BRENDAN NEiLaND
BRENDAN NEILaND
Reflections at 80
20 Cork Street, London W1S 3H L
+44 (0)20 7734 1732
redfern-gallery.com
COSMOPOLIS Dr Ian Massey
Brendan Neiland has a long-held fascination with cities, finding himself constantly enthralled by their sense of possibility, their unending evolution and change. His recent paintings evoke the multi-sensory experience of contemporary urban life, in a sequence of kaleidoscopic images formed from disparate elements. Spatially complex, each canvas combines multiple vantage points, in pictorial constructions that summon both the exhilaration and disorientation of the myriad sights and sounds of the metropolis. The artist’s first experience of a large city came at the age of fourteen, when he left his family home in coastal Suffolk to attend school in Birmingham. After a childhood spent during the war and its aftermath, he became captivated by Birmingham, by its scale and the new opportunities it offered. Over the ensuing decades a love of cities has never left him, and the urban landscape provided the greater part of his subject matter throughout a long and distinguished career as painter, draftsman and printmaker. In a recent conversation Neiland described how some years ago, sitting in Times Square in New York –‘the world’s biggest meeting point’ – he became intoxicated, drunk on the scene’s visual and auditory overload, as he watched people of all races and creeds assemble and disperse, their voices woven into the
general cacophony. And it is clearly the theatricality of the city, its role as a backdrop for human life and activity, that excites and inspires his interest. Neiland’s source material is largely photographic, his camera a form of sketchbook. Both from his home in London, and during travels elsewhere, he walks, often for hours at a time, remaining open to whatever might be revealed as the city unfolds itself around him. From many years of global travel – to destinations such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Beijing, Costa Rica and North America – he has amassed a vast photographic archive from which to select the constituents of each painting, initial points of reference from which the work then evolves in a series of drawings. A composition is rarely based on images from a single location, but instead on fragments taken from various sources, so that the neon signage of a Las Vegas casino might, for instance, be conjoined with the structural geometries of a Beijing shopping mall elevator. Memory plays a part too, both in devising formal arrangements and in decisions about the kinds of sensation and atmosphere the work is to generate. A central concern is the exploration of light and reflection, and the ways in which their effects can be translated and rendered in paint. Hence the abstracted patterns of water and sky in mirrored glass skyscrapers, seen in many paintings here; the diffused fuzz of neon; and the subtle tonal gradations that represent
|
3
4
|
the lustrous sheen of automobiles and machinery. Neiland works in series, in variations on a theme, individual components sometimes reappearing like minor characters in a novel or film, each time taking on new resonances and relationships. Look, for instance, at the delicately veined flower in Begonia, set against a collage of mechanical shards and sweeping metallic shapes like something by Frank Gehry; and how that same flower appears again in Serendipity. Ancient and modern, old and new are juxtaposed in many of these canvases: the detail from a piece of Chinese statuary in Torso for example, surrounded by what is otherwise a near-abstract mosaic of shape and colour. And in Arcadia, the Art Deco Chrysler Building, drawn both as a diagram and as several of its constituent parts, is shown as though viewed through a refracting lens. These paintings are greatly informed by the impact of technological advances in image making and presentation: digital projections and animations, virtual and hyper realities, and high-resolution advertisements the size of multiplex screens. A palette of often-heightened colour underscores the works’ inherent drama. It is achieved by painting on top of a black basecoat, over which, using his long-established techniques of spray gun and hand-cut stencils, the artist then layers pigment a dozen or more times to achieve intense saturation. He deploys a wide range of stylistic devices,
dramatic changes of scale and angle, and woozy distortions, like those of a hall of mirrors. In Scherzo for example, a fluid edifice, set at a vertiginous gradient, appears alongside what reads as a piece of stained glass, interspersed with Ben-Day dots and seen in close-up. And, like the ambiguous spaces in these paintings, the distinction between what is natural and what is synthetic is more often than not unclear. A cluster of flowers – a recurrent motif, depicted in a range of stylistic guises – might derive from an illuminated hoarding, or from a hotel lobby bouquet. There is play too with the language of advertising, its chimerical world of perpetual seduction and promise. In several of Neiland’s canvases – those such as Troubadour and City Spur – corporate logotypes appear as cropped calligraphic fragments within flickering screens and curtains. All is artifice, in an art of suggestion whose secular iconography remains a moveable feast of endless permutations. And whilst under present circumstances the future of our urban centres may seem haunted by doubt and ambivalence, these intensely visual paintings act as celebrations of the exhilarating poetry of the city, first encountered by Brendan Neiland more than sixty years ago, and the fuel of his art ever since. August 2021
Begonia, 2020 Acrylic on canvas 91 × 122 cm
NATURAL FEELING Paul Finch, Director, World Architecture Festival
6
|
In the 1960s, the Malaysian architect Ken Yeang invented something he called ‘bio-climatic architecture’. For the first time, at least since the dawn of modernism, the separation of nature and built form was to be reversed: nature would be invited into buildings, not just in the form of roof gardens, but as an integral part of the façade, of the building’s ecosystem, both literally and metaphorically. Regarded by some as a byway of architectural exploration, Yeang’s ideas have become increasingly influential, even if on occasion unacknowledged. These days, it is a commonplace, particularly in Asia, to find that the landscaping of a building is no longer confined to the polite provision of garden space around the ground floor. Instead, it is just as likely to break out in the form of green terraces, climber plants spiralling around a structure, or internal gardens – quite apart from the ubiquitous provision of greenery as part of the roof, the ‘fifth elevation’. Nature has become part shading device, part contributor to carbon reduction, and definitely a contributor to biodiversity. Natural forms follow carbon-reduction function. However, the inevitable consequence of a functional agenda is an aesthetic outcome: things look different. Equally inevitably, designers with none of the environmental interests of the
pioneers adopt the outcome as pure style. ‘Greenwash’, rather than Ionic or Corinthian columns, becomes the order of the day. Cynical clients and unwitting professional collaborators play ‘let’s pretend’, as they proffer their carbon-noxious products onto a credulous world, complete with plant dressing. Although he has had a life-long interest (not to say obsession) in/with architecture, Brendan Neiland has no need to engage with the physics, chemistry and biology of the construction world. He paints what he feels and what he sees. Art is, to use that old-fashioned phrase, man-made, though its ingredients are a hybrid of the manufactured and the natural. In Neiland’s studio, the spray-gun is an essential part of his art-industrial process, but the paints and canvas stem from the natural world. His latest exhibition, marking six decades of creative production, might be seen as a synthesis of both. While best known for his investigations into reflection and reflectivity, not quite the same thing, there has always been another element in his work, that is to say the natural world. This resulted in a long period of interest in clouds and cloudscapes, which generated paintings of an ethereal and calming nature; at other times, his familiar glossy building facades and urban surfaces would themselves capture a
passing cloud, as much as a building or car across the street, freezing it in time, space and paint. Clouds scarcely feature in his latest collection. Nor do the fauna and flora of Costa Rica, an inspiration for much of the artist’s recent vibrantly colourful work. However, the natural world keeps breaking into the latest images in the form of fruit, flowers, leaves and biomorphic shapes. While some of the paintings are purely urban, echoing the exciting and chaotic juxtapositions of his favourite city, New York, there are a series of works here which might be described as ‘reflections on still life’. That still life tradition, portraying fruit, flowers, wine, fish, meat and cheese in the context of table, pottery, cutlery, goblets and linen (wood, ceramics, metal, glass, flax) is here transformed into a world of visual collision rather than stasis. Leaves fall; lemons are suspended; flowers wilt, droop or revive. Some of the ‘nature’ is itself ambiguous: is that a real leaf or is it plastic? Is that violet flower really a flower, or is it part of a stained-glass window? Flowers die, but a painting of them might last three hundred years. Does it matter if they were real or another artwork?
Titles of work in the exhibition indicate, perhaps, the artist’s sensibility or intention: ‘Arabesque’; ‘Arcadia’; ‘Cantaloupe’; ‘Conflation’; ‘Scherzo’; ‘Serendipity’. In Neiland’s world, there is a thin creative line linking artificial, artifice and art. The disjunctions, and more important the conjunctions, are really the point. August 2021
|
7
8
|
Scherzo, 2021 Acrylic on canvas 120 × 180 cm
Kaleidoscope, 2015 Acrylic on canvas 45 × 61 cm
Silhouette, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 45 × 61 cm
12
|
Serendipity, 2021 Acrylic on canvas 120 × 180 cm
Zephyr, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 45 × 61 cm
Tease, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 45 × 61 cm
16
|
Torso, 2021 Acrylic on canvas 90 × 120 cm
18
|
Arabesque, 2020 Acrylic on canvas 120 × 180 cm
20
|
Nags Head, 2017 Acrylic on canvas 122 × 91 cm
left (detail)
22
|
Pelicanos, 2019 Acrylic on canvas 91 × 122 cm
24
|
Singa Rose, 2019 Acrylic on canvas 91 × 122 cm
26
|
Troubadour, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 180 × 120 cm
left (detail)
28
|
Diaspora, 2019 Acrylic on canvas 91 × 122 cm
Zest I, 2017 Acrylic on canvas 45 × 61 cm
City Bloom, 2019 Acrylic on canvas 122 × 91 cm
32
|
Arbour, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 91 × 122 cm
34
|
Canteloupe, 2021 Acrylic on canvas 120 × 180 cm
36
|
City Spur, 2020 Acrylic on canvas 120 × 180 cm
Asp, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 45 × 61 cm
Animus, 2019 Acrylic on canvas 122 × 91 cm
40
|
Citadel, 2020 Acrylic on canvas 120 × 180 cm
Helter Skelter, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 45 × 61 cm
Almalgam, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 45 × 61 cm
44
|
Conflation, 2021 Acrylic on canvas 120 × 180 cm
Cornucopia, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 45 × 61 cm
Chatter, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 45 × 61 cm
48
|
Escalade, 2020 Acrylic on canvas 120 × 180 cm
50
|
Arcadia, 2020 Acrylic on canvas 120 × 180 cm
52
|
S E L E C T E D C H R O N O L O GY
BIOGRAPHY
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1941 1961-1966 1966-1969 1969 1970 1978 1979 1988
1971/72/74 Angela Flowers Gallery, London 1973 Victoria and Albert Museum, London & Travelling Exhibition 1976 Brunel University Park Square Gallery, Leeds Arts Council Gallery, Belfast Angela Flowers Gallery, London Oxford Gallery, Oxford 1977 Eastern Arts, The Minories, Colchester Tour Prints and Paintings on Paper, AIR Gallery, London 1979 Fischer Fine Art, London 1980 Polytechnic Art Gallery, Newcastle 1981 Anderson O’Day Gallery, London Print Show Bury St Edmunds Gallery, Bury St Edmunds 1983 Drumcroon Gallery, Wigan Education Art Centre 1984 Fischer Fine Art, London 1987 Anderson O’Day Gallery, London 1988 The Parnham Trust, Dorset The Tate Gallery, London – Archive display of drawings, seritraces and masks used in the creation of the print ‘Lloyds’
1992 1996 1998-2004 1999 1992-2005 2013 2014
Born Lichfield, Stafford Birmingham College of Art Royal College of Art, London Awarded Silver Medal, Royal College of Art Joined Angela Flowers Gallery, London John Moore’s XI Prize Winner Joined Fischer Fine Art Gallery, London Elected Fellow of Royal Society of Painters and Etchers (RE) Joined Redfern Gallery, London Elected Royal Academician Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts Appointed Professor of Painting, University of Brighton Keeper of The Royal Academy of Arts Appointed Professor of Painting, Loughborough University Royal Academician Honorary Doctorate de Montfort University Artist in Residence, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore
1989 1991 1992 1993 1994-1995 1995 1996 1997 1998
Painting Beyond Architecture: an Independent Observation, Royal Institute of British Architects Galleries, London Brendan Neiland – Recent Paintings, Fischer Fine Art, London Gardner Centre, Brighton Milton Keynes Exhibition Centre Northern Centre for Contemporary Art, Sunderland Stafford Art Gallery, Stafford Drumcroon Arts Centre, Wigan Nottingham University Arts Centre, Nottingham Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool Redfern Gallery, London Reading College of Arts & Technology, Reading University of Brighton A Display of Prints and Working Materials 1974-1995, Royal Academy of Arts Highlights; New Screenprints, Lamont Gallery, London Cityscapes and Landscapes, Pallant House, Chichester Redfern Gallery, London Royal Academy of Arts, Friends Room University of Brighton Brunel University Loughborough University Keele University
|
53
2001 2006
54
|
2008 2011 2012 2014 2015 2017 2018-2019
Loughborough University The Art of Reflection, Galerie Belvédère, Singapore Brendan Neiland – A New Perspective, Turlej Foundation, Krakow, Poland Brendan Neiland – Recent Paintings and A Selection of Prints, Redfern Gallery, London Brendan Neiland – A Retrospective, Museum and Art Galleries, Sharjah, UAE An Exhibition of Prints by Brendan Neiland, Intercontinental Hotel, London Neiland’s Choice, John Bloxham Gallery, London Brendan Neiland – Night and Day, Redfern Gallery, London A Seventieth Birthday Exhibition, Redfern Gallery, London Neiland at the Cut, paintings and works on paper, the Cut, London Prints and works on paper, Galerie Belvédère, Singapore Light Fantastic, Redfern Gallery, London Neiland in Singapore, Galerie Belvédère Singapore Neiland in Exeter, Brook Gallery, Exeter Neiland, Chelsea Arts Club, London Neiland’s Choice, GX Gallery, London 1000 Years Apart, Daisuke Sakaguchi, Brendan Neiland, Redfern Gallery, London Drawing from Life, The Redfern Gallery Surface Tensions, The Gallery, De Montfort University, Leicester
MAJOR COMMISSIONS
Loughborough University
Elemetta Ltd
National Bank of Dubai
British Rail
Royal Mail
The Economist
Bluewater Complex
British Airports Authority: Terminal Four Building
Rover/BMW
at Heathrow
MCL Group
Lloyds: Jardines
AT Kearney
Gillette
Ford Motor Company
Hospital for Nervous Diseases
Prudential
Guildhall Museum
His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan Bin Mohammed
Uni-Life, Luxembourg
Al Qassimi
Rosehaugh PLC
Rolls Royce Motors
Intercity
University of Sheffield
Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners
Red Mansion
Reading College of Arts and Technology
Rolls Royce Engines
University of Brighton
Capitaland, Singapore
Staffordshire County Council
Windsor Properties Ltd, 15/F,
Great Western
One Landmark East, Hong Kong
Community College, Hackney ScotRail Gatwick Express English Heritage Proctor and Gamble: Aukett PLC
COLLECTIONS
London, English Heritage
Stafford, Staffordshire County Council
London, Government Art Collection
West Riding of Yorkshire, County Council
London, Guildhall Museum, City of London
Wigan, Drumcroon Gallery
Birmingham, City Art Gallery
London, Gulbenkian Foundation
Wiltshire Museum Services
Bolton, Museum & Art Gallery
London, Hackney Community College
Bradford, City Art Gallery
London, Museum of London
Brighton, University of Brighton
London, Royal College of Art
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
London, South London Art Gallery
Carlisle, Museum & Art Gallery
London, Tate
Cleveland, Museum
London, Victoria & Albert Museum
Dudley, Museum & Art Gallery
Loughborough University
Eastbourne, Towner Art Gallery
Manchester, Rutherstone Collection
Glasgow, Museum & Art Gallery
Manchester, Whitworth Art Gallery
Leeds, City Art Gallery
Milton Keynes, The Open University
Leicester, De Montfort University
Newcastle, University of Northumbria
Leicester, Education Authority
Portsmouth, City Museum
Leicester, Museum & Art Gallery
Reading, College of Art & Technology
Leigh, Museum & Art Gallery
Rochdale, Art Gallery
London, Arts Council of Great Britain
Salford, University of Salford
London, Brunel University
Sheffield, Graves Art Gallery
London, Contemporary Art Society
Sheffield, University Sheffield
London, Department of the Environment
Southampton, Museum & Art Gallery
United Kingdom
Overseas Belgium, European Parliament, Brussels Canada, Toronto Art Gallery France, The British Embassy, Paris Hong Kong, Wing Tai Enterprises Ltd Jordan, The British Council Singapore, Capitaland Ltd UAE, The British Council UAE, National Bank of Dubai UAE, Sharjah Museum USA, Boston Museum of Fine Art USA, Brooklyn Museum of Art
|
55
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
BRENDAN NEILaND Reflections at 80 14 September – 15 October 2021 Published by The Redfern Gallery, London, 2021 Works ©Brendan Neiland, 2021
56
|
front cover:
Diaspora, 2019 (detail) fully illustrated on page 29
Introduction: Dr Ian Massey © 2021 Text: Paul Finch OBE © 2021
inside front cover:
Catalogue design: Graham Rees Design Photography: Hugh Gilbert Printed in England: The Five Castles Press
page 52:
ISBN: 978-0-948460-87-6 All rights reserved. This book may not 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 publishers, the artist and the copyright owners.
20 Cork Street London W1S 3HL +44 (0)20 7734 1732
redfern-gallery.com
Escalade, 2020 (detail) fully illustrated on page 49
Singa Rose, 2019 (detail) fully illustrated on page 25 inside back cover:
Torso, 2021 (detail) fully illustrated on page 17 back cover:
Conflation, 2021 (detail) fully illustrated on page 45