painters Tubes issue #6

COMPLIMENTARY INTRODUCTION EDITION FOR MAGZTER SUBSCRIBERS

painters

TUBES magazine for art, artists and art galleries

Year Review

Best artists interviews, articles and features of 2017

Plus preview “The Ten of Us” Special exhibition of a ‘visual reunion’

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painters Tubes magazine information The first public release was in December 2016 in the UK only.

Published as a bi-monthly the artists featured were mainly from the UK initially.

The introduction of painters from the USA, Germany, Italy and Fance first apppeared in issue number #4. above: issue #6 Front Cover Published in the UK December 25th 2017.

Tubes Editor Denis Taylor (left) and David Coulter painter (right) photographed at Cheshire Art Gallery (solo exhibition) by ŠLee Harrison.

2018 will see the magazine expand to feature artists from those countries and further afield.

Tubes is a content rich publication.

This issue is especially prepared for the Magzter subscribers to show how Tubes presents artists, artists work, in depth articles, art essays and critical art comment

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painters

TUBES

contents Editors Page Page 4

“the TEN of us” - Special Exhibition Preview.

School Class of 1962 - a visual renunion

Pages 5 to 9Art

article - “what about the kids?”

Pages - 10 to 11

interview “in the studio with Ian Norris.”

Pages - 12 to 17

interview “in the company of Dave Coulter.”

Pages - 18 to 19

catalogue introduction.”70 years in the making”

Pages - 18 to 21

interview- “in the studio with John Smout”

Pages - 22 to 25

article “Weltgeist of an artist”

Pages - 26 to 30

“a morning and afternnon with Steve Capper”

Pages - 31 to 34

“mission to photograph Dave Gunning”- Gallerist

Pages - 34 to 38

Article-Sunday telegraph, “story of W.R.Turner.”

Pages - 38 to 41

interview “talking the real deal with Dean Entwistle” Pages - 42 to 45

Gallery Openings 2017

Gateway Gallery.......

Saul Hay Gallery....... Page - 46 Cheshire Art Gallery.......

Contemporary Six Gallery....... Page - 47 Colony Art Gallery.......

other artists who featured in Tubes 2017

Chris Cyprus, Diane Terry, Page - 48 Hugh Winterbottom and SimonParkin Abstract Summer Special article including a summary of the 12 artists work that featured in the issue...Pages 49 to 52

Landscape - Special article including a summary of the 22 artists work that featured in the issue... Pages 53 to 61

©painters Tubes magazine2016 designed & produced by Studio 5 Publishers Sweden. Printed in the UK registered office: Ekerodsvagen 253, 266 95 Munka Ljungby. +46431441050 email:tubes@telia.com - www.painterstubes.com and www.painterstubes.co.uk

©tubes magazine all rights reserved

ptmag- #6- ©2017-12-25

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Editors page

Before I say a few a words about last year, I would like bring to your attention to an exhibition in 2018- “The Ten of Us” - It’s a sort of visual reunion of artists who attended the Manchester High School of Art and were in the same form. The MSoA was a specialist art school was where I also enrolled just as these ‘Ten’ were leaving, therefore the show holds a special interest for me personally.

The exhibition will be mounted at the refurbished Saddleworth Museum and Art Gallery and the opening preview day is the 20th January 2018.

photograph: Denis Taylor ©Marntay 2016

The first full year of Tubes has proved to be as interesting and as exciting as I personally hoped it would be when the idea for a specialist painting magazine was first conceived in the Summer of 2016.

The artists we have featured so far in 2017, have all had great success, with solo gallery exhibitions abound. Some artists of course, were quite well known in their own right, but Tubes is proud to have given artists, being highly gifted and dedicated lesser known artists, a platform to show their work to a wider audience. And it very satisfying to us all at the magazine that we have helped to correct that lack of recognition.

As the Editor I am looking forward to 2018 with an even greater expanded audience where Tubes will be offered to read free ‘for registered readers’ or otherwise bought, both on line and in print for the general art loving public.

I would like to thank the many artists and art galleries for engaging with painters Tubes magazine in 2017 in particular Colin Taylor, Diane Terry and Laurence Causse Parsley, for their article contributions.

I am also grateful for the warm reception I personally received from the very onset of Tubes in November 2016 from Artists and Galleries alike. And of course, You – the Tubes Readers – without whom the magazine would not have reached the level of influence and respect among artists and galleries, one that we hold dear and enjoy today. This last issue for 2017 features a number of the interviewed artists full articles Tubes have published, but not all. I do wish I was able to include all of them.

None the less, I have placed participating artists names along with their studio photographs, where we can, if we have the references, on the later feature pages, towards the end of the magazine.

I should also like to give a huge ‘thank-you’ to the companies that have supported Tubes magazine by taking advertising space or inviting us to provide catalogue introductions for exhibitions etc, including, Schminke Paints Gbh, Tea House Transport, London, Wright and Marshall Auctioneers, Knutsford, Gateway Gallery, Hale, UK, Contemporary Six Gallery, Manchester, UK Cheshire Art Gallery Bramhall, Cheshire, UK and a new Gallery to arrive late this year, Colony Art Gallery, Rochdale, UK. To our editorial, administration and distribution back room, without whom Tubes would have remained just a good idea - a massive thank you to: Marianne, Barry, Lynda, Paul, our special friends, Lee Harrison Photographer and graphic-designer consultant in London, Steve.

I do hope you all have had a happy Christmas and may I wish a wonderful New Year to Everyone.

Denis Taylor- Artist and Editor of painters Tubes magazine. December 25, 2017.

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The Manchester High School of Art Badge and motto

When I interviewed Steve Capper (see article in this issue) in his studio we talked about art and education. I was already aware that Steve had attended the same art school as myself (Manchester High School of Art). During the conversation he mentioned that a number of his former class mates were discussing mounting an exhibition which was restricted to their own form. Steve, like his class mates, had their last year in 1962, which was the year I was enrolled, so it was a little disappointing for me to hear of the limited number of ex-art school students that would be included in the exhibition. Quite a number of years previously I had the idea of a broader exhibition, which would have been called ‘Visual Reunion’ - The idea was to bring all the students back together (from 1948 to 1974) to exhibit their art (those that maintained Art creation as part of their lives). Sadly the idea never got off the ground due to a lack of interest from any sponsors, or indeed many of the ex-students themselves. It was perhaps too ambitious a project at that time (circa.2002 and again in 2012). However, this new concept for a MSoA exhibition was of obvious interest to me and it was with great expectations that I contacted the ‘main-man’ (Philip Hughes) and arranged to meet the whole group in Manchester in the latter part of summer 2017.

above painting by Phil Hughes. Self Portrait.

on the following pages are examples of paintings of a few of ‘theTen’ Followed by an article from Tubes issue #1 which is relevant to this exhibition. “what about the kids” (re:Art & Education)

The story they told me went something like this: It was on a fiftieth birthday celebration of one of the school chums that many of them met up again after many years.

They enjoyed the unofficial class reunion so much that they all decided on a regular gathering. This was arranged around visiting an Art Exhibition, usually at the Manchester Art Gallery, and also involved lunch and afforded time that they could spend together talking Art and memories of the Art School. From these informal meetings came the idea for an exhibition. Philip Hughes volunteered as the ‘organiser’ and various roles were assigned to various individuals. Eventually they gained agreement with the Saddleworth Museum and Art Gallery to use the newly updated space as the venue for their exhibition.

This may have been partly due to the fact that one or more of ‘the Ten’ participating have been long standing members of the Saddleworth Group of Artists which was founded in 1950 and had held their annual shows at the Art Gallery in Saddleworth for quite a number of years.

As the venue was confirmed “The Ten of Us” exhibition became a reality. Fortunately members of the group had the experience, the ability and the skills needed to provide all that an exhibition of art requires including, design,graphics and written materials. I do wish them great success and look forward to opening the show for them on the 20 January 2018.

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©Saddleworth Museum and Art Gallery.

The venue for the exhibition the ‘Ten of Us’ ( Saddleworth Museum and Art Gallery) is situated in the 19th century Victoria Mill, in a beautiful and historic location beside the Huddersfield Narrow Canal in Uppermill. It opened in 1962 and is situated in one of the out buildings of the 19th century mill. The “Into the Future” project which was approved by the Heritage Lottery Fund Organisation comprised of a two storey front extension to increase the exhibition space as well as creating a strong presence in the town. The extension on the front has taken the building back to its original position on the edge of High Street. The Museum and Art Gallery has now been fully refurbished On the following pages are some some examples of the Art created by a few of the Artists exhibiting at ‘the Ten of Us’ - They have provided a summary of what the MSoA meant to them. I beieve they all acknowledge that the leading light of the School was the headmaster. Below is a brief tribute to him by one of the ‘Ten of Us’ The Head master. E. A. Goodman MBE Central to the Art school’s success in developing and implementing the arts-led approach to education was its charismatic headmaster, Ernest Goodman.

Affectionately known as ‘Benny’ - after the American jazz musician - Mr. Goodman was the Manchester High School of Art. He and his inspirational teaching staff inspired generations of students who passed through the school and to this day speak with great affection for a headmaster whose visionary approach provided pupils with a very unique form of secondary education, the like of which we are unlikely to see again.

In 1969, Mr. Goodman was awarded the MBE for services to secondary education.

For ten-years he was chairman of the arts committee of the Schools Council, and wrote and lectured extensively on art education.

A friend to artists L.S. Lowry and Harold Riley, he also founded Salford Art Club.

Following a distinguished career and lengthy retirement, Mr. Goodman passed away in September 2007 aged 89 years.

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Harry Robertson (one of the Ten) “I learnt more about Art and Design at the MSoA simply because the teaching staff collectively held the belief that the languages of Art could be taught: the vocabulary, the skills, the methods, the design process, and so on. This grounding was extremely beneficial when we went on to tertiary fine art education, where, all too often, the philosophy held by the staff was, ‘Artists are born, therefore it cannot be taught’.

Philip. A Hughes (one of the Ten) “In common with the other nine of us, I attended the MSoA from 1955 - 1962.

The school was all about artistic excellence, which is why I made it my first choice after passing the 11+ examination, despite being offered the other Grammar Schools in Manchester.

Imagine my disappointment therefore, when I was steered through the “G” or academic streams having only one hour of art lessons per week when those in the “A” streams were having a much enhanced exposure to the subject. However, I made up for this when I was able to opt for what I studied for “O” level, “A” level and “S” level exams.

The instruction I received was excellent and resulted in the development of the basic skills required to draw and paint fluently and confidently. From the Manchester High School of Art, I travelled to London to study at St. Martin’s School of Art along with Harry Robertson, John McCombs and Dave Ralston, where again I received a very formal method of teaching from some excellent and notable artists Leon Kossoff and Frank Auerbach to name just a couple. The training I received was both a strength and a weakness because it lacked a creative element or rather should I say, I lacked a strong creative ability, but it was a first class training for what I eventually became - an art teacher where the “how to do” was as important as the “what to do”.

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David Ralston - (one of the Ten)

“I went to the High School of Art for my final 2 years to study ‘A’ levels, after my previous Headmistress had spotted some artistic ability. This was a slightly different route to most people but it proved a life changer for me and opened my eyes mixing with other artistically motivated people. I benefited from a more specialised teaching which improved my confidence. Later I was fortunate to be accepted at St. Martin’s School of Art, London which would not have been possible without first attending the High School of Art. While not pursuing a career in the Arts I have always been a keen painter, exhibiting with groups and individually. Perhaps more poignantly, I’m still in touch both socially and actively through artistic interest with the people I first met at the High School of Art.”

John McCombs (one of the Ten)

“I started at Manchester Art School at the age of thirteen, and remember that Mr. Goodman warned me of the perils of trying to make a living by painting alone. However I went on to St Martin’s School of Art in London, where I was awarded the David Murray Scholarship by the Royal Academy. In 1970 I invited Mr Goodman to my first one man show at Salford Art Gallery.

He expressed a pride in me becoming a professional artist, and his parting words to me were ‘’Keep painting!’’ I was later elected to membership of the Royal Society of Oil Painters and the Royal Society of British Artists, and served for six years as President of Manchester Academy of Fine Arts. I’m happy to say I am still following ‘Benny’s’ advice! “

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Steve Capper (one of the Ten) “I went to the Manchester High School of Art at the age of eleven in 1955.

Gradually I became aware of the art work that surrounded all of us seemed a natural thing to do. I took ‘A’ level art and went on to art college.

We had a few problems at art college as we had already taken on board the art lessons from the MSoA that they were teaching at the advanced level at Art college.

Eventually I became an art teacher, and subsequently head of the Art faculty.

It was only then that I realised the amazing education I had received at MSoA. I think this exhibition is testimony to Mr. Goodman and his staff.”

Ron McSweeny (one of the Ten) “I entered the High School of Art at 13, in 1957. This was at the instigation of my art teacher at secondary school, who I remember said, “You should be in an art school”. I am certain that she, together with the MSoA, put me on a career path that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. After leaving in the Art School in 1962, I studied graphics at the College of Art and Design, Manchester, specialising in packaging design.

After graduation I moved to London, working for several design groups, producing work for The John Lewis Partnership; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Mary Quant amongst others. I returned to Manchester in 1974 where I continued my career in design studios, printers and advertising agencies. I became self employed in 1992 and remained so until I retired in 1964. And where I married my girlfirend who also went to the Manchester High School of Art. I prefer to paint with watercolour rather than any other medium as I find the medium challenging to achieve what I’m looking for. Where possible, I try to create a story or an atmosphere, so my subjects often contain areas of strong shadow or an object that contrasts with the main point of interest.” next - “what about the Kids?” - Essay fromTubes issue #1

10 Year in Review. Please Note: Articles and interviews have been redesigned and visually condensed for this review and are not how they appeared in the original issues.

“what about the Kids?”

There is a belief that “you cannot teach anyone to become an artist.” And there is a great deal of substance to that view, that is if you believe Artists are born and not made.

This debate has gone on for many decades if not centuries, but perhaps none more so than from the middle of the 20th century to present day. In many ways there is a valid point that every single human on the planet is an Artist. It’s an argument that many Artists make often, and it is one that the Editor of this magazine has firmly believed in before today.

Obviously the criteria of a natural or a made artist have opposite opinions, which is an ‘old bone’ we all chew over now then, as is “What is Art.” - Intellectual theories and academic definitions don’t really clarify the debate on those particular pieces of a well chewed bone, and it probably never will. Today, it seems that the only real option left open to us is to simply to say “everything is Art” or “as long as the object is shown in an Art Gallery, then it must be Art,” by the very fact that it is in a Gallery”. This neo-liberal viewpoint has perhaps led to an Art that is more open, free and diverse, some people have said, although many will totally disagree.

We live in a world that is constantly updating itself on social media, especially on their, ‘likes’ but rarely on their ‘dislikes,’ as far as Art is concerned. Some see this as a way to encourage, rather than discourage any person who throws their lot into creating Art. Personally, as a painter, I do agree with that position, but I can also add that pointed criticism can be delivered in a positive way and not necessarily with polemic negative criticism, as some people elect to do, one presumes based on ¨ their subjective and personal judgement.

What’s all that to do with Education of Art?

Well probably everything. It’s clear that academic dogma of what Art is and what Art is not, has pervaded in the UK’s Universities and Art colleges, if not now, then certainly over the last 30 years or so. For example, ‘painting’ has not only been taken off most of the University curriculum’s, but they have actively discouraged students to submit paintings in their portfolios for consideration for a degree. Indeed, I have been told by at least one parent, that a professor told their ‘child’, categorically, that by including ‘painting’ in their final year assessment portfolio, would lead to automatic failure. There may well be a change in that academic policy soon, for it is clear that ‘commercial interests’ have realised that paintings are far better suited, as far as turnover and regular profit is concerned, than much of the other forms of art can generate. And like all things in this world, money talks the loudest.

Before I continue I have to declare a conflict of interest. I went to an Art School from the age of eleven years old. And so I may be bias with my opinion in this article. However, I am hoping many other voices will present themselves to contribute to either substantiate my thoughts or provide arguments that are diametrical in opposition to it, and thus create a much needed debate in the area of Art and Education.

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case in point: The Manchester High School of Art Manchester, UK. Children who shown a more than the normal ‘interest’ in creating art, ones that continued to do so, on a year by year basis from their first days at elementary school, was the basis for the creation of a specialised secondary school.

This school (one of the few in the UK) was made into a sort of experiment by post world war two Governments.

Perhaps it was the need to nurture the natural talent of children that would become a sort of creative backbone for the needs of a society that was rebuilding after the second world war, was the main motivation behind the concept.

A society that required designers and innovators in industries such as product manufacturers, textiles, construction and numerous new creative industries like advertising and marketing. The essential concept was to take selected children from various social, ethnic, religious and economic (classes) and provide a curriculum that was slowly graduated from the normal academic teaching (the 3 ‘R’s) to have a bias on creative skills as the child progressed through the School.

The idea for the autonomous state funded MSoA sprang from the Manchester Art College who had, maybe by foresight, created a junior department around 1947. The first location being Byrom Street in the City centre. By 1950 the junior school was renamed as the Manchester High School of Art with an open (curriculum) mandate issued to it’s first (and only) headmaster, Mr. E. A. Goodman. 1955 saw the introduction of what is now the infamous, ‘eleven plus’ examination, which graded children in three main categories Secondary, High and Grammar levels. The Secondary school level could well be seen as a ‘factory-labour’ supply chain, the High School stream, as middle management providers and the Grammar School stream as the management and industry leaders and decision makers. A system that clung onto the Victoria values of ‘class’ and ‘social status’ that ‘controlled’ how society functioned in the UK from the 1800’s and had proved itself (to Governments and the ruling class) to be successful, although I for one, would say otherwise as far as the majority of the people was concerned.

The MSoA was graded as a High School, as there wasn’t really an actual yard stick to measure how it would perform.

The middle grade option, must have seemed a reasonable fair bet at the time. The School was relocated to it’s own premises in a former Magistrates administration building opposite the City’s main prison, Strangeways, in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, a stones throw from the city Centre.

The centralisation of location was important as the prospective pupils would be gleaned from all the extended Manchester City council borders that was within reach of the public transport system. Pupils were chosen, or recommended by the teachers from, multi-religious, specificreligious and official Church of England state funded or private Schools.

One pupil (in general) from each school from each district of Manchester was the overall modus operandi that was used.

This was a contentious choice for the more right winged

thinkers at the time as they saw the School as a threat to equalise society, it seemed it was that integration of cultural thinking was a threat to the upper strata of society, more so than a beneficial contribution to it. A fear that was to be proved totally unfounded throughout the course of the Schools existence. In fact, the reverse happened, as the pupils became united by the School badge of ‘Exploramus’ and them all being labelled as equal fellow artists no matter what part of society that they originated from.

Mr Goodman and his staff were obviously way advanced of 21st century progressive thinkers of today, who are only now are re-thinking the education system, and hopefully seeing where they went totally and utterly wrong closing down a specilaist “Art School for the Kids.” written by the Editor (Denis Taylor) Painters Tubes Magazine December 20th 2016 images: Centre: Young Artist with Painting (8 yrs old) Left hand page: MSoA School badge and motto. Photograph from a School drama.

The MSoA had specilaists classes that embraced: Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, Screen Printing, Embroidery, Music, Literature, Drama, Graphic Design, Art History, Life Drawing Studies in addition to the normal academic range of education. This page: The School building (the former offices of the City magestrates administration. Cheetham Hill, Manchester, UK.

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...in the studio with Ian Norris Year in Review article #1 -Issue #1 2017

The local train from Manchester to Preston arrived on time, it was 10.30am and within a few minutes Ian appeared in front of me. Although we had only spoken via email, Face Book profiles enable easy face recognition with real life meet ups. Ian had kindly offered to pick me up in what he called his mobile studio (a medium sized van).

Before too long we approached his home having first drove past a wonderful old building next to a church, which Ian had pointed to the bay windowed on the top floor as being his ‘next’ studio. “It’s larger than the one I have at present, that will enable me to ‘up the size’ of canvas.” He said in response to our tentative driving-chat about ‘size’ of work and how a larger canvas enables a greater physical and perhaps deeper psychological involvement whilst painting. The advantage of being a painter, when interviewing another painter, is that it doesn’t take any time at all to be on the same wavelength, especially when it comes to creating real Art. And so little time was wasted on the ‘getting to know each other’ normal polite discourse, we could get right down to the important stuff, which we did, even as the kettle was boiling for a welcomed cup of tea. I’d noticed that Ian has a number of other artists work that he admires dotted about on the walls of his home...

“...I tend not to put my own work up on the walls at home, just in case I’m tempted to take them down again and change them.”

A mind state most Artists would recognise. “You can destroy the original vitality of a work by post-mortem changes, and maybe the record of how you were as an artist, when you created it.” I said to him to justify his reasoning.

He suggested we walk down the garden path to his studio and I took my cup of tea with me. The studio is a converted out house, from a size point of view, it was reasonable. The light was good and he had organised the space efficiently into areas of working, viewing his own work and being able to read and seek answers from his large collection of Art books. These covered the era of Art and Artists, that he much admires.

I commented on the ‘tidiness’ of the space to which he smiled and told me he had ‘a tidy up’ before I arrived, at which point we both gave a knowing laugh.

These first paragraphs sets the tone for the three hour interesting discussion that covered the last few years of Ian’s work which began with a brave decision to give up his ‘day job’ and paint on a full time basis. A decision that his partner wasn’t totally convinced was such a good idea. “It takes courage to be an Artist”. Knowledge of that famous artist statement must have forefront in mind as Ian courageously gave up a lucrative guaranteed income and pitched his lot into his Art. Thus began his own personal journey into what may be called the “agony of creative enjoyment.” It’s perverse how creating something wonderful can be, at times be agonising, like giving birth to a child I imagine.

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Ian is almost a classicist in the way he prepares his subject matter. Study, then even more study with exacting sketches, made (usually) in charcoal on paper. Perhaps this is his ‘getting to know the subject’ period in intimate detail, which to me is obviously the objective. A practice that, theoretically at least, allows the painter the freedom to make something that goes beyond reality and enters the realm of new visions, which by transcribing the subject inwardly and using pigments on a flat surface Ian creates works of Art, rather than simple representations of an existing environment. Why do that when we have superb digital cameras to do that job quite adequately?

Ian paints in oil, a choice that I personally prefer and I feel is the medium that fully satisfies the ‘inner-need of the Artist’, more so than does say acrylic or polymer paints. Perhaps it’s a fluidity or rather flexibility of the colour that many painters prefer oil over other mediums, it is certainly takes far more time to fully master (and dry) than acrylics or polymers. A mastery of oil paint that Ian’s work shows he has in abundance.

Ian has worked diligently to become a painter of note and that combined with his natural talent has gained recognition from organisations such as the Manchester Art Academy. He also re-educated himself in formal art and gained an art degree from University. Even so, he is grounded enough to understand that institutionalised recognition and Art Degree’s do not make one a great painter or indeed are even are necessary to become one. It’s the work that counts and the painters own personal measurement of a paintings visual success that matters most. Like many of the excellent artists, ones that I know or have met in the past, Ian is his own most vocal, visceral and art intellectual critic, which is why I think his work is so interesting and authentic.

It’s a critical state of mind that becomes clearer to understand in one of a particular series of work that we talked about in some detail. Not only in the work itself but what lay behind it.

Initially, the prologue to these particular paintings were other banks of work that was exhibited at the Castlegate House Gallery in Cumbria, “Tracing the Derwent,” was one series. This was his second solo show, at that gallery that sold out. The subject matter was landscape. And, even after many hundreds of years, landscapes are still the most bought paintings by the art loving public. So it’s not a complete surprise why Ian’s wonderfully rendered authentic canvas’s of landscapes were so quickly snapped up by the Galleries client list of art collectors. The Gallery did a great job of both the catalogue and the marketing of those particular exhibitions, probably knowing that the ‘nature’ series of work was rather collectable and therefore very sellable.

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painting from the Missomer series of work ŠIan Norris

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“Ian decided to make a series of paintings that would, in some way, bring him back from the brink” It was after the ‘sold-out-shows’ that Ian experienced a personal shock related to his health. The shock took the form of a diagnosis of an illness that came from nowhere.

It involved a procedure or a program of treatment that leaves a person in state of unbalance, both psychologically and physically. And it was a treatment that would take time to become successful. As is so often in circumstances like this, Artists tends to retreat into themselves and try desperately to alleviate their mental stress through their Art. It’s a sort of self-help treatment, one which only recently is being recognised [actively] by medical experts as a sure fire way to help people deal with dramatic health problems. And having gone through a similar life changing circumstance myself, I fully understood Ian’s position, his reaction to it and the triumph of overcoming it.

Ian decided to make a series of paintings that would, in some way, bring him back from the brink of some sort of self-reproachment, even though he knew he was blameless. And so he relied on one of the giants of literature - ‘Shakespeare’ - to give him solace. He took the story of ‘a Midsummer’s Night Dream’ which had stayed in his mind since watching a performance of the stage drama of many years ago. He chose certain parts of the play to set down in oil on canvas, with his own vision, of what the words represented. It could be that particular drama highlights for us ordinary mortals that, “real life really is but a dream.”

Perhaps Ian saw in the play the escape from reality or at the least a deflection, that he sorely needed at that time? Whatever the reasoning, the paintings were important to him and probably more important than any he had ever created previously.

These works encompassed his whole being at a time when he must have felt that fate had dealt him a cruel and fatal blow. It was after the series was completed that his personal disappointment to their public showing followed. Ian felt the exhibition was short [on reaction] of what he had expected.

It could be that the simple answer is that the Galleries clientele did not appreciate Shakespeare, certainly not as much as obviously the Artist did.

Even though it was the 400th year anniversary of the bard during the exhibition, Ian still felt the show fell flat despite the efforts of himself and the Gallery, had put into it.

Most likely the artists intimate reasoning at the time for doing these works were not fully shared nor understood. Having created works on similar very personal lines, I can sympathise with Ian and perhaps suggest to him that ‘painters important’ works like these, are not always met with an immediate positive public outcome.

More often than not, mediative art takes time to ferment and grow in the eyes and the hearts of the viewer of it. It’s a steady pace which our high speed consumerist world invariably, has little time to allow for that invisible artistic quality of work, of this nature, to gain a foothold. Initially the result is a preference to view only the surface of the ‘image’ without the truer and deeper meaningful value of the art work, that resides within it, to be accepted by the viewer.

For me the whole bank of work certainly isn’t a failure in any dimension. They are real, authentic, original and hold something far more than decoration on a wall. Don’t get me wrong, decorative Art is all well and good, but great Art has sustainability far beyond that of a painting that may be a pleasing image. More than say one painted in a specific contemporary style, or perhaps even more common these days, one painted in a way which is stylistically recognisable, or even purposefully over stylised.

Some of the midsummer’s night dream paintings have now been acquired by astute buyers and I suspect for the very reasons I have stated; that it is their originality, authenticity and emotional content that is appreciated, but only after a slow burn. And it is only then that the paintings connect, perhaps faster for those who know the hidden story behind them, as I do, that the work comes into it own.

The latest studio work is a series, which for convenience sake, you could call urban. It was one of these series that I was first attracted by and gave me the impetus to want to visit Ian in his studio.

Not so much for the subject itself, but the way in which it was painted. The preparation and methodology of how these paintings have been created is much the same as the previous series, but here we see him testing himself to almost carve out the very essence of an urban existence and pushing himself beyond the visual effects of multi-layered coats of impasto. They are more aggressive, just like Cities are, compared with the imagined paradise of an untainted nature and a rural existence.

Ian told me a story of how, during his preparatory sketch work, he would position himself on the roof top of a multiple storey car park and begin to capture the overall shapes and feel of the City. One particular day he was ‘scolded vehemently’ by a car park attendant who suggested...

“You shouldn’t be up here’”

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paintings above and top right from the Midsummer Series.

Paintings below from the City Scapes series.

All images ŠIan Norris.

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”no one artist has successful integrated reality and abstract into one painting.”

I thumbed through his sketchbooks of this ‘urban’ series which were recognisable as Manchester City centre and it was interesting to view some of the ‘beginnings,’ as Ian refers to them. He had lined them next to each other on a support bar fixed to the studio wall which made it interesting to see the progression of each one in turn. One bigger canvas was positioned on the easel and was perhaps the first of what you could say was the painting that stemmed from the former smaller experiments.

The heavy texture was evident as he had laid on layer upon layer of paint. In some parts the oil had been scraped off and in other parts dribbles or runs of oil cascaded down the canvas. Under all that oil paint the image still remained, not hidden but absorbed by the process of the continual layers and scape-off’s. I realised that I was viewing a painting that would probably change considerably as Ian would relentlessly pursue obtaining a vision that fitted his sensibilities. Yet, for me I found this work perfectly finished as it was. It’s a position I have faced many times, when someone views, what I would consider unfinished, others do believe is totally complete.

One of the privileges of being a creator of Art, is that is the artist and not others to decide when a work is finished or not.

Many see his work as Abstract Expressionism.

It’s an art movement now many decades old, is still practised by many painters today, as is impressionism, an art style older than abstract expressionism. Some painters today find those two styles still suit them well, but does holding on to a style one finds comfortable progress them as painters? From a personal view, I think not. How could they when the possibilities (and limitations) of both those art styles must have been fully explored by now.

The work of Ian Norris should not be misinterpreted as a form of abstract expressionism even though many, non artists, use that word because they lack the intimate knowledge of them that do paint. It’s an annoying tendency of the self elected art expects to pervert words from Art History books to label artists for their own convenience.

The Story of Modern Art the title a book written by the art historian Norbert Lynton (first published 1989) is one of those books that artists tend to read over and over and discover, between the lines, something new each time. In this specific book, Lynton, suggests, in a one liner, that - ”no one artist has successful integrated reality and abstract into one painting.”

In 1990 I saw this statement as challenge and I feel that same artistic challenge is central to Ian’s work. Perhaps Ian’s ‘absorption of reality’ does result in abstraction and reality being integrated onto one plane? At the very least it seems his work is on the way to meeting Lynton’s challenge, albeit perhaps an unintentional one.

We discussed Lynton’s book (and others) and Ian readily agrees that ‘reading’ unbiased analysis of past Art is a definite contributor to the creation of future artworks of a dynamic new substantial painting.

So far Ian has explored nature, he has delved into combining emotional and literary subject matter and moved on into the urban City subject, a subject that seems, at present, to dominate the walls of the high streets commercial galleries and the websites of independent artists and on-line art galleries alike.

They all come under what many refer to as ‘Northern Art’ or ‘Northern School’, a title that is both contagious to an art loving public and, to many of todays practising artists, contentious if not vacuous.

As far as I am concerned in the 21st century all Art should be regarded as non-regional, non-national and above all should not be given any form of label as if it was a can of tomato soup in 57 different flavours, (Warhol already did that, he wrote the book & made the videos and everyone’s has read or seen them and consigned them to history).

But hey, that’s a whole different artists debate, one that I am sure my fellow artists will present in convincing and separate logical arguments, both for and against the whole idea of labelling paintings and artists as a member of a school or as being: “this, or that or the other type of painter.”

It remains to be seen what direction Ian will take in the future. A dramatic change may well occur as he moves into his new space in that bay windowed building, the one that he pointed out to me. And as he said to me in his ‘mobile’ studio [the van], he can ‘increase the size of the canvas,’ because he has the space that will handle them comfortably.

It is perhaps natural that subject, method of working and style or application of paint will change naturally.

Perhaps, not at first, but slowly and surely and in Ian’s case, it will be the result of much thinking, reading and having inward frank discussions with himself, of that I am sure. It will be interesting to witness as 2017 rolls by as to exactly what those possible changes will visualise themselves like. Perhaps it’s would be a good idea for me to go back to his home town of Preston, in a year or so, and partake in another cup of tea? I do hope to have the opportunity to do so.

Denis Taylor interview with Ian Norris © 2016- 2017 for issue #1 painters Tubes

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Year Review. Interview issue #2

...in the company of Dave Coulter

photograph: ©Lee Harrison Dave Coulter is a genuine ‘old school’ Northerner with a deep love for his City, one that is clearly reflected in his work. I’d seen some of David’s work on the web over a period of six months or so. His name was always popping up in conversation with other Artists and Galleries, ones that I had been interviewing in the UK for this magazine over the last two years. On this, my fifth trip to Manchester, I had finally managed to arrange a meeting with him in Salford Museum and Art Gallery. My schedule was unfortunately tight as I had crammed several Artists and Art galleries visits for material for the March April issue. Dave was first on the list, and so it was necessary to travel directly from my arrival from Sweden to Manchester Airport and then on to Salford in order to maintain my arranged appointment times with the others artists I’d selected to visit. I am telling readers these details as it is relevant to a surprising end of my time spent with Dave.

He was patiently waiting for me in the café of the Art gallery. I had been delayed by an hour, which was caused by my own mistake of getting off at the wrong railway station.

I had walked at a brisk pace the extra few miles or so to Salford Art Gallery and was in need of refreshment.

Dave and I instantly recognised each other. He shook my hand with the words “do you want a cuppa tea lad.”

My need was obviously written all over my face with the traces of perspiration. We settled down over a pot of tea to talk about his paintings and how he had suddenly become known in the North West by the art loving public and the Galleries, at the age of 64 years old. David, now at 68, has been engrossed with Art and painting from childhood, but it was his first major exhibition at the Zion Arts Centre in Manchester that revealed his depth of talent to the inhabitants of the City of Manchester and Salford.

He has been painting street scenes for almost half a century and it was his habit of setting up his ‘spots’ in various parts of the busy City, having first gained a ‘nod and wink’ from the police that it was OK for him to leave his van in the street (without fear of getting booked), that led to his first exhibition. A local Police officer, whilst on duty, (PC Dave Vose) on seeing David’s paintings, contacted Saskia Metcalf of the Lion centre and suggested she put on a show for him. It was a sell out and a second exhibition followed quickly at an established high street gallery.

He told me how his father was the source of his love of art and how a child he was taken to art galleries with exhibitions and was encouraged to draw and paint.

“my dad made sure I had the basic’s right and used to make me draw things over and over again, if he thought I had got the drawings wrong.”

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Dave was born and raised on the same street as Arthur Delaney (Clifford Street, Chorlton-on-Medlock), another renown Manchester artist who was always ‘popping in’ to the Coulters’ home. “He was rum one, and the stories told about him are all true.” David said with a broad smile on his face. Dave paints in a very fast impressionistic manner, yet for me his work avoids to much similarity with impressionism, as his colour palette reflects a more late modernist approach. He loves all forms of Art - abstraction, surrealism, expressionism and even some more exploratory forms of painting. He recalled how he was bowled over by Rauschenberg’s work in the late 1960’s, which sort of opened a door to his understanding that in Art - “anything and everything is possible.” David also loves to give younger artists advise, should they ask for it. He has often spends a great deal of time with youngsters showing them how to ground the canvas to obtain greater depth and form. Some of his early paintings e.g. ‘Wakes Fair’ and ‘Jubilee Party’ show a definite nod in the direction of L. S. Lowry, whilst say, ‘Factory Chimneys’ leans towards Theodore Major, an artist whom Dave visited and chatted with about Art more than once.

“He didn’t like the men in suits, didn’t Major. When they come up from London to try and get some of his work, he wouldn’t sell them anything and tell them to bugger off, in no uncertain terms.”

We chatted for quite some time and he introduced to the Exhibition Manager of the Gallery. After a brief tour of the viewing the space where Dave’s new work would be hung for the Tony Warren exhibition he asked her.

“How many painting would you like, I can do as many as want, I work quick you know?”

After a while I had to interject and explain that I really had to leave to get to my next appointment and asked to be excused from the tour. As I said my good-bye’s and thanked the Manager for her time, Dave offered me a lift to Manchester. He drove me to the main railway station in Manchester, as it was not only beginning to rain, but I was also late. We talked more in the car, by now the conversation had strayed away from art per sé to our personal memories of Manchester, as we were both children from the same era.

I felt a warm glow from Dave and as he said himself, it was though we had know each other for years and not just met that day. And maybe that statement was indeed a truism. After I left Dave I rushed to my next meeting and believed I had more than enough material to write about this deeply devout painter who’s religion was Art. I was wrong.

The day after meeting Dave I needed to travel to Wales to interview another artist. It was going to be a long journey and a long day. By the time I had returned to Manchester (by train) it was approaching early evening and I’d been on the go since very early that morning. I received a text from Dave, asking me if I could go back to Salford and meet up in his Studio, as he something to show me. To be honest, it was the last thing I needed.

But, nevertheless I fought my way through the rush hour crowds and hopped onto another train to Salford where Dave picked me up. We arrived at his flat at the top part of a high rise. As we walked in Dave instinctively put the kettle on for a cup of tea, He asked me to sit down. “I’ve done this while you were in Wales” He said. On his easel he had painted a portrait of me in the Cafe at Salford Art Museum. “Hope you like it” He said, after highlighting a few points on the painting he then presented it to me as a gift.

I sat with him for another few hours. We talked about life and how his had changed dramatically after he had suffered a heart attack. Thankfully he has learned how to handle the changes to his life, changes that surviving heart attacks and the consequential surgery insists upon. It was an emotional farewell and yet I felt honoured to have been the subject of a Dave Coulter original work of art. I know that Dave and I shall remain good friends and I for one will be the first in the queue when his paintings are on show at the exhibition of the life and work of Tony Warren and the life and times of the not-so-ordinary people in Salford in the 1950’s at the Salford Museum and Art Gallery later this year.

Denis Taylor was in the company of Dave Coulter. 8th February 2017.

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“70 Years in the making.” introduction written by Denis Taylor for the catalogue for the Dave Coulter solo exhibition at Cheshire Art Gallery, Bramhall, Cheshire. UK

It’s an appropriate title for this solo exhibition of Dave Coulter’s work because it reflects the simple truth of what lies behind Dave’s paintings. Art always was and will always be his reason for existence. Dave creates Art with a sincerity and authenticity that is quite unique in todays art world. He was born into Art, his father was an art lover and an artist himself, therefore art was genetically embedded into his DNA, even before he had opened his eyes to look about the place where he was born.

It was his birthplace that he developed a deep love and respect for. It may well be that this ‘love of place’ was not so much because the bricks and mortar of the buildings that built the City of his birth, but the warmth, depth of kindness and sincerity of all the people that inhabited it and that were around Dave. Those people that he loved as a child, a youth and now a mature artist. I believe that the City buildings of Manchester and Salford are but a catalyst that enables Dave to visualise those human feelings in his own unique way.

Growing up in Manchester or Salford in the years following World War ll, was both difficult and ironically, something of a blessing. The trauma’s of World War two had intensified and strengthened the society of Britain.

The people held shared values, they gave of everything they had gladly, should it be needed by a friend, a neighbour or even a stranger. Be that food, shelter, clothing or fuel. It was a society that looked after itself and each other in good or bad times. Most evident when a loved one had died and when the shoulder of your neighbour was the first to present itself, not only with sympathy, but with real and heart felt empathy. How do I know this is true? Well, I was born around the same era and in a very similar circumstance as Dave.

It was this commonality of personal history that added to our immediate ‘liking’ of each of other, which was only a year or so ago, when first met each other. As an artist myself my interest was and still is, in his paintings.

It was when I viewed them remotely (on the www), that I knew immediately his work had something ‘special’ about them. I had no real knowledge of him or his background, before I met him in the Salford Museum and Art Gallery cafe with the intention of interviewing him for the Art magazine I am the Editor for.

all above images ©David Coulter

In life sometimes you meet someone, and for reasons beyond our knowledge, there are those people, albeit very few, which you feel you have known all your life.

That’s how Dave and I both felt about each other on that day in Salford as we talked about life and art whilst sharing a pot of tea. It was the first of a few meeting and the beginning of a friendship that will endure. Perhaps it was because of that immediacy of ‘artistic fellowship’ that I was also able to fully appreciate and completely understand his art, by way of a not so common artistic morality. And it is why I am able to write this introduction about his work and to be able to convey to you, the visitor of this exhibition, what it is that is ‘special’ about the ‘Art of Dave Coulter.’

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T

here are artists who create a painting with aesthetic values only and there are those that have the additional ability of being able to translate authentic emotional content onto a flat surface (i.e. a canvas). Some acquire that special ability over time and with dedication to their art, others are born with that gift. Dave Coulter is the latter of that kind of artist.

“7O years in the making,” is quite literally what his work represents. For example one of his early works, ‘Street Kids,’ has the same positive emotional content that his new work is imbued with. His usual subject matter are City scape’s, a popular subject with many painters these days. With Dave’s work they are more than illustrations of the bricks and the mortar of yesterday, or indeed the steel and glass constructions of today. They are feelings, real sensations of his life and his relationship to the City where he was born. And how it has developed and how he has developed along with it. His painting style is not static, it is dynamic and has changed, just as much as the people and the twin Cities of Manchester and Salford have changed and continue to do so.

The original compositions he creates are first manifested in the eye, from pure observation, these images travel from his mind’s eye, down through his heart, into his arm and hand and on to the brush, which loaded with colour, then goes directly onto the canvas. Each phase of the ‘travelling-process’ translates and enhances each and every individual brush stroke. These brushstrokes could number hundreds or even thousands, one that eventually becomes one work of art. Dave works quick and instinctively, he is assisted by decades of experience of using colour and tonal values to achieve the final painting. He is an adept technician, as far as the nuts and bolts of Art are concerned. He is well read and has considered and utilised the very best of the tried and tested technical formula for the preparation of his canvas from the masters of art of previous centuries. This ensures his work maintains a consistent quality of finish and longevity.

He has also has a deep-well of knowledge of the modern artists (painters) of the recent past, those who opened his eyes, when he was still quite young, as to what could be achieved or what was attainable with authentic and original Art creation. When the Salford Museum and Art Gallery made the decision to mount an ‘installation’ of the life and times of Tony Warren, the originator and writer of the world famous ‘Coronation Street’ TV soap drama, Dave Coulter was the first artist that they asked to provide paintings to create the ‘atmosphere’ for it. They couldn’t have asked a better or more qualified artist to do exactly that, other than Dave Coulter. Typically, Dave responded to them with a question,

“how many do you want? - I work fast, you know!”

What he omitted to tell them was that all the paintings that he now creates has actually taken 70 years to perfect and exist as the wonderful and unique works of art they really are, some of which you can see for yourself today.

©DaveCoulter

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...in the studio with John Smout I arrived at the small Welsh village railway station after hours of a two part rail journey from Manchester.

As I alighted the train only one person was at the end of the platform.

I walked towards the figure with my hand extended as a greeting. We shook hands and within minutes I walked through the door to his home and studio. His wife (Pauline) had already prepared refreshments of tea and cake.

The feeling from both of them, was warm and calm and we chatted about how they found themselves living on the borderlands between Wales and England.

Pauline was a deputy head-teacher in Borneo, the largest island in Asia, together with John. He was offered a teaching job in Denbighshire and they moved to Wales many years ago. It was a move that proved to have personal historical connections, even though Pauline only discovered her Welsh family connections after she had moved to Wales. John also had many a long lost family connection in Wales. I told them of my own Welsh family background, one which was not so distant as their own. My grandmother and grandfather (on my mothers side) were born and raised in Wales, before they moved to Manchester and my Uncle still lives on the North West Welsh coast. The first impression of John Smout is one of a cultured and serious Artist. His background supports this as he was educated at Stourbridge and Liverpool colleges of Art and holds a BA (Hons). He is a Royal Cambrian Academician and taught and lectured on art and the history of art in various art establishments for many years.

All that detailed information was new to me. My only reason for wanting to see his paintings in the ‘flesh’ was driven by the examples of paintings I discovered whilst searching the world wide web for paintings that showed both originality, talent, authenticity and quality.

Our ‘chats’ over tea and cake didn’t last very long before John invited me to see his work.

He has a number of rooms dedicated for creating art. Upstairs was his main studio, which Pauline had whispered to me that he had spent a lot of time ‘tidying-up’ before I’d arrived - On the racks there was work that either John considered he hadn’t finished with or they hadn’t shown themselves to be finished. Several were placed around the room which were positioned to show how he developed his work organically. He told me how other people asked him: “why he kept changing his style? “ - a question that always irritated him.

We talked about how the development of painters is often mistaken for change of style by non-painters and also by some galleries. As perhaps it is more common for Artists today to stick to a style then repeat it. Which is fine, if you need to keep selling your Art ‘to pay the rent’ - John Smout has never had the need nor the desire to live off his Art, but rather he lives for it. In fact, he rarely tells people very much about his art all. He also never really wishes to explain his work, not only because it’s difficult for him to talk about himself, but he firmly believes in that well known phrase, “Art should speak for itself.”

23 That is difficult, especially for a fellow artist, to argue against. However, I also agree with Mark Rothko, when he said that after a work is finished it should be sent ‘out in the world’ to fend for itself. And John’s work has not really seen the outside of Wales in the last few decades or so. He did have some of his work exhibited in the Manchester Royal Exchange, but that was way back in 1986 - And whereas John has always produced quality and interestingly modern abstract/figurative work, his ‘developed paintings of later life surely stand head and shoulders above the paintings he exhibited back in the day. He has also diligently kept date marked ‘books’ which have small copies of his work from 1969.

Flipping through them was a fascinating insight into the artists history and his consistent and steady ‘development of his art’ that he stands behind. Time was clocking-on fast, as he shown me a life’s worth of sketch books, and it was he that kept a close eye on the time as he already been informed that I could only spend five or so hours with him before I had to catch my train back to Manchester. Before we left the room he pulled out a full size copy of an ink drawing he had made.

I really like using pen and ink, it concentrates the mind and one can produce more detailed images” he said and smiled. “You can have this one if you like.”

I accepted the offer with delight.

He encouraged me to leave the main studio and follow him downstairs, through the kitchen, where Pauline was preparing a little lunch for us. We then went out into the garden, which was quite beautiful with a view over the hills, and into another room. This is where I found, ‘stored’ in perfect order, the most of his completed work.

All carefully covered in bubble wrap and placed neatly in racks, floor to ceiling, over two main walls, with the third wall as a sort of hanging space and small desk, where he, no doubt, painted in the summertime. “I still enjoy making water-colour paintings.” He said, evident from the excellent water-colour samples he had shown me in his main studio. He began pulling a few larger paintings out from the racks to show them to me. I asked him how many he had stored there.

“I don’t know for sure, maybe ninety or more.” He said, as I looked at these wonderful creations. He had already explained how in some of his ‘series’ of work he took nature as the base, but he wanted to get underneath the earth of the landscape - to expose another dimension with a created structure that could only exist in the minds eye of the creator of it.

John’s fondness for structure also came through in an architectural way. He has painted a number of, what he described as ‘monuments’ - which was a celebration of the monumental structures of times gone by.

This monumental architectural interest had also stimulated him to paint ‘old-churches’ in Wales “before they are all demolished.” He said forlornly. Not I believe for any religious reasoning, but purely because he loved how they had been made of the stone and slate that is indicative of the building materials used throughout the whole Wales.

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He explained that the copy of the drawing he gave me, was a ‘homage’ to the workers of the ‘slate quarry’ who had given their lives in the course of their employment as quarriers.

John’s fascination with history and art was another reason for a number of works that he calls ‘his girls.’ These are portraits of young women (head and shoulders) which have been painted in such a way that one may think that they were ‘lifted’ from a wall in Pompeii. I think, they are as amazing as John’s ‘structured or exposed landscapes’ as he calls them. His ‘girls’ are beautifully painted, not so such much as original in subject matter, nor specifically contemporary in style, as his other work, but nonetheless you can feel that they are special to him, and that feeling transmits through to the viewer of them.

“ my work does not stand still, and is always evolving, sometimes responding to current events and moods, but I hope will always remain relevant to the present time”

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all images ©John Smout

John has said before he believes that his work “radiates a spirit of optimism.” And he also has said that. “occasionally they are tinged with the darker side of humanity.” I disagree, what he may well see as the ‘darker side,’ is for me at least, better described as ‘empathy’ and like so many painters before him, empathic work can be sometimes taken for a depressed or darker view of life.

But John is a human who wants the society to be fair for less fortunate human beings. And it’s a desire that, I believe most of society want and indeed are beginning to demand of our Governments. John’s work has been exhibited, mostly in Wales as I said earlier. He has participated in solo, two man and group shows for some time now. His latest exhibition was with the Oriel Theatr Clywd - an organisation that like so many of its kind, has a very well appointed Gallery, but lacks the financial muscle to market it’s exhibitions to a wider audience. The consequence being that Johns work remains sort of hidden from the rest of the UK. It will be interesting if, like me, the established private Galleries on the high street will agree, that it is high time his work was shown to the larger viewing public in one of the big Cities in England.

John took me back to the small village railway station, with three minutes to spare (the train was late) - We shook hands and as he walked away he turned.. “you should come back, one day.”

He said and smiled.

“Don’t you worry about that John, I shall.” ...was my reply.

Denis Taylor (Editor) was in the studio with John Smout.

8th March 2017

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Voted the best Article wrtten for painters Tubes in 2017 by the Editor and Staff.

Spike, our resident critic, talks about the “welgeist” of an artist... ...Weltgeist is a German word that describes a sort of world spirit, perhaps it can be best explained as a sort of awareness of your own consciousness.

The weltgeist experience is not uncommon, especially for a painter and many have recorded experiencing it at one time or another during their lifetime, i.e. Van Gogh, Rouault, Gauguin, Malevich, Chagall, Pollock and Rothko, just to mention a few.

I guess another way of describing the ‘weltgeist’ of an artist is arriving at a state of mind of a momentary spiritual connection, whilst simultaneously creating art. What that connection point is, or what that spiritual link is for, remains a mystery. But it seems to depend on the personal history or the deeply held beliefs of the Artist themselves. Be that of a religious nature or of a wider secular view of what humans are here on earth for, where we come from and where are we going. Summed up in modern language as, “what’s life all about?” Answers to the basic questions that humanity have been seeking to discover from the very beginning of time. Gauguin was probably the first artist to make visual that question in his famous painting of 1897.

A weltgeist or inner awareness, could also be explained as an “Artistic epiphany”.

Above: D’où Venons Nous / Que Sommes Nous / Où Allons Nous- by Paul Gauguin Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Public Domain, Wikimedia.org

27 The American art critic Donald Kuspit mentioned the word when discussing his book, “The End of Art” (2004) in an interview that was critical of contemporary Art at the time. Much of what he outlined in the interview reinforced many of my thoughts about the ‘Post Modern Art’ movement of the late 20th and into the early 21st century. Kuspit’s book insistence that the “End of Art” had arrived was not a new idea. .

The (UK) Art Review magazine published an essay written by Brian Ashbee in the January issue of 2000, which had exactly the same title. Although the front page did show the ‘End of Art’ with a question mark. At that time, the magazine was edited by David Lee, the well known creator of the term ‘Art Bollocks.’ In his splendid article, Brian Ashbee questioned the validity of the philosophy of Post Modernism and its application in the Art World.

The Art Review’s front page illustrated the ‘End of Art’ by a rather horrific yet gripping [detail] of a painting by an artist who I came to know quite well over the years.

Terrence Ffyffe (Australian, studios now in London).

©Ffyffe c.1998 Above painting - Warehouse ‘A’ - Oil on canvas 64 inches x 108 inches By the painter Terence Ffyffe - ©TerryFfyffe (circa1998).

In the interview with Kuspit, he pointed out that he avoided using ‘spiritual content’ as a description for Art. He said “I hate that word (spiritual] and prefer the German word weltgeist, because it holds a greater width to explain the artistic process.” Although Kandinsky was obviously unconcerned at using the term ‘spirituality’ in 1912 when he published his book “Concerning the Spiritual in Art.” Perhaps it did not hold the same narrow understanding that it probably does today, i.e. spiritual = religious.

To describe an artwork as ‘spiritual,’ these days is still a bit of a turn off for many in the contemporary art world. Perhaps that’s a reaction to the over use of the term that was used by the masters of 20th century Art, of which Kandinsky is a very good example.

By the late 20th century terminology for the creative force had become cerebral, not spiritual. Art is innovative by nature and it has been common for one movement or terminology’s to give way in favour of another.

For example, the Dada movement, was a reaction to a perceived stagnant Art that reflected a corrupt culture and society. The Dadaist art ‘innovation’ was to present totally banal unscripted artistic absurdity to ridicule the establishment. Futurism, Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism

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Above image: Wassily Kandinsky - Composition #6 -©State Hermitage Museum, Public Domain, and other such terms were put forward to categorise the various ‘weltgeist’ of artists throughout the 20th century. Indeed, manifestos of Art, at one time, seemed to be raining from the skies.

Art works were categorised, labelled and bought by museums, which inevitably resulted in their acceptance and absorption into the annuals of Art History.

Once accepted as ‘of real Art Historical value’ - these movements lost their street cred and the uptake of the ideas by other artists evaporated as quickly as they had appeared. It’s a process that continues to today.

Editors note: Northern Art (UK) is fated to go down that path, after it has exhausted itself.

Photgraph above; Clement Greenberg. ©wikipedia commons.

A more dogmatic movement that has had a high uptake with the support from Art institutions is the term ‘Post Modernism.’ Originally a philosophical theory that goes in a large way to describe much of todays Art. It’s an open-ended theory, one which is wide enough to allow anyone to make anything they so desire and call it Art. Be it banal, absurd, sexual, political, beautiful, naive or a totally mundane form. The term PostModernism covers all modes of Art with a large nonbigoted cultural umbrella, one that the Art Institutions and the culture media open at regular intervals.

For the Art world Post Modernism seemed to be the answer to eliminate, “that old Modern Art”. And the intellectual elite’s, who prophesied to understand it better than anyone else (not unlike today, I guess).

Post Modernism was proposed as the freeing and levelling of the Artistic playing field, much further than it had ever been freed or levelled before. Initially ‘shock of the real’ tactics were employed to gain public awareness of this new art doctrine.

29 As post modernism developed pace, plagiarism was held in high esteem by those in charge of national art institutions (especially in the UK), For them plagiarism was not copying, but re-inventing the Art of the past and presenting this to a new generation. They argued that all Art throughout history was a derivative or a copy of another. There was also a belief that the Artist could not achieve any authentic original art anymore.

And therefore originality was a pointless target to aspire to, or indeed, strive towards.

“...the 20th century will go down in the annuals of Art History as the era that ‘Marketing’ triumphed over Art.”

Of course many Artists questioned the Post Modern dogma.

They also became aware of the original work that the leading Post Modernists had plagiarised. Which was not that difficult to prove as some of the UK examples were less than a decade, or so years old and had been exhibited in NYC by originators of them. These artists were outraged at the dishonesty of what they viewed as charlatan’s or fraudsters. Those accused of the plagiaristic art work hit back by saying the Art that they made were versions or ‘tributes’. Which was easily justified by quoting one of Pablo Picasso’s much repeated (and misused) provocative statement:

“good artists copy, great artists steal.”

One or two of the more established and well known Art magazine writers (in the UK) were thumping their fists on the table in disgust at the overpowering enthusiasm for the much media hyped Post Modern creations, but they were generally ignored or labelled as yesterdays cultural voices. (i.e David Lee was discharged from the Art Review and replaced by a post modernist sympathiser). Unabated public exposure of the purported ‘sensational’ art increased daily as did the reaction to it. The Art world seemed split into two distinct factions, both camps intransigent to accept the others position. The public stood on the periphery wondering what all the hell all the fuss was about. After all, they said, “it was only Art, and it’s not that important.”

After the year 2000 Art had become inexorably intertwined with marketing, the media and money. And marketing, money and media had become Arts keenest followers. It was perhaps the blue sky thinking days of the last throws of an updated Dadaism. Absurdly that early 20th century art movement had finally been transformed from a reviled destroyer of the Art institutions, into being as a sort of duplicitous art export business, run by the well connected art institution supporters.

Most of what you could call, ‘working’ artists, kept their critical opinions to select confidants or chatted in guarded whispered sentences about the Post Modern spin culture in trendy new coffee houses in the Capital Cities. No artist wanted to appear to be ‘old-fashioned’ in their opinions of the new Contemporary Art. Although they persisted to present their own Art within under funded or totally unsupported exhibitions, until someone liked what they did enough to buy one of their works.

The fact that the ‘customer’ always bought an art which had a more affirmative, original or sustainable nature to it, in direct opposition to the then post-modern art creation, never came as any surprise to anyone.

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photograph above: Professor Hillary Lawson (extreme left of the picture, in a philosophical discussion where he declares himself a ‘Post Post Modern Person” ©iai.tv 2015 The desire to own Art with longevity of appreciation and enjoyment remains a powerful human desire. Painters, in particular, were fully aware that their work was being ignored by the institutionalised art galleries yet despite that fait accompli, they held on to a belief that one day a reaction to the Post Modernist Art movement would surely happen. Over the last three decades of Post Modern Art dominance, many Artists caved in and followed the trend, many simply gave up waiting for their moment in the light and retired to work in isolation and “glorious obscurity.” as Rouault once said after he had become a ‘famous-artist’. Some went back to painting ‘local’ landscapes and exhibiting them in small local (as Malevitch also did) venues for a small audience which kept their toe in the Art world water and help them pay their studio rent.

What’s all that got do with an Artists weltgeist moment?

It is clear to many artists that the Post Modern decades of dogma has actually created a Visual Art World that is flat rather than round. What can be seen is a kind of cacophony of visual Art. It is hard to disseminate or view it as having any particular direction or indeed any message, other than identifying the various stylistic origins from the last five or six decades of Art history. Arguments for a new way of ‘thinking’ have being proposed and rejected more often than one would imagine. The anti-post modernist philosophers have been bang at it for some time, people like Noam Chomsky who has said: “postmodernism is meaningless because it adds nothing to analytical or empirical knowledge.”

Possibly the most convincing argument I have personally listened to, was discussed within a web debate on the Institute of Art and Ideas forum “Let the Light in” on iai.tv. It was forwarded by Professor Hilary Lawson in 2015. A philosopher who came to the conclusion that he was a ‘Post-Post-Modernist’ and presented an extremely reasoned argument with propositions for an alternative thought process. And he hoped that the many would implement PPM to help change the status quo. We shall have to wait and see if anything at all does change significantly within the visual art world as a result of his suggested philosophical game changer.

It makes me wonder how long painters will carry on knocking out the same tired, nostalgic images that are created in the same, or even post modern trendy style, the way that they have been doing, for, in my opinion, far too long.

What painting (art) needs now is not more intelligence per sé, it needs Viusal intelligence, it needs “Weltgeist” written by ‘Spike’ ©2016 for painters Tubes magazine ©2017

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“...a morning and an afternoon with Steve Capper.”

For those of you that are regular gallery exhibition goers, then Steve Capper’s work will be more than familiar to you. I’d seen Steve’s distinctive paintings in a few Galleries in and around Manchester for a number of years, (at least I thought I had). Truth be told, I first viewed his work by way of a contact I’d made with him quite a number of years ago. I was trying to gather artists from the Manchester High School of Art together as a group and create an exhibition of ex-pupils, of which I was one. Steve was enthusiastic about it, but that idea never really got off the ground due to a lack of interest and the reluctance for any of the other ex-pupils the make an effort to bring the project into a reality. It’s sad how many a good (art grouping) idea falls by the wayside because people simply can’t be bothered to put any effort into a project, if it doesn’t benefit them directly.

Many years later our path, or rather my path and Steve’s work, was to cross again, this time it was a result of research for an article I was writing for the International Art Market Magazine, one that was tracing the Art of the North West of England from 1900 to 2016.

During my research, and by coincidence, I saw an example of his work in the Contemporary Six Gallery in central Manchester.

His work was easy to spot as Steve’s style is so distinctive that sometimes an experienced artists eye tends not to look at the work in depth, but just scan the surface to identify the style, something many full time artists are guilty of. A year or so after that coincidental path crossing, I attended the opening of the Gateway Gallery exhibition “A Reappraisal of the Northern School of Art’ which was held last November (2016).

Once again some of Steve’s work was on show. This time my attention was taken by him in person, along with Geoff Key, who was also an old boy of the MSoA - I’d also brought along an old classmate to the show, so you can imagine the four of us nattering on about the Old School and some of it’s great artistteachers and again my absolute attention was taken away from Steve’s work, even though his work stood out from the rest of the paintings on show, from a ‘catching ones eye,’ point of view, and by some considerable margin.

32 And so, early last month I decided that it was high time to make a personal visit to see Steve in his Studio for an hour or two and this time look at the work in a more concentrated way. At least that was the plan.

Steve lives and works in Delph, a small cute village nestled at the foot of the Pennines, getting there by public transport is a bit of grind, but nonetheless my journey of nearly two hours from central Manchester was, I hoped, going to be worth it. I arrived in Delph on a bright but slightly chilly March morning. I’d texted him from the bus to tell him I was en-route and made arrangements to be picked up from outside the Village pub.

We shook hands and made the customary small talk greetings. “I could have picked you up in Oldham, if you’d texted me earlier.” He said to me as we entered his driveway. “I know”, I said. The first thing was to have a drink of hot coffee and after saying hello to his wife Jan, in the kitchen, we both moved into to the Studio and carried our drinks with us. The ‘Studio’ was actually one of those all glass double glazed extensions attached to a modern brick house which was positioned as to be almost impossible to be overlooked.

The sunshine flooded the room as the view outside was exactly what you would expect of the rolling contours of the Pennine hills. Immediately, it became evident that Steve’s work did indeed reflect the atmosphere and scenery that was in front of my eyes and much more besides. Serene, is a much under used and under estimated adjective for that feeling of an untroubled tranquil sensation, the one that I experienced whilst sipping my coffee and chatting to Steve about Art. It was like were were sitting in one of his paintings talking about paintings - a surreal moment for sure - Jan had brought us both a plate of hot croissants to complete the sheer enjoyment of the moment and we happily began discussing the broader art scene in Manchester.

It was almost like Steve was interviewing me on what I thought about this artists work or that artists work and the general state of contemporary art in the UK. Never one to shy away from an opinion on art, when I am asked that is, Steve then evaluated my thoughts and in general, concurred with my analysis of each artist in turn with a knowing and wry smile.

“I couldn’t paint, when I was teaching..”

Steve said to me, changing the subject. I knew Steve had been working as an Art teacher in a state School for decades. Apparently it was only when he left his full time teaching job that he dusted off his easel and brushes and began painting again.

33

“It was was like I was 30 years younger and it filled me with such pleasure that I simply can’t stop working now.”

He said, in an sort of ironic way.

It was that same ‘pleasure’ that you feel when you are stood in front of one of his paintings. It’s a symptom of contemporary art that the ‘pleasure’ aspect of art creation is surprisingly overlooked and much art [paintings] is negated because ‘pleasurable art’ has been derided as ‘not-serious’ by them that pull the strings of the contemporary art scene. This reminded me of the work of Bonnard and how his paintings have been sidelined because they are obviously a pleasure to look at. Again, as with Steve, the surface of the work is met with a hurried opinion, without the absolute depth and originality of the work having been considered.

Like Bonnard, Steve’s work is colourful and employs easily recognisable themes, landscape and still life’s in the main. They are not representational in the academic sense of the word, neither could they be termed strictly abstract as such. Yet they are filled with all the joy and pleasure that art promises us, some may even say the work is charming. Abject critics would say most of the work (of Bonnard and Steve) is decorative, and I can understand that point of view to an extent, that is until you read into the work further.

It is perhaps that especially today, most people have little time to really look at original art and that the fact that the public has been optically bludgeoned into a sort of art-blindness by the cacophony of images on the www and the mass media, that they (and sometimes even me) have simply forgot how to look at good Art when its right in front of us them. Like Bonnard, Steve does not copy what’s in front of him, he uses visual memory integrated with his feelings about what he is painting.

Which, technically, puts him (and Bonnard) outside of being labelled an impressionist or a surrealist or an abstract painter. What Steve does is all his own work.

34

The American philosopher and psychologist William James wrote (around 1890) “Remembrance is like direct feeling; its object is suffused with a warmth and intimacy to which no object of mere conception ever attains” This statement could well apply to Steve’s work in general. And that’s the feelings that I [personally] got from his work when I really allowed myself time to look at it.

An opinion that many people have (including me, I might add), about Steve’s work is that it is seemingly so ubiquitous? I asked him that question directly to try and pin down the reason.

He told me that examples of his work have been promoted by Galleries, especially on line, but the truth is he has only a small number of original works actually in a gallery. Some galleries have bought one or two of his paintings and exhibit them at regular intervals, which may explain the opinion that his work is shown everywhere (and as a consequence dampens down the uniqueness of it). His main Gallery (for most of his work) is Gateway Gallery in Hale, although he has shown, over the years, in a few others in Manchester (Contemporary Six, being one other). For me it seems the absolute reason is that ‘once seen, you easily remember’ Steve’s work and the familiarity fee’ it carries with it, which sort of engraves itself on the very fabric of your memory bank.

Perhaps this is because they are so easily received by the eye and the mind. I mean, who doesn’t like a pleasurable image when it is presented to you? - And for those painters who think it is easy to paint an original work on this quality, I can assure it is not, especially landscape painting. Anyone can paint a landscape, impressionistic or post impressionistic or otherwise from a photograph or even from real life, very few can paint a landscape with the authority of an original style as Steve does.

Even fewer can paint a still life with that same in-errant quality.

As the time approached for me to leave, having had all the positive thoughts that I had during our long conversation, Jan re-entered the studio bearing plates full of sandwiches which I soon succumbed to agreeing to stay for lunch, (a real treat of English cheese and Piccalilli and cheese and Branson pickle, a treat that I can rarely find in Sweden). After lunch, we talked for another hour or so in which time I discovered that Steve (and his fellow artist friend, Peter Stanaway) were actively engaged in helping an artist exhibit his life long work. This artist had been painting the village of Delph all his life and was now approaching 90 years of age. That artist is Russel Howarth “maybe you should go and speak with him Denis..” Steve said to me and went on to say that., “He really has a unique bank of work, and one that deserves writing about.” After my own realisations about ‘really looking deeper’ at paintings and beyond the surface, as I did with Steve’s work, perhaps I should do exactly that. (editors footnote: I interviewed Russel Howarth in July 2017) Denis Taylor spent a morning and an afternoon with Steve Capper. March 4th 2017.

most read (double) feature of 2017

our mission... “...to photograph and have a cup of tea and biscuits with a legend.

Dave Gunning - photograph: by Denis Taylor on behalf of painters Tubes magazine Š2017

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36

Dave Gunning in his Gallery - photograph ©Lee Harrison It would be incorrect for me to say that this visit and mission meeting with Dave Gunning at Todmorden Fine Art Gallery was my first trip. It wasn’t, this was my third or more. My second visit was to enable me to accompany Mr Gunning to view the largest collection of William. Ralph Turner’s paintings in the UK, one housed in a very private Art collection. Dave had arranged the visit after I had spoken with him after our first meeting previous to a lengthy telephone conversation (from my studios in Sweden).

At the time I was writing a series of articles for another publication (the International Art Market Magazine) which discussed the artists and the art of the Industrial Revolution, and how that had affected painters like, W.R.Turner, Theodore Major, Alan Lowndes, Emmanuel Levy and Harry Rutherford, to mention just a few. Dave told me something that seemed such a great story with a set of coincidental circumstance, that I couldn’t resist the chance to spend time with him on the long car drive to our destination. Besides which, viewing the collection was a privilege, one that not many other people shall experience. It was during that drive that we chatted about Art, art history, creative writing, his life in general and his introduction to the art world when he first opened the doors of the Todmorden Fine Art Gallery in 1981.

Dave turned 79 years old this year, so I thought it was high time his story was told to the many readers of Tubes magazine, as he has played a pivotal role in the dissemination of the now famous paintings and the artists names that have become the backbone of the genre of Art that today is known as English Northern Art. A label that many artists (and galleries) attach to themselves, which helps sell their art.

In 1981 that commercial label didn’t really exist as such, hence the title of the gallery ‘Todmorden Fine Art’ - a title chosen by Dave Gunning and his friend and business partner, Brian Middleton. It was Fine Art that was loved, whoever produced it, and from wherever it came.

“His love of art started when he was a child.”

Born in London on March 16th,1938, it was when he was only six years old that his ‘art-collecting-tendency’ took hold. A year or so before the World War ended (1944) Dave’s mother divided 18 old pence (about seven and half new pence) in to equal amounts (6 old pence each) between him, his brother and his sister to buy something from the jumble sale, being held at their local Church Hall. His brother bought a football. His Sister bought a doll. And Dave bought a large gilt framed oil painting depicting trees, cows and farm in a typical Victorian stylisation to illustrate the pastoral peace and tranquillity of the English countryside (inspired no doubt by John Constable).

37 A few of his friends helped him to carry the mega-sized painting back home. His mum, on seeing what she viewed probably as a monstrosity, refused to have it in the house and Dave was made to return it to the jumble sale where he traded it in for some comics. That particular story has been told me a few times by Dave and yet I still read into it different aspects of just how much Fine Art means to him and by what value he sets on the Art that speaks to him. He continued his art collecting forays by acquiring (cheap) old water-colours and an extensive collection of Art Post Cards (which incidentally were first introduced to the general public at the famous 1900 International Exhibition held in Paris). Dave’s cards must have included all the great masters from the previous century which surely provided him with a deep well of visual information and knowledge when he was still in his teens.

!©Lee Harrison He attended university where he studied French, Latin, English and the History of Art. He elected to become a teacher (of French) which must have provided the financial basis for him to continue with his Art collecting compulsion. He lived and worked in North Wales where he became very keen on the artists of the Royal Cambrian Academy. He became friendly with members of the Academy, ones that included artists like, Donald McIntyre, George Anthony Butler, Millicent Ayrton and several other artists. Yet his deep seated dream of opening his own Art Gallery remained unfulfilled. It was Brian Middleton, a great friend of Dave’s, who become tired of teaching (mathematics) and informed Dave one day that he intended to resign his position and encouraged Dave to the same and make his dream become a reality. And he [Brian] would be his business partner. Dave had been hesitant to give up his secure job, but then Brian telephoned Dave to inform him that he had resigned his position as the Head of Maths at Alder Hill School (in Rochdale), the day after Dave gained courage and did likewise.

He knew it was a gamble, but with Brian’s previous position he probably made connections in Rochdale and so the decision to open a Gallery located in that area was obviously the right place to start and try to make a go of being a gallerist. Dave used his own collection of around 250 paintings as the opening stock.

38 The first few years proved challenging but slowly and surely the word spread that Todmorden Fine Art was the place to acquire really great art and at a great price. Gradually more artists were brought into the Gallery as Dave expanded the base of its stable of artists, these included, (from the Liverpool School), the calibre of artists like; Donald McKinley, George Jardine, Nicholas Horsfield and George Kennerley.

After a while Dave tireless search for the art that he loved took him into other artists studios where he secured more work for the Gallery.

The journalist was Paul Barker who wrote articles for the Sunday Telegraph Magazine. I was going to tell the story of how W.R.Turner was ‘rediscovered’ myself for painters Tubes, but I’d already told it in my own way a few years ago in series of articles I’d written for another magazine. When I visited Dave Gunning, last month, along with Lee Harrison, who by the way takes many great photographs for Tubes, Dave handed me an original pristine copy of the Sunday Times Magazine dated, 24th August 2003.

For the first time I could read the article in it’s original published form.

I considered that like many others, I had never read the original article and so I have taken the respectful liberty of reproducing it in this issue of painters Tubes magazine. (see the special pages following).

The upshot of this story was that William. R Turner, was given a retrospective exhibition at the Gallery Oldham in 2005 where, and as you may expect, Dave not only attended but made a video of the whole exhibition opening day, for posterity. I’m proud to say I helped to edit the original video to enable Dave to watch it again on his computer and secure it in a digital form, just in case the VCR tape should deteriorate.

Dave Gunning is a true character. He has a fantastic dry sense of humour and is a kind and gentle man.

Make no mistake from outward appearances, Dave Gunning’s mind holds a veritable treasure of art knowledge and intimate personal details of artists that should be written down for future generations. Maybe I should do that? Besides, it would a great excuse to share yet another cup of tea and biscuits with him and listen to a man who gave the chance to artists he believed in, by showing their work to a wider public, those who today have become highly regarded artists and may otherwise have remained totally unknown or ignored at best, or totally forgotten about, at the worst.

photograh ©Lee Harrison

The list includes well known national and local artists such as: Geoff Key, Peter Stanaway, Gordon Radford, Mike Knowles, Russel Howarth. Sue Atkinson, Reg Gardner, Ian Norris, Olivia Pilling, Mike Weeden, Richard Clare, Anthony Marn and Adam Ralston, names that many international art collectors and those in the North of England will be very familiar with.

Standing above those Artists (for me) is the name William Ralph Turner (1920-2013) William Turner enjoyed considerable success in the 1980’s, when he sold through the gallery run

by Wendy Levy in Cheshire. However, later on he became forgotten, until he was re-discovered in the year 2000. He is an artist with whom Dave Gunning and Todmorden Fine Art have become synonymous. That story is best told by the journalist who related the circumstances surrounding the resurrection of W.R Turner’ art and him as one of the UK’s great painters.

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William Ralph Turner

by Paul Barker.

The story about how one of the North’s old master was resurrected from obscurity having been forgotten about since he was identified as a rising star of art in 1963. Article on William Ralph Turner, original published by The Sunday Telegraph Magazine 24th August 2003 written and researched by Paul Barker ©Telegraph Group Limited 2003 Reproduced here as a compliment to the man behind the story, Dave Gunning of Todmorden Fine Art Gallery.

It is like a vision of the end of the world.

A yellow and orange flame spurts up into a red and blue sky. Two huddled figures move along below, like lost souls on their way to purgatory. But what looks like Judgement Day is, in fact, an oil plant at Ellesmere Port, near the intersection of the Manchester Ship Canal and the river Mersey. The painting is

by William Turner, an 83 year-old artist who is only now gaining the credit he deserves.

At Turner’s house, an enlarged cottage in a suburban street in the town of Congleton, Cheshire, I’m greeted by a spry, wiry man, with bright blue eyes that light up behind his rimless glasses. The artists is dressed in a grey shirt, dark trousers and polished brown shoes. On his left shirt pocket, he wears a tiny golden six pointed Star of David, in honour of the Jewish mother he hardly knew. She died when he was five. He paints in his garage, the Saab stays outside.

Back in the 1960’s the Manchester Guardian hailed him as ‘rising star. But even the most talented painters can slip through the net.

Turner says he hawked pictures around London Galleries - ‘wearing my shoes out’ but metropolitan dealers, in their ‘antipathy towards northerners,’ rebuffed him. But then, Turner didn’t always want to be artist.

When he grew up in inner Manchester he wanted to be a speedway rider - ‘that or boxing were the only ways out’ - but he couldn’t afford eighty pounds for a motorbike. So he settled for racing cycles instead. In his hall he has three, leaning up against each other: one from the 1950s, one from 1970s, and one he has just bought. It’s bright red and specially built. He still goes for 30-mile rides. He tells me he was passed the other day by a younger rider who patronisingly asked, ‘Are you all right?’ ‘But I realised I could overtake him. As I went past him, I said, “Are You alright?” You don’t lose the spirit of competition, even at my age.’

Even Lowry, who died in 1976, suffered from anti-northern prejudice, though his pictures of stick -men and bleak mills became more widely known from the 1950s.

But rather than help his fellow painters of the industrial north, Lowry’s success overshadowed them.

40 There isn’t a single picture by Turner, born and bred in Manchester, in any of the city’s art galleries. He has never had an exhibition at Salford’s Lowry Centre. And while his paintings often depict Stockport (he lived just outside the town for more than 30 years) and its bizarre landscape of hills, factories and 27-arch Victorian railway high above the streets, Stockport’s art gallery owns only one of his pictures. In southern galleries, there is nothing.

Things are, however, looking up. One collector in Wales now has more than a hundred Turners, which he intends to bequeath to a public gallery. And, not long after he turned 80, Turner found an agent for the first time. When Dave Gunning, who jointly runs a small art shop in Todmorden, Lancashire, went to supper with a customer he was stunned to see on the walls three paintings by William Turner, whose work he knew only from a brief passage in a reference book. Where was the artist, he asked. ‘Oh, he’s been dead for years,’ he was told...

“...the pictures are like gold dust.

You’ll never find any.’”

But Gunning did, and he also found the artist alive and well. He already handled the work of Geoffrey Key, a Salford painter, who, it emerged, knew Turner. Gunning went along to Turner’s house in Congleton and ‘it was like I imagine taking heroin must be. The walls were full of paintings, going back to the 1940s.’ Gunning took 20 away with him - all sold within two days. Since then he has sold about 1,000. For the time being you can get them at prices between the low hundreds and the low thousands. But even Lowry’s were once cheap. Turner, in fact, painted Lowry, in 1976, shortly before the artist’s death, and the portrait now hangs in his sitting-room, above a portrait of his late wife, Anne. Turner shares a subject matter with Lowry - a nostalgia for past industry but his pictures, unlike Lowry’s, swirl with life. He acknowledges the influence of Utrillo, Vlaminck, Soutine, Roualt, Chagall and the expressionist Max Beckmann, who recently had a retrospective at Tate Modern. “I find English painters very stiff.”

He says. The Royal Academy is exhibiting another German expressionist. Ernst Kirchner. Perhaps this switch in art’s febrile fashions will also help Turner, who you could cal a Manchester Expressionist

Sun and smoke are as important in Turner’s work as in the late masterpieces of J M W Turner: a huge yellow sun peers through fog: a blue sun hangs above Salford Park, like a visiting meteorite. The 19th-century painter is no relation, though Turner’s Aunt Clara, who encouraged his painting when he was young, thought he might be. And so one wall of his cottage is a copy of a small J M W Turner water colour which he executed at the age of 17. Turner’s father was a commercial traveller, his grandfather a restaurant porter. William left school at 14, in 1934, for numerous odd jobs: storekeeper, scales-maker, mail-order packer.

But he found he ‘wasn’t much good at anything else but painting’. During the War he worked in the Royal Ordnance Corps, and briefly went to Derby School of Art on an Army grant. Not that it helped: ‘You’ve got to learn yourself, in the end.’ For 11 years he made a living hand-colouring photographs for a studio in Manchester. ‘It’s what they called “picture faking”. Modigliani and Soutine used to do it.’ After that he taught art at a further education college in Manchester and at Hulme Hall independent school, near Stockport. And he kept on painting throughout, in spite of all the rebuffs, north and south but he said he never sold much.

“but I never sold much.”

41 Turner says. One fan was the Warrington, (UK) based newspaper publisher Eddie Shah.

Turner has pinned up a yellowing press cutting in which Shah is photographed with a painting on the wall behind his desk; Shah now owns 14.

Only in his sixties did Turner become a full time painter. He had accumulated a mass of work by then (he had so many canvases stacked under the stairs that they fell on the gas-man when he crawled in to read the meter). Reds, whites and blacks add to the paintings’ apocalyptic drama; many of them suggest Milton’s description of Hell as ‘darkness visible’. Others are derived from Turner’s past: a policeman flashing his torch at a canoodling couple in a park; a brick-faced newspaper-seller; a landlady grimly slicing bread. He saw hard times, even painting tourists’ portraits at Polperro in Cornwall’ (‘quite enjoyable.’ he says with a grin). He had a few exhibitions in small Manchester Galleries.

But he lived from the sale of one painting to the next, till he met David Gunning.

Turner is a romantic. “my

painting comes out of the 1930s, he says, ‘when there was no work but high expectations.”

though a number of his pictures also evoke post-war bomb-sites and even oil refineries.

His memory is phenomenal. He says he’ll paint a picture he thinks is imaginary, ‘then someone comes along and says, “I had a shop on that street corner.” And he has visions. ‘They sit there as clearly as you’re sitting on that chair,’ he tells me. Sometimes they speak, sometimes they don’t.

At a mediums house he received a message from a painter who had, apparently, died 200 or 300 years ago in Vienna. He said he was an ancestor on Turner’s mother’s side and claimed to be the principal influence on his work. ‘I don’t know who he was.’ Turner says. ‘but I think I know what he painted. I saw it in a vision and sketched it. It was a big hall, with people. It sounds just like one of my pictures.’

The article finished with ‘ For more information on William Turner, contact Todmorden Fine Art, Lancashire. (01706 81 4723) www.todmordenfineart.co.uk

Dave told me many years after this article first appeared that the next day, the phone never stop ringing from 8.am to midnight...” Since this time, Dave Gunning has seen almost all of Turner’s work pass through his hands and into private collectors, and commercial galleries.

Photograph ©Lee Harrison. at Todmorden Fine Art Gallery - 2017

This article has been reproduced for education and art historical interest only and remains the copyright of the writer of it and the Telegraph Group Ltd

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...talking the real deal...with Dean Entwistle

S

pending time with Dean Entwistle, a painter who has been creating meticulous work for quite some years, was always going to be an exhaustive exercise. Exhaustive in the real sense of the word, not the negative implication of it. What I mean by exhaustive, is the examination and consideration of all the elements of art creation. One that needs a full and comprehensive discussion with discourse that is far removed from the normal run of the mill informal ‘chats’ that one may have about Art with people who are not artists.

Personally, I found our discussion enjoyable, probably because as a painter.

I really do understand the nitty gritty hard graft and thought process’s that goes behind the creation of Art per sé.

If you don’t know in detail the process of painting and it’s mystical complexity, then it is difficult to understand why many people said to me before I met Dean in person, that, ‘you may find him a tad intense.’

Our actual discussion(s) span over two months. First there was a session in a central Manchester artists watering hole (Sinclairs Oyster Bar) in February - that lasted 8 hours. The second discussion, in March, was more focused, as we had already come to a mutual respectful understanding, from the first session. Therefore we could talk outside of the box and the usual limited parameters of the socially aware art correctness.

As a consequence the second session went on for just under 10 hours and only ended the next morning, when we jumped aboard our respective trams heading in opposite directions, after spending the night at my sisters home in North Manchester.

To write in legible sensibility what we discussed over those two sessions, is almost impossible, as we spoke in a sort of artists shorthand, which when transcribed would make no sense at all to most people, as inevitably, essential volumes of art history knowledge is required to report the conversation verbatim. - But that knowledge, that both Dean and I have attained over the years, as have many painters, are are continually gathering knowledge from past masters. at least those who create paintings as an ‘Art Form’ rather than image creation.

43 For Dean, it seems to me, is that Art is a the challenge to achieve a universal understanding, the essence of which, is perhaps, coming to grips of what makes a flat image on a flat surface resonate the essential power to stand alone and communicate something that is beyond the spoken word.

Unification and harmony of nature, art and a human being, is the ultimate goal. To many past masters the artist himself is the mere ‘facilitator’ of bringing the work into existence, with work that has this unifying power. With each piece Dean creates, (which takes a great deal of time to finalise) and simultaneously as he paintsHe subconsciously and consciously cross examines the work and himself as he tries to unravel what exactly it is he is achieving with each colour layer that he applies. Layers that eventually reach the ‘power’ levels he desires (or perhaps the work demands) to be imbued with. Only then is the painting complete and prepared to make it’s own way into the world to succeed, or fail as the case may be.

It’s more of an intellectual approach integrated with a mystical fourth dimensional thinking process, more so than it is a human instinctive mark making method (i.e. expressionism).

If you have knowledge of the idea surrounding the physical existence of the fourth dimension (the identification or concept of, has been around a very long time, you can understand how absorbing it can be, And how it opens understanding of yourself and away from the myopia of purely three dimensional thinking.

This sort of metaphysical realisation reveals more questions than answers to a creator of art, so the quest continues (as all art exploration should) to discover more about its importance and how it can be utilised.

It’s the never ending path of discovery to reach the limits of the human intellectual integration with the creative force. Many artists are still unaware of that force, or more accurately believe it is them that are somehow blessed with a special gift. My own belief is that every human being on the planet can paint and create images - it is those artists who go beyond image making that engage with and are subject to being taken over by what I have termed as the ‘creative-force. And as a consequence of that contact create more than simply interesting images. Some artists, have a belief that the creative act is simply a reflection of their own subconscious.

Many will tell you that ‘time and space’ becomes condensed (to the conscious self) where they become ‘part of the painting’ they are working on. I could take Jackson Pollock as a good example.

He is reported to have said that: “when I am ‘in’ the painting everything is fine, it’s only when I am not [in the painting] that it becomes a mess.”

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The deep connection to what I call the creative force takes time to acquire and it is not easy to understand, or deal with, once you have become used to being connected to it on a daily, or a regular basis.

This creative force connection also has consequences, some good, some not so good.

Dean Entwistle is definitely connected to it, as are many artists of his calibre of the past and of the present, although he may call it by another name. He also told me that he believes he lives in a sort of twilight-zone, (where strange things happen beyond the normal coincidental or the incidental).

Although, the twilight-zone may sound to most people like ‘an artists fanciful mind’ playing tricks on itself, or perhaps a sort of induced state of psi - or even ESP (extra sensory perception). Personally I have no reason to disbelieve him. To a great extent I think it is an absolutely true phenomena Dean experiences, having had many similar ‘twilight-zone’ experiences myself (and on a regular basis) over these last 30 years of making Art. It seems to me that as humans developed a large and complex society, we have shod or suppressed a natural, or genetic inherited extra sensitive ability to communicate with each others feelings or emotions over close or even great distances, in favour of language and technology. Which for me is humanities loss. Perhaps creating art can indeed re-energise those mysterious abilities, ones that we probably accepted as normal, once upon a time. If we allow them to come to fore of the frontal cortex of our mind, then I do believe it’s possible for all of us to re-employ these gifts from nature.

I can hear many readers now turning the page as they wonder what’s all this talk about the twilightzone, psi and ESP has to do with Dean’s (or any other artists) actual work.

I believe it has a lot more relevance than you may have considered before today.

Dean’s preferred medium is tempera (pigment bound by egg). It’s a very ancient medium and many say it dates first from ancient Egypt or middle asia. It was the primary method of painting images used in the West up to about the 1500’s when it became superseded by oil paint. It’s a fast drying medium which allows for a steady build up of glazes (layers).

This method enables the artist to work on top of a base line and introduce a resonance which, many feel, has a greater colour nuanced depth than say, oil paint or water colour.

It also means to build that depth takes much more time, more so than oil colour or water colour Although I feel sure Mark Rothko would have argued the opposite (e.g. his paintings were made up from hundreds of layers of extremely thin oil pigments diluted with litre upon litre of balsam turpentine).

An enforced and extended time period of creating just one painting is indicative of the psychological framework that I have outlined. e.g: the more the concentrated time spent with the creative force - the more ‘twilight-zone’ one experiences.

45 It can be troubling experiences for many artists, and can lead to personality and/or social negative issues, or excessive consumption problems i.e. alcoholism, with reference here to Mark Rothko & Jackson Pollock in particular. Sometimes even psychological breakdowns (Van Gogh perhaps). Yet with balanced acceptance, it may also promote a level-headed approach to view life. And a long and very productive creative life, say: Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky or other artists that we have all come to appreciate, albeit with hindsight in most cases.

Dean told me that he had always wanted to be an artist. His father however believed it to be an ‘unworthy-career’ to follow and so he struck a deal with his son. Dean agreed to join the RAF after which he could pursue what ever path he wished. Dean started his Art-Career, after serving his time in the RAF, as an illustrator and made a great success of it. When he changed path’s and stepped onto the fine art road, at first he began creating ‘abstract’ work. I haven’t seen any of these paintings so it is difficult to ascertain their worth or why he changed from abstract to figurative.

Under the usual artistic academic formal way of thinking, an artist would be expected to do the exact opposite and move away from figuration to abstraction as a matter of a personal aesthetic challenge, having first totally mastered figurative painting. I found his ‘decision’ interesting, perhaps painting abstracts did not challenge him enough?

Or maybe he felt that all could be achieved with abstract has been achieved by the great 20th century painters?

Maybe it was too difficult to remove himself from the strict visual disciplines of illustration? Be that as it may, Deans current subject matter is fairly conservative and traditional, i.e. Landscapes and cityscapes - nothing different to what many painters are choosing to concentrate on, (subject wise) in the North West of England.

What separates Deans painting from the many of the same subject matter or genre, I think, is the ‘sky’s he paints, they are quite beautiful and give off a radiance and the sensation of other worldliness. It’s the creative force in full swing, you could say. For example, a recent work is of a fairly every day city scape, a subject commuters and shoppers inhabit seven days a week. Technically excellent, as his is normal high level of draughtsmanship, this particular ‘scape’ is part of the City where the Manchester Central Library and Metro link (trams) intersect with the old Midland Hotel in the background and human figures are skilfully arranged in the composition. But it is the sky that makes the painting become more than a commuters or shoppers view of the City. It’s as if the sky is looking down on the scene and the invisible power of nature is saying ...”it doesn’t matter what you build or have built or what technological designs you employ - I am the creator of a beauty that you will never ever achieve.”

It’s a statement I tend to agree with. From my stand point, I should love to see Dean’s future paintings perhaps move away from the empiricist subject and to a more obvious metaphysical viewpoint, employing his unique ability to imbue a painting with the power of the ‘real deal’ which is part of the creative force, as in the painting I described above. And perhaps one day he will try that, just to see if he can create another ‘type’ of work where ‘pure painting’ is the subject matter. One that has the ‘real-deal’ engrained within it, as witnessed in his past and current paintings.

I guess, we shall all have to wait and see.

Denis Taylor - was talking ‘the real deal’ with Dean Entwistle - February to March 2017.

Gallery Openings

46 Over the last year Tubes was delighted to attend a number of Gallery Openings and preview evenings.

Here a collection of photographs from those evening. Tubes have featured three of these galleries in 2017 and look forward to covering their new exhibitions in 2018. New Gallery openings included Contemporary Six Manchester (new premises) and Cheshire Art Gallery, Bramhall and Saul Hay Gallery Manchester with Gateway Gallery coming under new management in the Autumn of this year. And Colony Art in Rochdale. ©Gateway Gallery

©Gateway Gallery ©Gateway Gallery

Gateway Gallery, (Hale). The two exhibitions covered.

were Northern School Reappraisal and The Steve Capper solo show- above (below and to the left, photographs from the recent exhibition “people watching.” ©Gateway Gallery

Below and to the bottom right.

The new Saul Hay Gallery. Catherine and Ian Hay, owners and curators. Specialising in New Contemporary Art and holding discussion and debate evenings. (Manchester Central). ©Saul Hay Gallery

©Saul Hay Gallery

47 Contemporary Six Gallery (Manchester

Central). Left and below - Alex Ruben Owner Gallerist in Manchester for a decade moved to a new expanisve space opposite the Town Hall in Manchester earlier in 2017. He has mounted solo and group exhibition throughout the year. Currently the show running is the Winter Exhibition of an eclectic mix of paintings, origibal screen prints and sculpture. ©Lee Harrison

©Lee Harrison

©Cheshire Art Gallery

©Cheshire Art Gallery above. centre and left- Cheshire Art Gallery, (Bramhall). Opened at the end of 2016. The Gallery is owned and curated by Matt & Ella Leech.

The Resident Artist is Phil Hughes. The Gallery has had a Premiere evening introducing known and unknown artists from around the UK. Solo shows include, Dave Coulter and Hugh Winterbottom.

Art Colony Gallery, (Rochdale) Opened late this Year. It is run by Richard Fitton and Anthony Cosgrove.The first exhibition was an eclectic mix of paintings and Ceramics. Their aim is to introduce and give opportunity to artists from around the North West of England and wider afield. Richard Fitton is a painter and Anthony has a long association with Art from The North of England. (images: top and right). ©Colony Art

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Artists who had full or part features in issue #2 and issue #3 Diane Terry (below) Started out as a ceramic artist, Diane began painting again some time ago. Texture is the main force behind her creative drive. Diane models paintings with heavy texture to deliver a powerful image that transmits her feelings to her local surroundings.

Chris Cyprus. (above) A well known artist who has created a huge

amount of work, all connected with his local town of Mossley, (a Town in the UK). Chris, has a unique semi-naive style that is unmistakenley his own. Recently he has changed subject matter with the influence of Edward Hopper’s clean lines and high contrasts after recently spending time in the United States of America.

Hugh Winterbottom. (right) Hugh is a young painter who has had much success recently. His approach is based on painting urban popular areas (Manchester). He is seeking a way to paint the whole ‘new’ enviroment with blue as his main colour in his palette.

He works from photographs and sketches which he meticulously produces with his own style of imagery.

Simon Parkin (left)

©Adrian Lambert Photography

Simon creates his painting in the ‘country’ side of of Glossop (UK) usually. An area where the West meets the East of the UK, only separated by the Pennine range of hills. Make no mistake, Simon is not a parochial painter in his outlook. He travels far and wide to absorb different cultures, new ideas and different aproaches to creating art. Essentially, he is a painter who wants to experience the full life, then transmit that life with energy and power. onto his canvas.

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B

This is Part Three of the extensive Abstract feature in Tubes issue #3

y the turn of the century there was a significant uneasy feeling among creatives, it was because the conceptual, come installation art form, had dominated contemporary art for decades [in Europe]. It had reached the point where it had become ‘institutionally-approved art.’ - and therefore only represented the Art Establishments opinion of contemporary art and no-one or little else. The conventional medium [painting] had not only been ignored unfairly, but often ridiculed by many academics as a serious medium to create a new contemporary art form.

This was more apparent in Europe than it was in the USA. Which had, in the main, accepted and had retained ‘painting’ on the curriculum of universities and art academies. This wasn’t the case in Europe, especially the UK, where slowly but surely ‘painting’ was removed not only from Universities curriculum’s but also actively eradicated by discouraging students of including painting in their portfolios for year ending assessments (some made a threat of immediate failure if they did so). Talent, skill, colour understanding and artistic authenticity became a thing of the past and all these later day basic elements and knowledge for art creation was declared ‘obsolete’ in favour of a Post Modernistic approach to art where plagiarism was not only allowed but expected of the student.

Not every one agreed with the post-modernism dogma, and many Artists, in general, became tired of restricting themselves to the non-physical involvement of art creation, mixed with the re-making of someone’s else’s original idea from the recent past and where the actual process of the creation was secondary, or unimportant.

Disillusioned with the philosophy of post modernism and conceptualism, where only the ‘idea’ of a work of Art was the thing that was worthy of consideration, traditional painting became more and more attractive to Artists once again. This was despite the uneven handed approach to painting in the Art Education system. Painting flourished, especially with the underground artists, mostly dogged painters from the 1980’s.

With the graffiti artists, with help of small exhibitions by the commercial galleries on some high streets and in provisional towns, painting began to prove that it was very much alive and had not ‘died off’ as it was predicted it would in the later stages of the Twentieth century.

The catalyst for paintings resurrection may have come from a movement that became known (in Europe) as the ‘Transavantgarde.’ Achille Bonito Oliva, an Italian critic overseen the new, or more appropriate, renewed art philosophy, one that rejected the left wing [political] thinking in art and its corresponding artistic psychoanalysis. They returned to encouraging the use of traditional materials and the creation of Art imbued with not only talent but the invention of new image communication forms or symbolic signs. They gained an international audience in 1982 with an exhibition that was mounted in Rome.

The leading Transavantgarde artists included Chia, Cucchi and Clemente with Baselitz and Keifer in Germany, who are often thrown into the mix of the artists in this re-engagement with painting. What was also significant, was that a few artists in the USA seemed closer to the European Transavantgarde mind set than they did to the ‘pop’ or the ‘hyper-realists’ practitioners (for example, Julian Schnabel among others).

This goes to illustrate how the Art in the public view (media coverage), the one sanctioned and approved by art institutions, can be misleading, with the implication that Art is binary or lineal.

Most artists know that Art is and always has been, dynamic and multifaceted.

We are only in the 17th year of a new century, but these last seventeen years are proving to be milestones in painting development, albeit not to the same extent that Cubism changed how artists think about how they could create a work of art or indeed how the world looks at itself.

50 The neo-expressionism of the Transavantgarde of the 1980’s led to more and more figurative interest in art creation. And in certain ways figurative abstract painting has asserted itself as the popular choice for many artists. Today figurative abstraction appears at the forefront of recent painting. It can take the form of abstracted human forms, landscape, emotional or personal experiences.

The resulting artworks all carry something ‘real’ as the key element in the work of the artist. Art for Art ‘s sake, or Art as the object itself is no longer the main concern.

What is apparent today is that the visual art playing field has widened and levelled itself to be inclusive rather than exclusive, as it was once was not so long ago.

Realism, semi-realism, abstraction in all it’s forms, gestural, expression, geometric formal, and informal and combination abstraction (objectivity mixed with non-objectivity), photographic-painting montages, video, digital art and graffiti, all have an active role to play in the kaleidoscope of the new visual art world. The whole history of art and art ism’s seems to have merged into an array of visually stimulating and exciting art forms, but only new in the sense that they are created in the ‘here and now’ and reflect that ‘here and now’ – it’s perhaps a more short sighted view of culture that is held today than it was in the middle of the twentieth century. For me, as a painter who is long in the tooth, it is still an exciting period for Art - And like many creatives, I feel the freedom and the challenge that the choice of medium, method of painting and varied subject matter represents.

The ‘outlets’ (galleries) for this eclectic view of Art is also far more receptive and widespread than one would imagine. Today independent Artists can hire great spaces in purpose made pop-up type art galleries which cater specifically for independent artist shows.

Many painters are grouping themselves together as ‘gallery-studios’ or as a gallery artists run co-operatives with varied types of work exhibited, who pool their finances to ensure each individual exhibition gains the right amount of marketing and public exposure needed for reasonable success. Private commercial galleries are starting to work together to share ‘artists’ ideas and organise single theme shows to encourage audiences to travel from one exhibition in one gallery, then onto another with the same theme. The future for commercial galleries, it seems, rests in a multifaceted genre of art rather than the singular specialised favoured choice of art genre of the last century. They are beginning to co-operate with each other, rather than the ‘competitor’ mentality of the past century. It is perhaps the ‘competition’ from the www that has encouraged the high street gallerist and the individual artist along this co-operative path.

The www has been a major contributor to the ‘democratising’ of Art, especially in painting with abstract paintings now gathering as much acceptance and popularity as the traditional landscape or nostalgia art has enjoyed in the past.

The danger of ‘Art on Web’, if there is one, is there is possibly too much Art to look at. And perhaps too many images that look exactly the same as the last one seen.

The positive aspect of the www does mean a high level of ‘audience-competition’ for visual artists, which in turn pushes the creative to constantly go further and beyond his or her own limitations. Perhaps this competition will give birth to a ‘new way of expression’ the goal that Braque and Picasso had set on the road to discover for themselves in 1908.

It is a possibility, however unlikely that may seem today.

Abstract Art. Written by Denis Taylor. Artist & Editor for painters Tubes

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Artists featured in issue #4 - Abstract John Walker (left)

English born artist John has exhibited at the most prestigious national galleries in the UK and the USA (Museum of Modern Art NYC, the Tate Gallery, the Philips collection, the Hayward Gallery, etc). He taught art at the royal College of London and repsented the UK in the Vienna Bi-Annual.

From1992 he has teaching at Boston University. His current work explores abstract form witha definitive subject idea behind them.

Kayla Mohammadi (above) Kayla is a fine art lecturer at Massachusetts College of Art. Her work holds the natural world firmly in it’s grasp. She translates personal feelings of place and time into colour arrangements. Peaceful and serine her work is always a delight to the eye. She has exhibited mostly in the USA.

Denis Taylor (above) Editor of painters Tubes, Denis enrolled at the Manchester High School of Art in 1962 at the age of eleven years old. His work is a constant evolving process from reality to abstraction with colour dictating the form. He has exhibited in Europe and curated major national and international exhibitions.

His studios are in Sweden, Greece and the UK. Shahin De Heart (right)

Lisa Kreuziger (above)

She creates paintings with broad gestural abstraction of extreme beauty and sensitivity. Shahin was born in Tehran before settling in Germany where she studied visual art at the Aachen University. Her studios are now located in Remscheid-Lennep, Germany.

In 2008 Lisa spent time in the USA after leaving her home in Germany when she decided to take on Art creation on a full time basis. The series ‘Sun City’ (exhibited in London 2017) are paintings of experiences of Sacrremento, more than an actual a physical place.

Colin Taylor (left)

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Based in Cheshire UK, Colin works with Abstract with the reality of the natural world at it’s core.

His interest stems from his life long passion for mountain climbing. His last major commision however was to document the creation of a high rise modern building in the centre of Manchester (UK) which have been exhibited a number of occasions (Lines in Space). He is currently working on a new project which documents the environment of mountains of South America.

Jean Mirre (above) - Jean set out to be a poet, and left France to study in Ireland. What he found there was ‘visual poetry’ and has been painting ever since. Exhibted widley, inc: USA, Japan and most of the European mainland.

David Stanley (right) David loves texture and works his paintings over and over, washing and scrubbing until he ‘see’s what the work wishes to be. Rooted in the natural environment, his work is known and admired in the UK, USA and Germany.

His studio are based in Hindley, Lancashire, UK at Cross Street Studios.

Riccado Vitiello (above) - Born in Tuscany

Stephen Heaton (left)

(Italy). He first experimented with video art before concentraing of ‘plastic’ art. Early work clearly shows he admired both Pollock and Mark Tobey.

Stephen is the Director of Cross Street Studios (UK).

His work is concerned with the natural and chemical landscape. He sees the detail of how nature creeps back in dominace in delapidated old factories and how the boundries of man and nature begin to blur.

Hans Reefman (right) From his home in Arnhem, Holland, Hans is now exploring the digital world of effects and textures.

He also paints using ‘nail-varnish’ to create unique images of dense high tonal saturated colour.

Mike Weeden (above) Straight from leaving the Royal Navy to taking art lessons - Mike has exhibited in the Northern UK since 2007. He has enjoyed great success in England and Scotland, where he now lives paints and exhibits his figurative abstraction canvas work.

53 Last but not least in this annual review of 2017 is the Landscape painting special issue. This popular genre of painting was extensive with conributions from artists that exceeded the space we can reasonably allow. This review gives an ‘edited version’ of the main article which discussed the genre in depth. It also includes all the participating artists with only one example of their Art. When it comes to visual art today, landscape is, and by a huge margin, the most popular subject with the general public, that is according to the many independent data analysis reports available on the web.

Landscape paintings, it seems, are the most sought after by all social levels of people in modern society. They are the most exhibited in galleries world wide and the subject of them, nature, is one which almost every contemporary painter has, at some time or another, turned their attention to, but it wasn’t always that way.

Landscape on its own, as a autonomous work of Art, was once was frowned upon and was not taken seriously by those who controlled the output of Artists. It was viewed as a non-educated (non-intellectual) form of art.

During the fifteenth century and some to extent the sixteenth century, the ‘mode’ of painting that was to be given a high status especially by the powerful art Academics, was historical referenced painting. Ancient Greek myths, Biblical stories or Viking legends etc. It was these subjects were seen as the only serious form of art that an artist should select as subject matter.

Landscapes were only necessary to create the ‘stage’ or as ‘support’ for the human figures within them, figures that acted out their part and help to illustrate the story of the chosen subject.

These background landscapes were painted in a specific way or with predetermined exacting tonal values that laid themselves back on the painting, always subservient to the human figure. How did landscape, as an art form of itself, rise above this myopic system of Art? In Europe by the seventeenth century the Dutch and Flemish school broke the mould somewhat with the work of Aelbert Cuyp, Jacop Van Rusisdael and, even more influential (for the change in attitude towards landscape painting), were the artists Vermeer and Peter Paul Rubens.

Although Rubens was largely regarded as a baroque artist of classical subjects, with the painting “Landscape with Philemon and Baucis” c.1620/1625, for example, the artist ensured that ‘landscape’ played far more than simply a supporting role, but was in fact the main focus of the painting itself. The obvious differences was in the scale of the human figures in the work, which is totally the opposite of say, Da Vinci, who, despite meticulous attention to his landscape backgrounds, concentrated on the human figure as the dominant subject. Leonardo, like Michelangelo, could never have been regarded as landscape painters, not that either of them even wished to be seen as such, or indeed that that description (as artists) had ever crossed their minds.

Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain were two other influential artists to win-over the art establishments to re-evaluating landscape painting, should be taken seriously, and as a worthy subject to itself. Perhaps this was because the social and political climate across Europe was changing. Aristocratic patrons of the arts reflected the change in environmental concerns.

54 The eighteenth century saw England and France lead the way with ‘new’ modes of landscape painting, artists the likes of Wetter, Fragonard and Boucher were producing lyrical, if not romantic outdoor landscape scenes populated by figures that shown how wonderful life was. It is perhaps Richard Wilson (Welsh Artist - b.1714- d.1782) that should be given the acclaim as the artist who brought landscape painting into its own. His work opened the door for other artists to explore nature as ‘the subject’ without any references to any figurative historical or mythological subject matter. Wilson, despite being a founder member of the Royal Academy (in 1768), he died an alcoholic and penniless, but his work lived on. The Welsh Academy of Art (Encyclopaedia of Wales) once described Wilson as “most distinguished painter Wales has ever produced and the first to appreciate the aesthetic possibilities of his country”.

Thomas Gainsborough, perhaps better known for his portraiture, often tired of painting people and would resort to scenic painting.It is said, that he often gathered ‘bits and bobs’ from around his home, i.e. a piece of a branch here, a handful of moss there and constructa ‘mini-scene’ in his studio then created landscape paintings from those simple flotsam references. Another innovator was Alexander Cozens (1717-1786) the father of John Robert Cozens, who created what he described as ‘automatic landscapes.’ These blots and scribbles on paper provided his source for a new way to create original landscape paintings from the subconscious or by way of physiognomic projection only. It is worth noting here, that J.M.W Turner was friends with Cozens son (John Robert) and the likelihood of Turner being aware of the ‘automatic-painting’ idea greatly influenced how he himself would approach a painting later in life. By 1794, Thomas Girtin, a young and brilliant water-colourists, was exhibiting at the Royal Academy with some outstanding landscapes. He became a friend of J.M.W Turner, who said of him many years after Girtin’s death...

“If Girtin were to have lived, I should have starved..”

The Romantic period of the nineteenth century witnessed the rise of Landscape painting as an accepted genré by the art institutions across Europe. In the UK John Constable and J.M.W Turner were the leading figures who had followers both in France and the United States. Their work demonstrated the majestic power of nature and were masters of imbuing atmospheric and ethereal feelings within their canvas’s. Casper David Friedrich (1774- 1840) was another ground breaking artist who had used landscape to gain almost religious significance in his paintings, whereas Askeli Gallen Kallela (1865-1931) was producing astonishing advanced landscape paintings in Finland. In France, new forms of landscape was being researched by the Barbizon school (although it was only a loose grouping of artists, rather than a School as such), the group included Jean Francois Millet, Charles Daubigny and Théodore Rousseau. These painters concentrated on landscape in and around the Fontainebleu forest with exacting observation and classical arrangements of natural compositions. Although the work created was profound, it wasn’t a natural interpretation, nor That would be left up to a younger generation of artists that were inspired by Constable and Turner and the new technological invention of packing oil into metal containers (1841), which made ‘plein-air’ not only more possible but as well as studio production from sketch work.

Over in the United States the Hudson River School of painters (18251870) created landscapes of Catskill Mountain, the Hudson river and the open wild spaces of New England. Their main concern was with light and shade, using and being inspired by the views of the untouched and unadulterated natural environment of the New World.

The group included Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, and Thomas Doughty. Their work would go on to stimulate future artists the likes of Frederic Edwin Church, Fitz Henry Lane, Jasper Cropsey, Albert Bierstadt, Martin Johnson Heade and Winslow Homer, just to mention a few of the American renown landscape painters of later years.

Y

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oung artists in Europe jumped on the new trend of painting outdoors. The most known about today being the French impressionists. This band of young anarchistic painters were spurred on by the courageous formal paintings of Manet, who along with his exceptionally gifted friend, follower and fellow artist, Edgar Degas, helped to found a ‘immediate application’ method of painting that was to dominate painting in the twentieth century. Today the impressionists names roll off most artists tongues. The founder members included: Claude Monet, Frederic Bazille, Camille Pissarro, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and perhaps Berthe Morisot to some extent. Manet himself, never placed himself in the group, and Degas was on the periphery. The impressionists wanted to create work with ‘immediacy’ to capture passing light and shade effects as it happened in front of them. Not that they were altogether on their own with this concept, in Italy painters were creating work ‘plein-air’ with more or less the same philosophy, these were known as the Macchiaioli group of artists (Tuscany), notable among them were Giuseppe Abbati and Cristiano Banti, to mention just two of a large group.

The core of the impressionists group (Monet and Renoir) began moving in slightly different directions after a brief period of great acclaim. Monet continued to paint with immediate observational methodology, but eventually enlarged his vision in his studio to reach almost abstraction in much of his final works (Waterlilies series).

Renoir meanwhile pursued classical figurative canvas’s (studio based) until his death in 1919. Bazille had been killed in action in the Franco Prussian war of 1870-1871. Camille Pissaro became a neoimpressionist, (a style founded by Seurat and Signac) at the age of 54. Pissaro died in 1903 at the age of 73 years old only six years older than Cezanne himself. Alfred Sisley was largely overlooked as his ‘look’ of paintings was far too similar to that of Monet, although his colour sense was much more subtle. Cezanne, like Van Gogh and Gauguin should not be seen as landscape painters as such, as all three artists were more concerned with expressions or forms of another kind and not specifically utilising nature as a mode of transmitting ‘the sublime’ to a viewer.

Gauguin influenced the new generation of painters by way of associating with them before he sought out ‘the primitive’ in the South seas. One famous line he wrote on colour which was picked up by the new generation of painters was; “How do you see these trees?

They are yellow. So, put in yellow; this shadow, rather blue, paint it with pure ultramarine; these red leaves? Put in vermilion” These painters became to known as the ‘Fauves’ (wild beasts) after an art critic labelled their work in that way. The group were loosely based around the colour theories of Gauguin and they included; André Derain, Raoul Duffy, Henri Matisse and Maurice De Vlaminck. Yet another group of painters were also influenced directly by Gauguin. The Nabis (Prophet) Paul Sérusier painted a small work which had been directed by Gauguin. This “Talisman” has he viewed it, instigated the name the Nabis and foretold, visually, how painting nature should be in the future. The group included painters, who also admired Cezanne, included Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuilliard. All found their way to their unique individualistic art form through embarking first on landscape (nature) paintings.

Landscape painting had become so ubiquitous as a subject that during the twentieth century virtually every ‘new’ development in art included examples of the new ‘style’ using landscape as an ‘easy to relate to’ piece of work. Cubists painted landscapes, so did the Surrealists. American modernists such as Arthur Dove, John Marin, Marsden Hartley and Georgia O’Keefe all embraced landscape painting and translated them into abstract compositions based on nature. Richard Diebenkorn and Helen Frankenstein among many many others used the landscape motive to take the genre into another dimension where only a mere suggestion of the natural world remained. However ‘nature’ or landscape, if you will, remained the ‘peg’ on which even those artists hung their ‘hats’. Perhaps Agnes Martin is a perfect example of a modern painter who despite following a ‘trend’ in her case minimalism, still gave acknowledgement to nature or natural forms in her paintings titles.

So, what happened to Landscape painting in the latter part of the twentieth century for it to have had become, once again, frowned upon by Art institutions and major high street galleries? Was it that landscape art ceased to ‘liked’ by the buying public? Was it regarded as old hat and tired with nothing left in it, as a subject, to enable new and progressive Art? Did ‘installationism’ or rather ‘intelligent art’ finally push it to the extremities of artist considerations as a worthy subject to paint or work with? As we entered the new century ‘Landscape Art’ has very much come back into its own again.

What is clear is that the number of artists posting ‘landscape-paintings’ on social media and taking up experiments with plein-air painting once again, has exploded in the last year or two.

Original article edited from issue #5 November 2017 was written by ©Denis Taylor for painters Tubes magazine

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22 contemporary artists and their work were featured in the “Landscape...before Poussin and today.” issue #5 Russel Howarth At 90 years old Russel is the longest living member of the Saddleworth Art Group. He has been painting the area around where he lives since around 1951.

In 2017 he had a solo exhibition at the Saddleworth Museum and Art Gallery. His work is widely known in the North West where Galleries have at least one example of his work. A great Artist of the North

Martin Yeoman Martin is considered by many to be one of the finest draughtsman working today. His art is founded on the principle of ‘looking’ intently at his subject matter be it landscape or portraiture, for which he is highly regarded. He has painted members of the Britsh Royal Family to todays Pop Stars.

His work is in many collections throughout the world including the Royal Collection at Windsor.

Colin Taylor Colin has been painting for over thrity years. His work is sought after by serious collectors and he is commissioned to create unique works for specific projects.

Recently I have talking with Colin about his next series which includes documenting his feeling whilst climbing the mountains of South America. Tubes have offered to create a series of articles for this project.

Ian Norris I met up with Ian in his former studio in Preston a year or so ago. Since then he has exhibited at a number of galleries both in the North and South of the UK. He has also moved to a new larger studio near his home.

The new studio provides Ian with the right environment to develop his individual style and expriment with increasing the size of his format.

I shall be visiting Ian next year to see how he is doing.

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“Landscape...before Poussin and today.” (issue #5) was one of the most read articles of 2017 David Evans I visited David at his Studio along with his Agent (Alan Evans) and was delighted to view his work both oil on canvas and pen and ink drwaing. These black and white drawing are quite superb and his paintings are not half bad either. He recently had his work shown within a group show, all though, personally, I would have liked to have seen a ‘solo’ show.

Dean Entwistle I have spoken with and wrote extensively about Dean Entwistle over the last year or so.

And his inclusion more times than once in this magazine is not by accident. He is n artist of interest for me personally as I can see him ‘maturing’ into pure autheintic original paintings as a contemporary Art-Form I shall wait to see if that will occur.

Brue Lyons Having only spent a short time in Bruce’s studio, you would think I do not know much about his art. However, he is one of those artists that doesn’t need to talk much. His art says it all.

I shall be meeting up with him in 2018 and intend to write a full feature on him and his work which I find fascinating.

Steve Capper I have interviewed Steve, both formally and informally (at a Gallery show of his work). Steve is one of life’s gentlemen. His years of teching Art cost him the loss of enthusism to paint his own work.

On his early retirement he began painting again. Now he is like an artist possessed, with canvas after canvas. I’m keen to see how this energy will show itself.

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“Landscape paintings have been the number One best selling genré of Art for over four or more decades in the UK.” Jake Attree It was at Contemporary Six Gallery in Manchester UK that i first viewed one of Jake paintings.

I had wanted to interview him, sadly our lines of communication didn’t match up. I am very interested in his figurative work for a special issue Tubes are planning.

I shall have to contact him again and make plans to visit his studios in Halifax (Yorshire, UK).

Colin Haliday I met Colin at another artists exhibition in Autumn of this year (2017). He has a firm fix on on Art and listens to no one, which I think, is a very good attitude for an artist to have. He creates his painting in all weathers ‘plein air’ and utilises the natural environment of where he lives (Derbyshire). I am to interview him for a feature in Tubes in January.

Arista Alanis The large studio work of Arista are abstractions of the natural world and her own relationship towards it. Her paintings are gestural in application and applies the paint with sensations of intimate memories. Originally from Texas, USA, she is currently the Community Arts Program co-ordinator at the Vermount studio Centre, Vermount, USA.

David Bez Dave is an original in every sense of the word. He is a painter but also an illustrator and glass designer who experiments in these very different disciplines.

He finds operating in these spheres enable him to re-appraise his work and mix and match from them. He like the dynaic approach this gives him which results in a pure distinctive style and image.

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“there are more “plein-air” Landcsape painters today than at any other time in history of Art.” Alison Tyldesley The work that Alison produces is instinctive in its creation process.

Her compositions are broad with sweeping visitas and remind me of Sweden when I first came, way back in 1994. The space gives one time to refelect on life more deeply than say being in a City. These are the sensations Alsion imbues in her art, Perhaps that is why she is doing well in Gallery exhibitions.

Laurence Causse Parsley I came to know Laurence through a Gallery in London. When I first viewed her work it immdiateley appealed to my sense of colour.

Strong, vibrant and fiery. Laurence is French, but has lived in many parts of the world. She has studio in London and next year I hope to visit her (among other artists) when I next get to London for Tubes magazine.

Chris Cyprus When I first visited this artist in his studios I was impressed by the way he had created not only a place to paint, but also a very nice proportioned display place that had the feel of a Gallery. He told me in the early days, not one (gallery) wanted to know his work. And consequently he had to go it alone. Today, that’s not the case and Chris is now in Galleries, and selling often and well.

Beverley O’Donoghue A charming and natural artist Bev is not new to the Art World, but she is new to discovering and having confidence in her own talent. I believe she has much to offer painting in general. Her job involves working with autistic children which is a demanding calling in itself. This may well provide her with the inspiration to reach another level.

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“Abstract” Landscape paintings are posted more on social media than any other génre of Art. Harry Robertson A classic painter, Harry is one of the ‘Ten’ artists in the exhibition featured in this issue.

His background as teacher shows through his work in the way he details and pays attention to light and tone and the harmony of colour. It’s almost a photographic feel, but one has to admire his skill and talent and dedication in all the work he creates.

Arwyn Quick I stumbled upon Arwyn’s work on the web. The abstractions were not highlighted on his web site (now I think they are). The first impressions are stunning as he uses a dramatic colour pallete to gain the impact the work makes on the eye. What is so pleasing is that now his abstract work is in the acendence with collectors and galleries are taking notice.

Diane Terry Diane and I chatted for quite a while at her studios about Women and Art and how female artists are not represented in commercial galleries. I asked her to write an article for the magazine which she did. (issue # 3). She told me that after publication it caused some controversey. But, she did get her work featured in a Manchester central gallery (Saul Hay Gallery).

Phil Ashley Phil is a relative newby to painting, although his background has been rooted in creative photography.

His work shows this by the almost surreal style that his work is created in. He also uses high toned colours which accentuate the surrealist feel of his work.

Luckily for Phil, he is a resident art with a gallery which affords him time to perfect his compositions.

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“Landscape...before Poussin and today.” (issue #5) was one of the most in depth articles of 2017 Ron Coleman This artist has been painting for many years and has had a high level of success in galleries around the North West of England.

Colour and form create his own visions which are abstracted from memories of places he has visited.

He takes an active role in local Art collectives and exhibitions and is instrumental in organising the Open Contemporary Exhibition.

Richard Clare I visited Richard in his studio and thought it was too late to include him in the Landscape feature. But, as luck would have it, I did manage to do so..

Richard is a gentle artist who loves spending time in Italy painting plein air. His studio work is very appealing, if not totally originally in application. However, what is unusual about him is that he is colour blind, but it’s not that obvious, as you can see from his work.

Denis in his studio painting one of the “2nd Nature” series of paintings

The Landscape feature for issue #5 was probably the most difficult assignment to date.

Especially when it came to ‘editing’ which artists to include and which to hold over. Fortunateley I was aware that painters Tubes will publish a Landscape ‘part two’ during the course of 2018. And so I felt confident that the work that was submitted will be shown at some point in time.

All the artists I know or have known have, at some point turned their attention to creating ‘nature’ work - I am included among them.

I would like to thank all the 22 artists shown here for their participation and affording me the time to provide words and allow us reproduce their work in Tubes.

Denis Taylor. Artist & Editor. all images are ©paintersTubes magazine unless otherwise stated

Richard Fitton in his studio photograph©Denis Taylor 2017

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painters Tubes magazine - Upcoming features for 2018.

Next year Tubes will be taking a look at contemporary figure painting in the UK, the USA and Europe .Tubes will also be featuring a number of artists including Richard Fitton (image above) and Colin Halliday in the first issue of 2018. The magazine will also be talking to a producer of special oil paints (Marc Turner or Turner Oils). “Spike” returns in the shape of George Barry (art critic), fresh from his world wide trip, no doubt full of critical comment about Art in the contemporary art world.

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painters Tubes magazine wish all our readers a very prosperous and creative New Year

painters Tubes magazine is designed and produced by Studio 5 Publishing Sweden.

It is published on specialist magazine digital platforms.

Tubes magazine is printed and distributed in the United Kingdom of Great Britain

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flip book availble on-line and also in print Januray-February 2018 reserve your printed copy by email studio5@telia.com Š2016-2017 Studio 5 Digital Publishing Sweden