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Dogcat and Landscapes, March 2025
Dogcat and Landscapes, March 2025
Grant Watson
Trinity Green Chapel, 2024
Oil on aluminium
65 x 39.3cm
DCL29
£ 4,200.00
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'Many of the scenes the East London Group painted have now vanished; however, I liked the challenge of painting a building that still exists, the main difference being only time....
'Many of the scenes the East London Group painted have now vanished; however, I liked the challenge of painting a building that still exists, the main difference being only time.
My first thought was to bring my newly acquired box easel to the Almshouses to paint in the open and respond directly to a subject that had been painted so beautifully by Elwin Hawthorne back in 1935. I wanted to make my own intimate and personal response. It was a slow start and difficult to make a meaningful connection with the building , which, along with the distractions from talkative passers-by, made me think again.
Back in the studio, in between drawing, I began to fold bits of cardboard. Before I knew it, the process of making a model of the Almhouses' chapel had started. Its construction felt very similar to the way I draw and paint: adding a little bit here and taking away there. In making the sculpture, I discovered an intimacy with the building that had been lacking before. With just me and the building in the studio, I could concentrate without distraction. I painted and drew whilst I sculpted too, each activity in dialogue with one another. Sculpting felt like drawing, and painting felt like building. With the model, I was not restricted by viewpoints, I could look from above, below, or from any given angle. The forms and shapes became increasingly familiar, and emotional connections were discovered.
The sculpture stands as an artwork in its own right but also as a catalyst for making the painting on show. The painting is a combination of encounters with both the physical building with all the hustle and bustle surrounding it, and the model, which sits serenely in the studio ready for contemplation.'
This artwork was originally created and shown at the exhibition;'In the Footsteps of the East London Group'Curated by Alan Waltham (East London Group) and Ferha Farooqui and Frank Creber (Urban Contemporaries) together with the Nunnery Gallery.
Friday 4th October - Sunday 22nd December 2024
Venue: Bow Road & Nunnery Gallery181 - 183 Bow Road, London E3 2SJ
https://www.eastlondongroup.co.uk
https://urbancontemporaries.weebly.com/about.html
My first thought was to bring my newly acquired box easel to the Almshouses to paint in the open and respond directly to a subject that had been painted so beautifully by Elwin Hawthorne back in 1935. I wanted to make my own intimate and personal response. It was a slow start and difficult to make a meaningful connection with the building , which, along with the distractions from talkative passers-by, made me think again.
Back in the studio, in between drawing, I began to fold bits of cardboard. Before I knew it, the process of making a model of the Almhouses' chapel had started. Its construction felt very similar to the way I draw and paint: adding a little bit here and taking away there. In making the sculpture, I discovered an intimacy with the building that had been lacking before. With just me and the building in the studio, I could concentrate without distraction. I painted and drew whilst I sculpted too, each activity in dialogue with one another. Sculpting felt like drawing, and painting felt like building. With the model, I was not restricted by viewpoints, I could look from above, below, or from any given angle. The forms and shapes became increasingly familiar, and emotional connections were discovered.
The sculpture stands as an artwork in its own right but also as a catalyst for making the painting on show. The painting is a combination of encounters with both the physical building with all the hustle and bustle surrounding it, and the model, which sits serenely in the studio ready for contemplation.'
This artwork was originally created and shown at the exhibition;'In the Footsteps of the East London Group'Curated by Alan Waltham (East London Group) and Ferha Farooqui and Frank Creber (Urban Contemporaries) together with the Nunnery Gallery.
Friday 4th October - Sunday 22nd December 2024
Venue: Bow Road & Nunnery Gallery181 - 183 Bow Road, London E3 2SJ
https://www.eastlondongroup.co.uk
https://urbancontemporaries.weebly.com/about.html