GRIT: 11 Painters

About

“Holed up, caked in paint, burning the candle at both ends; brightly. Surviving and continuing. Not dying. Work made in sheds… warehouses, the corners of bedrooms. At the grindstone. The wreckages and digestive organs of studios. The paint marks, slapped, heaped or scumbled on, clinging to their supports: evidences of activity. Emerging or invisible. No real definition of success or failure, in Art or in Life. Just the daily grind of smudging and muddying colours. Of cooking up figures and stories. 

It continues... In the city or on the edge of a town. The fuzz of the radio in the background… Painting again. Blinkered, selfish behaviour. The image-drenched brain. The foolish, optimistic act. Tragi-comic appetite. Sheer stupidity. Anyone in search of something transient or fleeting, with an easel strapped to their back, is an idiot. Painting is shit. Somehow they persevere.

The true Exhibitionism. Against all odds; in total seriousness… with lung infections, painter’s claw, rough skin from turpentine, electricity bills, battered leather boots; brushes that are clogged. Here’s a thought: Ever since man first scratched deers and buffalo onto rocks with burnt sticks, painting has been an act of celebration. An affirmation of feeling for subjects. Here’s another thought: Painting is an exercise in perpetual defeat. Any work of Art that can be “understood” is the product of journalism – no one knows what they’re looking at. 

Here are 11 painters. Living alongside the buildings, trees and cars… breathing air and fumes, living underneath the moon and clouds. Painting occupies their lives. They keep on going. The paintings aren’t ingratiating; they are real and lived through.”

-Ben Westley Clarke

Exhibiting Artists:

Orlando Mostyn- Owen
http://orlandomostynowen.com/

Leigh Curtis
http://www.leighcurtis.co.uk/

Ben Westley Clarke
http://www.benwestleyclarke.com/

Michael Broughton
http://www.artspacegallery.co.uk/MainImagePages/Artists/Paintings/Broughton/Broughton_CV.html

Paul Housley
http://www.paulhousley.com/

Billy Childish
http://williamhamper.com/

Dovile Simonyte
http://dovilesimonyte.tumblr.com/

Harry Adams
http://www.harryadams.org/

Humberto Poblete- Bustamente
http://www.galeriaalegria.es/eng/artists_trabajo.php?p=40&c
http://www.phantomprojetscontemporary.com/#!works/vstc3=humberto-poblete-bustamante 

Steven Allan  
http://steven-allan.com/

Rae Hicks
http://raehicks.com/

Mercer Chance Gallery, 
253 Hoxton St, N15LG

info@mercerchance.co.uk
www.mercerchance.co.uk

02070336559
07415134155