Last night was the opening of the third exhibition of work by Dave Pearson at the See Gallery in Crawshawbooth. Beautifully hung, and with an emotional coherence that wasn't so apparent in the earlier shows. This because, with the work all coming from the cache found at Dave's Globe Arts studio, the work came from a relatively concentrated period of time - mainly from the 1990s.
Despite this there is nevertheless a wide range of approaches and techniques on display. These include 10 self-portraits (most extremely dark in mood), a large number of oil paintings of different sizes from the Bestiary series, and a few of the very distinctive constructions that Dave made during this period (such as the one on the wall in the photograph above).
The constructions are fascinating. The photographs above and below record how the studio at Globe Arts was left at Dave's death. A stash of wild, almost violent, work created from white-painted boards, nails, red and black wool, and with various attached items, including some found objects collected from the various stays in hospital he was experiencing at this time in his life.
These pieces have now been cleared away; some kept by the Dave Pearson Trust; some given to friends including the other artists at Globe Arts; and the rest sadly had to be tipped (most of these were damaged). The example at the See was an early construction, and rather than being inspired by the experience of hospitalisation, was Dave's response to the outbreak of the Gulf War. This and a few other pieces on the same subject seem to have sown the seeds for the later hospital works. An example of the political merging with the (highly) personal.
No comments:
Post a Comment