Last Chance To See

Its been a great week exhibiting in Bristol. 

The Gallery looks super and we've had a steady flow of people coming through all day every day.

Many people have bought pieces and theres been a tremendously positive reaction to the works and the writing which accompanies each piece.

I'm pleased that many pieces have found new homes but there are still over 40 paintings available in the exhibition and I am expecting a lot of visitors tomorrow, Sunday, the last day of the exhibition and what is usually Antlers Gallery's busiest day of the week.

But at 6pm on Sunday the gallery doors will close and the remaining works packed away so
tomorrow is THE LAST CHANCE TO SEE such a collection of my larger works in the UK for the foreseeable future.

 So if the Tennis and the Football don't have you committed to the couch, consider a trip to Bristol's waterfront to say hello and maybe leave with something new to hang over the mantlepiece.

Pen and Inks

Alongside the paintings and the graphite drawings I shall be including some wash drawings which I don't often get to exhibit in a gallery setting. I teach this technique in my watercolor classes at the American Academy of Art. Its a great technique to take on the road, and I might have time to do some on the waterfront during my time at the gallery next week.

South Battery, Charleston 8" x 7.5" pen and Ink

England.

Its Wednesday June 18th, my last day in the studio here in Chicago. I'm very excited to be leaving tomorrow for London where I shall spend the weekend before driving west to Bristol with the paintings and drawings to be included in the exhibition.

Parliament 27.5" x 8"

I'm glad to have heard already, by phone and email and on the event facebook page, that there are going to be people at Antlers Gallery on the dot of 6 o'clock Tuesday with their chequebooks even though England will still be finishing their game against Costa Rica.
If you can't make it to the preview on Tuesday night, remember that the exhibition is open daily until the evening of Sunday 29th and then the remaining work will be shipped for exhibition in the United States.

In Praise of the Unmonumental Monument

Democracy, a sense of fair play, the dignity of labour, humility and affirmation of the unsung hero, seeking value and abundance in "everyman", in the ordinary and in the everyday.

I love this little church among the many many churches scattered like birdseed across the landscape of Assisi

Santa Maria, assisi 7" x 10"

Available as a limited edition print at the Elevation exhibition in Bristol.

Paintings large and small

There will be several of my small paintings available at The Antlers Gallery, nestled amongst the full sheet and half sheet paintings. Paintings that my intern kindly dubbed "little treasures".

Venice Night 6" x 8" watercolour

I am often asked how big I like to work with my paintings, and I cant really connect with that question at all. I prefer easier ones like "Whats your favourite colour?"
Some of the pieces that I enjoy the most are no bigger than a 4 x 6 inch postcard.
Currently I am sketching out ideas for a drawing which will be 40 feet long.
You'll need a larger than average mantlepiece for that one!

Drawings at Antlers Gallery

Line has always been a major element in my paintings and I really dont think of drawing and painting as separate processes as I work. I prefer to think of the application of line and tone and colour and texture as the building blocks of the creative process which leads to a whole, an artifact, a final result.

Lippiano, Italy.  graphite 20" x 28"

Although I have primarily been exhibiting as a painter for the past 20 years the invitation to participate in an international Drawing Bienale in The Czech Republic rekindled my love for the monochromatic, linear language of line.

Several of my drawings will be available in the retrospective exhibition at Antlers Gallery this month.

One Trevor Brooking....Theres Only One Trevor Brooking

I grew up playing and watching football with my dad. We were season ticket holders at our local team, West Ham United: "the Academy". It was known as a club where players came up through the ranks, learned their craft and then went on to the big teams who could pay them more money and offer them a shot at championships. Few great players spent their entire career at West Ham, faithful to the team that gave them their start. Trevor Brooking was one such. "The Professor". A hero of the game. 

Havana 23" x 12"

In 2004, my father and I shared some time together in Havana, Cuba, indulging in another of our common passions: architecture.Music fills the air day and night in Cuba. Cafes, bars, restaurants, streetcorners. Theres live music everywhere. And one song rings out again and again, probably the most famous of all Cuban melodies, the popular national anthem, a tune that I had learned as a small boy on the terraces of Upton Park in East London 40 years ago......

Guantanamera

Note of clarification for those interested in Cuban poetry:
The lyrics sung in Cuba are based on the Poetry of Jose Marti and do not include the stanza
"One Trevor Brooking,
Theres only one Trevor Brooking.

One Trevor Broo-king,

Theres only one Trevor Brooking."

The March on Banthanti

The March on Banthanti 10.5" x 13.5"

There will be drawings and paintings from Banthanti available at the ELEVATION exhibition. These have a much more illustrative feel than my architectural portraits. They depict a Himalayan culture which has risen to become preeminent in the world and whose primary currency and economy is rubbish. Futility and purpose have lost their distinction. More than that I cannot say. Not just yet……..

Havana and Beyond

Corales y Egido, Cuba 26" x 13"

India, Brazil, Mexico, Nepal, The Carribean. I have been fortunate to be able to travel to dozens of exciting locations in my career as a painter. 

Ive seen so many things, 

experienced such wonders

….but theres not much out there that gets me all tingly like a dangling wire against some crumbly plaster.

This piece is one of several paintings of Cuba that will be in the ELEVATION exhibition in June.

Massachusetts Horticultural Society

Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Boston 26" x 16"

This is one of a suite of paintings of Boston that will be featured in the Elevation exhibition.
Sometimes I think of painting architecture in terms of music. The time signature might be a structural constant but there's a difference between listening to the click of a metronome and getting into the groove.
The structural orderliness of our built world creates just such a challenge and I am conscious of a desire that my paintings dance with asymmetry and synchopation.
I enjoy the conversation between man and nature here; the trunklike columns marching in line, the organic decorations crisply chiselled and laid just so. No unruly branches or stray fronds. This is Horticulture: the art and science of plant cultivation.

Clines Rug Cleaners, Brooklyn

Clines Rug Cleaners, Brooklyn 24" x 24" watercolour on panel

Buildings can often be read like characters that we know, and often reflect the kinds of people who build and use them over time. Cline's Rug Cleaners, in Brooklyn, NY has it all. A self confident, unpretentious street style, bold, solid build, sturdy muscles. It has a heart on its sleeve kind of openness, a willingness to share honestly. No nonsense. Articulate, but not wordy. Reliable.

The stately elegance of Brooklyn Fire Department Squad No. 1 next door speaks of the pride and civic generosity of the men and women who serve there. I set the two buildings against a firey red sunset both as a nod towards the Fire Department and as a reference to the blistering hot summer skies that seemed so exciting when I first visited New York as a pale Londoner. 
The red sky has come to hold a different significance for me now, as this squad would be the most devastated FDNY unit impacted by the collapse of the Twin Towers on September 11th. 12 of its 25 members perished as first responders.

This piece will be for sale in the exhibition along with others from New York.

Major Exhibition of Mat Barber Kennedy paintings in Bristol

We've been talking about this for almost a year, so it is with a great sense of excitement that we are finally in a position to announce the largest collection of Mat's work to be assembled EVER in one place. For one week only, 24th to 29th June 2014, over 60 original paintings will be on show at Purifier House on Bristol's historic waterfront.

So, the gallery is booked, the paintings are all assembled (unfortunately currently in Essex, but we'll get over that!) and we've got a short space of time to get the publicity machine rolling. Perhaps an MBK zeppelin could be of use.

Look out for updates on the blog, social media and in the conventional press.