Wednesday 20 April 2011

George Shaw

I caught the exhibition 'Last Days of the Comet' at the Hayward Gallery last week. This is number 7 of the British Art Show Series, which also visits other UK cities over the next few months [link]. I was really touched by three paintings by the artist George Shaw featuring the Coventry council estate he grew up on. The Art show's website mentions that Shaw started these paintings 'as a kind of mourning' for the person that he used to be, and are 'as much about what has been forgotten, lost, swept away, as about what is remembered'. Maybe, that's why I had such a surprising feeling of nostalgia when I saw them. It's a different town,but they reminded me of the housing estate of the first house my parents owned in Basingstoke. I never expected to walk into a gallery & have that memory rendered so powerfully ! Until the 15th of May there is also a solo exhibition of his work at the Baltic Centre in Gateshead [link] love tt