anthony garratt 3rd – 18th December 2013
move
“Gazing out of the studio window, across the rooftops of Bristol to the hills beyond, I realise again how much information and movement there is at any one time. There is so much information that I become overwhelmed and try to detach myself and prioritise the visual feast. I am reassured by the familiarity of the paint as it tracks an unpredictable route across the painting. All I need to focus on now is the painting and dig into the memory bank to extract the most powerful parts of the moment I am painting. For instance, deep into the Rainforest of Uganda, the Bwindi, there is a ‘fight for light’, an unkempt tangle of foliage competing for light and space. And then there are the humans, encroaching on the rainforest and competing for the same space. It is chaos. But then, also, there is the visual beauty of the dense forest, with light shafting through any gaps and highlighting the bounty on the forest floor. Emotionally there is anger at the human impact and then delight at the natural beauty of the place. And then to a sail from Plymouth to Portishead, where we are caught in a gale which sends us up the Bristol channel in a frenzy of waves and weather. The weather has control, we are trying our best to tame it and it is utterly spectacular. When I try to paint waves and wake, this surge of excitement in memory throws the paint onto the canvas and I try to re-live and communicate the movement. So; everything moves. Emotionally, literally and continually. The light in the studio has shifted now and the traffic is at a stand still; rush hour again.” Anthony Garratt, 2013
T H A C K E R AY G A L L E RY E ST. 1968
after oil and acrylic on canvas 28x60ins
4
swanpool beach path oil and acrylic on canvas 40x40ins
6
rainy season, bwindi oil and acrylic on canvas 40x40ins
8
king charles ruin in the rain oil and acrylic on canvas 48x60ins
10
bunyonyi oil and acrylic on canvas 48x60ins
12
isolated tree & terraced farms oil and acrylic on canvas 48x40ins
14
cornfield oil and acrylic on canvas 24x60ins
16
scillonian wake oil and acrylic on canvas 40x40ins
18
coppice floor oil and acrylic on canvas 36x28ins
20
grow oil and acrylic on canvas 60x60ins
22
arnos vale
II
oil and acrylic on canvas 49x59ins
24
herefordshire oil and acrylic on canvas 28x60ins
26
savannah study
28
II
oil and acrylic on canvas 10x10ins.
savannah study
III
oil and acrylic on canvas 10x10ins.
29
autumn lake, dordogne oil and acrylic on canvas 40x40ins
30
during oil and acrylic on canvas 28x60ins
32
BIOGRAPHY Anthony Garratt was born in Sevenoaks, Kent. He studied at Chelsea College of Art and then Falmouth College of Arts for a design degree. Having worked as a designer for a few years in London, he was able to take up painting full time following two successful Solo Shows. He now works from and is a Director of the Jamaica Street Studios in Bristol. Anthony is predominantly a painter of the British landscape, his work concerned with the weather, an experience and impact of a landscape. His research time is spent in heavy weather, in remote locations and places that have an emotional impact. Inspiration comes from the British landscape and ever-changing climate. Anthony is an artist member of the Royal West of England Academy where he has regularly exhibited. He has also shown work at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the Royal College of Arts Henry Moore Gallery having featured on a BBC2 art series. In April 2012, ‘This is Bristol’ listed Anthony Garratt “as the next David Hockney”. In 2012, Anthony was invited by BBC1 to paint the Diamond Jubilee Pageant from the Millennium Bridge. He painted some sketches on the Day, and worked on a series of paintings to follow. In addition, he was selected to have a Billboard at Regent’s Park tube station, during October 2012. Since then, Anthony has sailed over to France, with some extra-ordinary paintings resulting from that journey. Africa, too, has been one of his experiences earlier this year, and the vast skies and hot land of his trip are an inspiration to his current work. He has been exhibiting with Thackeray Gallery since 2011, and we are delighted to be hosting his second solo show with us. track oil and acrylic on board 16x16ins.
front clearing oil and acrylic on canvas 60x24ins.