last weekend i visited the studio of the british abstract painter frank beanland...frank beanland lives with his wife emily (who is also an artist) in a characteristically old suffolk farmhouse (some parts of the building date back to the late fifteenth century), situated a few miles from the small village of fressingfield, surrounded by working farms and open fields, a good many trees and some nice hedgerows. it's a rural location which one could easily overlook or pass by, hidden away as it is, first down a farm access road and then a single track road where the grass still grows in the middle.
[frank beanland, black, violet and green, 2008]the house and its nearby outbuildings appear out of the middle of what seems to be a small enclosure of untamed nature in the agricultural landscape, as you turn into the short grassy driveway, as if being transported into a rural scene reminiscent of a 19th century painting. the secluded location has a down-to-earth, rustic charm that many artists would desire as a place to live and work, if they want to be free of the demands of twenty first century living.on my arrival, showing some awe of the secluded, shady 'in the jungle' feel of the place, frank first showed me around the rear of the farmhouse where a more recent addition of a red brick facade belied the house's true age, as evidenced by the tiny odd-placed windows (glass windows were the luxury of the wealthy land owner and they were also taxable). there was also a pond or two around the back where they once excavated the mud to build the wattle and daub walls of the house (or was it the remains of a small moat?).as i strolled through the outbuildings to where frank's studio is situated i was momentarily distracted by the myriad surface textures surrounding me, in the weathered black wood of a barn door or the slowly disintegrating facade of a rendered wall, appearing as graphic, block-like motifs within the dappled shades of summery green.
[frank beanland, grey buildings, 2008]frank beanland's main painting studio is in the largest of the farm outbuildings, and on entering this very tall, timber-framed structure one is immediately plunged waist deep into frank's prolific output of recent abstract paintings, an overflowing, exuberant world of bold and playful expressions of colour. what's not to like..? well, perhaps just the small fact that there is no electricity and there might be a bit of a leak in the roof, so he can only paint in natural daylight, he covers his work if it rains and in winter, he said, to keep warm he just wraps up and moves around a lot more.
for the last few years, frank has devoted his artistic practice almost entirely to painting on newspapers instead of the usual canvas or board, turning a once ubiquitous material (and freely abundant after initial reading) into very vibrant, often resplendent and sometimes ritzy patterned surfaces. in the way that art students are often instructed to draw, paint on, collage or construct with old newspapers to avoid unnecessary preciousness in their work & open up fresh perspectives, frank also relishes the creative freedom that painting on newspaper has brought him - turning yesterday's (or yesteryear's) news into new expressions of form and colour.it is a process now imbued with some unintended relevancy or irony, with the sales of printed newspapers supposedly on the demise and the news media fast moving towards pay-to-view online (and on the same day, the last ever publication of a popular sunday newspaper).
i asked frank if he had ever considered this unplanned outcome of his work, in that he was perhaps also preserving or honouring a part of news media's long history. no, he said, he does not pay much attention the contextual relevance of the newspapers that he uses, but flipping to the underside of some of his paintings it was clear he was a regular guardian reader.in the painting shown below (in deep yellow, grey and blue colour blocks) the various newspaper headlines and captions on the reverse included: work, movers and shakers, special intelligence, the magic of numbers, a better prescription, the complete works, archivist - all of which could, in theory, generate some intriguing titles for the finished paintings, or just create an interesting pause for a thought for the day...
seeing so many newspaper paintings stacked perhaps ten or more deep on a large makeshift work table, constructed of boards propped up by smaller tables and chairs (i estimated there must be hundreds of paintings here), the saturation of colours seemed to pulsate, interweave and undulate like the strata of the surrounding landscape, and with most of the paintings easily visible, it had the browsing experience of a moroccan bazaar. perhaps it is no surprise to learn that frank has in the past worked in printing and textiles and his sensibility with colour and pattern would translate well into contemporary fabrics or rug designs.
the nature of frank's very immediate way of painting on newspaper is that he often works on many paintings in quick succession, all of which seem purposefully considered in their overall design, composition and colour - repeatedly reviewed and edited until he believes they are finished. with each brushstroke of colour, whether blocked-in, thinly overlaid or juxtaposed for visual contrast, a broken edge of a previous colour might be allowed to peek through. in the newspaper industry's inevitable downsizing from large broadsheets to more compact tabloid formats, frank often joins three or more newspaper sheets together to make increasingly large paintings, often extending to banners or wall-hangings (as seen below).
frank's newspaper paintings have a wonderfully tactile and surprisingly robust quality too, which contradicts the nature of the support on which they are painted. he uses acrylic paints, which, mixed up in recycled tin cans in a multitude of colours and dilutions, variously create a matt smooth finish, a silky sheen or a subtle crinkled effect to the paper's surface - all of which added some fresh visual dynamics, elevating the paintings' appearance beyond the purely decorative.
as frank sorted and pulled out more of the newspaper paintings for me to view, the papery shuffling sounds recalled the materiality of old scrolls, charts, maps or textile samples. frank cites the rhythms and patterns of nature as some of his visual influences in his paintings but i could also see the barn's structural elements echoed in many of the abstract compositions.here is a psychedelic blast from frank beanland's past - knocking the spots off a damien hirst...
[frank beanland, red discs on blue, oil on canvas, 1969]i was impressed by frank's enthusiasm & energy, the new works on newspaper are unrestrained by the usual conventions of painting, and he wants the newspaper paintings to be enjoyed for what they are, as celebrations of colour - there are no hidden messages or intended subtexts(!) but there is a delight in trying to decipher them all the same.on walking back to the car, frank pointed out the reflection of trees and sky in the bonnet, a composition with all the delicacy of chinoiserie, and i was reminded of the one deceptively simple aspect of being an artist - to always keep one's eyes open and to appreciate every colourful moment that life has to offer...
...frank beanland was born in 1936 in bridlington, yorkshire. he studied at hull college of art and the slade school of fine art in london, where his tutors included frank auerbach. from 1962 to 1964 he lived in cornwall, exhibiting with the porthleven group, and during this time he focused on abstract painting, most notably a series of spot paintings. he moved to east anglia in 1966. he has received many awards and has exhibited widely, including a succession of solo exhibitions in london and elsewhere, in addition to numerous commissions for painted screens and printed textiles for hospitals, churches and private residences.frank beanland is showing recent paintings throughout july 2011 at the hatfield hines gallery in norfolk and he will also have some of his larger paintings featured in the holt festival.some of frank beanland's older paintings can also be seen at belgrave gallery st ives, chalk hill contemporary art, lime tree gallery and brian sinfield gallery.
on the surface, water paintings
six water paintings on the wall in my studio, acrylic on linen canvas (20cm x 20cm). i took a couple of these small paintings along to an informal 'show and tell' this weekend. even though these have no discernable surface texture someone said they were most definitely my work (it must be a pattern thing)...
it would be wrong to call these small paintings studies of water. i did not refer to any external or photographic sources for these paintings. they are derived (and intentionally so) from the experiential process of painting and from my memory and imagination...
i was thinking about waves in all their forms (as one sees and experiences them) - ripples on the surface of the water, water flowing over denuded rocks, stones and pebbles, the curling branches of a contorted willow tree, the pattern of willow bark, even waves of hair...during the painting process i kept thinking back to the river, of trying to see beneath the glassy, rippling surface, the swirling current and flow of water below, going under the surface and looking up to the sunlight (and air) - this could be a beautiful vision or a dangerous thing.i was also reminded of leonardo da vinci's many drawing studies of the movement and flow of water (which seem to have an intriguing hair-like quality about them). the following night i had a strange dream in which my hair was cut very short...
leonardo da vinci, studies of water, c.1510-13 © The Royal Collectionher majesty, the queen, her royal highness, hrh the queen, or just elizabeth II (if you prefer), has quite a lot of leonardo da vinci drawings in her art collection...but not this one (a self-portrait of the great genius, a scientist, philosopher, inventor and artist)...
self-portrait, leonardo da vinci © Royal Library, Turin...'water wears away the mountains and fills the valleys. if it had the power, it would reduce the earth to a perfect sphere'[leonardo da vinci]these are two of my eroded earth discs (as mentioned in a previous post)... there are bits missing; they have weathered to imperfection...
if you see any connections between these eroded discs and the water surface paintings shown behind them, then i would be most interested to hear about them...'in time and with water, everything changes'[leonardo da vinci]...major setback of the week: autosave with no option of a reversionminor irritation of the week: flashing 'low battery' warningssmall delight of the week: harvesting fresh peas from the garden...current exhibitionsReunion Refresh @ Reunion Gallery, 5 Feb – 22 Oct 2011HWAT exhibition 2011 @ Harleston Gallery, 18 June to 11 July 2011...
some things i have been working on
an old sheet, pinned up on the wall, especially framed for a sunday viewing...
[sheet pinned to a wall, 2011, mixed media on cotton]
in the lower section of this large abstract painting, we see a delicate layering of muted colours, a dash of yellow interacting with its colour complementary, a violet grey. notice how some colours have subtly stained the fabric, creating a halo effect or aura. this appears to be a very meditative & complex painting, lyrical abstraction doing what it does best, skillfully combining philosophical thought with material process...
let's take a closer look at this work. in this section of the composition, a solid coal-black shape is juxtaposed with its nemesis, a rising trail of smokey grey, and a deft flick of verdurous green entering the picture plane lower left could allude to the possibility of regeneration from the contaminated ashes. it would seem that all aspects of mankind's material world are exhibited here - from fossil fuels and their pollutants to the transient, small elements of nature in the quiet unfurling of a leaf......moving on, we arrive at an intriguing abstract composition, which finds a compelling reference to american action painting, but it also suggests the philosophical exploration of a distant galaxy, looking to outer space, constellations, the milky way, pushing beyond the known planetary frontiers. this is a painting that perceptually ponders on the big questions in life, the universe and just about everything else. the work is made complete by the antique gold frame, reinforcing the ideological concept of travelling through the continuum of space & time...
[cosmic rhythm I, 2011, acrylic on tempered glass, dimensions unknown]
on closer inspection, one can delight in the visual intensity of the overlapping & colliding discs and platelets of rust, olive, ochre, mauve, white and grey, which have some echoes of patterns & forms found in nature..
the artist's hotplate; it's a very useful (and used) working surface......is this a referential nod to van gogh's chair? (but this is a stool, and it's missing a pipe and tobacco)
[still life of a painter's stool, 2002 to now, mixed media on wood]this is an early work on wood, one of a series of studio still lifes, realised at around the same time as still life of a painter's jug. it exhibits a characteristically reworked, encrusted surface. the artist has said of this work: 'it deals with the notion of placement, alignment and subsequent sequence of actions within a given space, dialectically positioned between the opposing forces of standing up and sitting down. it seeks to answer the question - am i sitting comfortably? i also view it as a personal benchmark of my creative process, as it supports the works i make, although i wouldn't put it on a pedestal'...
above, a close-up of the dense, layered surface. below, a serendipitous spot of vermillion red immediately draws attention to the small smatter of paint, implying some key pointers to the artist's influences, including impressionism, abstract expressionism and post-op art. there is a discreet, psychologcal hitchcockian reference too...
...here is the artist's painting box. apparently, no paints are stored in here, but it is a good height on which to place painterly-type things while working on a painting. this seemingly accidental composition of small vessels and green drapery draws some interesting parallels with flemish still life painting and also the paintings of cézanne, recalling the unfinished painting 'still life with water jug' in the national gallery, london...
[still life with plastic pots, 2011, dimensions variable]to the rear of this composition one can just make out a long strip of white paper - the loose, gestural brushmarks serendipitously also echo those of the aforementioned cézanne painting...
and seen here, more freely applied brushstrokes and energetic daubs of paint, in a visual concordance of violet-brown and green-grey, the artist's chosen colour palette of the day...
...in this particular work, the artist has explored the transparent new media of acetate film, incorporating chance and process to realise the final composition - it's a readymade, reusable painting palette - a robust and yet highly flexible surface to work on...
[watching paint dry, acetate film; about four and a half minutes]
after studying the intricate surface patterns & textures evident in this small celluloid artwork for only a short while, one is reminded of max ernst's surrealist abstract landscape paintings - a primordial forest or a post-apocalyptic vision of the world......last weekend i started and finished a painting (for a change). i first pinned a piece of canvas to the wall (on top of the dust sheet exhibited above). i worked into the wee, small hours to try to finish this painting. it is difficult to paint under artificial lights. i stretched the canvas afterwards, then varnished the painting. the painting was an enjoyable exercise in trying out a representational way of working but i am not that happy with the outcome; the dimension and scale feel wrong, it has become too dark & murky, the surface is too shiny and the texture of the canvas interferes with the transparent layers of paint. this painting is nonetheless appropriately titled, in all regards & references, green water...
[green water, acrylic on canvas, 60cm x 100cm]
[green water, detail]...current exhibitionsReunion Refresh @ Reunion Gallery, 5 Feb – 22 Oct 2011HWAT exhibition 2011 @ Harleston Gallery, 18 June to 11 July 2011...