm
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Horses, 2019
Oil on board 30.1 × 38.5 cm
Meadow and Cranesbill, 2016
Oil on board 23.5 × 29.5 cm
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Pylons, Early Morning, 2019
Oil on board 23.5 × 29.4 cm
Plantation, 2014
Oil on board 30.5 × 38.5 cm
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Front cover:
Pylons and Big Clouds, 2019 illustrated fully on page 12
Inside front cover: Pylons on the Edge of a Town, 2019 illustrated fully on page 17
Inside back cover:
Red and Black Footballers, 2019 illustrated fully page 12
Back cover:
Goal with Orange Nets, 2019 illustrated fully page 16
Published by The Redfern Gallery, London 2022
ISBN: 978-0-948460-93-7
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying recording or any other information storage or retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the gallery.
20 Cork Street London W1S 3HL +44 (0)20 7734 1732
info@redfern-gallery.com redfern-gallery.com
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