| Beside
the Wave is completing it's season of one-person shows for 2008
with a gallery favourite Neil Pinkett whose bold, expressive
style of painting captures the atmosphere of a place and in
doing so captures our hearts. Neil Pinkett is an artist who
is synonymous with Cornwall. Having lived there most of his
working life he knows it's coast and it's countryside like the
back of his hand.
The
theme of this exhibition of his latest and largest body of
work to be shown at Beside The Wave gallery since 2005 is
the working harbours, estuaries and docks of Cornwall.
Much
of this work is informed by the location of Neil's studio
in the working fishing harbour of Newlyn. Neil describes it
as a purely functional un-aesthetic place, where the buildings
are made up and added on according to their use rather than
how good they look, and the people are dressed for the job
rather than for effect. This working aspect of Cornish life
is the theme of many of Neil's paintings in the show.
Despite
his view of Newlyn, Neil does, in his paintings, create a
pleasing aesthetic of the place. The solidity of form and
structure in Neil's predominantly palette knife oil paintings
of the old buildings and the quays creates a sense of permanence.
They look solid and un-destructible which is ironic as Neil
knows these buildings, like so much of what is old in Cornwall,
are ripe for development and will change very soon. So his
paintings are seen as a record of not only the old buildings
and boats but of a way of life.
Neil
has also gained access to Falmouth Docks and depicts the working
life of many people involved in the restoration and refitting
of ships and boats of all shapes and sizes. The scale of Falmouth
Docks is one of the main attractions to an artist, as the
deep caverns of the dry docks contrast with the seemingly
miniature scale of the people working in and around them.
As
well as these descriptive paintings of time and place, Neil
has also developed the more abstract side of his work for
this show. Whether it is the way light falls on the water
in the harbour, or the reflection of a boat, Neil has honed
in on the surface and pattern of the paint, looking at such
a detail to make more abstract pictures.
Much
of Neil's painting is about the paint itself, it's texture
- the mingling of colours on the canvas or board and the way
light hits its surface. He wants the viewer to luxuriate in
its texture and encourages them also to make up their own
image from his more abstract works.
With
watercolour sketches as well as oils, this exhibition of 40
works is a treat for all and a celebration of all that is
the real Cornwall.
Cath
Wallace
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