Brian Cheeswright: Paintings & Drawings
Brian Cheeswright (b.1978) is an artist living near Eastbourne in East Sussex. For his exhibition with Oxmarket Contemporary he presents nearly 40 drawings and 14 oil paintings.
Whilst the selection made for his show are all figurative, Cheeswright also makes abstract works. What is striking about the exhibition is the clear parallels between the two modes of work. Block colour, form and tone are intrinsic to the figurative works. On occasion abstract designs even feature as part of the figurative work. Similarly Cheeswright works both in a finely tuned draughtsmanship and a broader faux-naive manner. And yet when seen together as a group of works, it is clear the same artistic sensibilities are at play. Picasso said “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” There is no question that Cheeswright ‘can draw’, in the traditional sense, but his artistic vision takes these skills and sees how far he can simplify, distort or subvert his subject.
The view from the window of one of the places Cheeswright works is a spectacular view of the Downs and Eastbourne coastline in the distance. Whilst he does venture out and paint and drawer in the landscape, it seems to me that his work is more often the landscape of his mind. Be it memories, family, pure imagination or repurposed found images.
Working in often straightened financial conditions, Cheeswright frequently paints over older paintings, or on the reverse of the canvas. His house is a mass of rolled canvases removed from the stretchers to re-use them and panels and pieces of wood awaiting stretching. Old wooden panels and trays are used as surfaces. The backs of many of the drawings reveal them to be the cover of an old Turps Banana painting magazine, or the cover sheet from a sketchpad. I am sure he would rather be working on fine materials all the time. However this approach to materials and the act of creativity and the finished result being of the upmost importance lends the work a great sense of urgency.
As I was hanging the exhibition I kept coming back to the British artist Colin Self (b.1941). Described by fellow artist Richard Hamilton as “the best draughtsman in England since William Blake”, he too paints and draws on almost any surface that comes to hand. Both have a prodigious output of work and a strong sense of standing alone from whatever their contemporaries are up to. Both are extremely talented draughtsman and inventive and often subversive makers of images.
It is a great pleasure to present this exhibition under the new name of Oxmarket Contemporary, signalling our support for emerging creatives of all kinds.