High Season | Tim Patrick: Paintings from Borgo Pignano, Tuscany, Italy

What first strikes you about Tim Patrick’s paintings is their immediacy. Painted quickly and intuitively, and usually made from life, they are a direct response to the artist’s surroundings. Tim often paints subjects that are behind the scenes of day-to-day life, moments that might otherwise be ignored or unseen. Observations of people and their spaces, the residents of a place that make up its community and essence. The machinations of real life, divested of surface sheen. When making these paintings, Tim operates as an impartial observer, absorbing the local flavour. Whether painting machinery in use, or the builders on site, this is done not in a voyeuristic way, more with a sense of open enquiry. Tim prefers to work by responding to an immediate scene, without too much prior planning or sketching. The majority of these paintings are made in situ giving them an honesty and a freshness which emanates from the canvas. There is a sense of respect for the subject matter. He takes his inspiration from what surrounds him and lets each place guide and inspire him, reflecting back on him and into the paintings themselves. 

Most of the paintings in this exhibition were made during an artist’s residency in Borgo Pignano, a countryside estate in Tuscany, Italy, in 2023. During a period of three weeks in early summer, Tim produced close to thirty paintings, drawing on his previous visits to the location over the last six years with the Royal Drawing School.

‘I feel like really the most important aspect of the residency is that it acts as a teacher – it’s like a lesson when you go somewhere new and the process of being there is what it teaches you – how to be.’ 

One of the recurring motifs of the works made on this trip are those of the laundry or ‘Lavanderia’, the beating heart of the hotel. This space is integral to the smooth running of the residence, but one not usually seen, or that most guests are privy to. By going behind the scenes of the public facing areas, the true essence of a place is uncovered. Witnessing the small moments that make up the preparations for guests in the approaching high season, we become witness to the invisible details that often go hidden. In Lavanderia, the clutter and ‘stuff’ of everyday life is abundant, and with exquisite attention to detail, process and movement are rendered by the spinning washing machines and piles of washing. Life is in progress. The circles of the washing machine drums find an echo in a collection of round tables, gathered together and as yet unadorned with food or cutlery, ready and waiting to be brought to life. A group of empty tables doesn’t immediately seem an obvious subject for a picture, but the various surfaces and intricate patterns of the table tops brings them to life and gives an immediate sense of place. Building the Villa, Construzione and the portrait of Giacomo all build on the idea of representing behind the scenes moments, revealing another side to this countryside estate. And the seemingly unglamorous La Fattoria fleshes out the sense that this is a real place. There is more traditional beauty here too, lush landscapes and vistas, trees and nature, all showcasing this picturesque area. Vista gives as an insight into the verdant landscape that surrounds the hotel and there are beautiful details to be found in images of individual trees at different times of day and under various light conditions, such as Albero and Albero, Dawn.

‘I feel strongly that this is what Borgo Pignano is like – that each time I've been there it is an opportunity to divest oneself of the agendas, ambitions, plans and expectations one has of their painting, and to be led by the shape of the place and the shape of your time there.’ 

Unfettered from formal restraints and expectations, the beauty of Borgo Pignano allows the artist to divest himself of ego and encourages a true and pure engagement with the subject matter.

© Alice Chasey 2023

All quotes from an email conversation with the artist, August 2023

Alice Chasey is a freelance writer and editor, specialising in contemporary art