Andrew Gifford Spring, Amman John Martin Gallery
Andrew Gifford Spring, Amman 12 October - 5 November 2011 John Martin Gallery Looking West from the Rooftop of the Hotel Asia, Study 2011 7¼ x 8½ ins 18.4 x 21.6 cm 38 Albemarle Street T +44 (0)20 7499 1314 www.jmlondon.com London W1S 4JG F +44 (0)20 7493 2842 info@jmlondon.com
I had painted in Yemen four years ago and had wanted to return to the Middle East for some time. The events of the last year, what I saw in the media, made it somehow more urgent. I wanted to be back there - not to make any political comment, not to be involved in something that wasn t my business, but just to record what I saw and paint what interested me at a moment that obviously had a bigger significance. As a painter who was fascinated visually in the Middle East, I could go there to paint, nothing more. A childrens art charity called Start had offered me a studio in Amman. I decided to stay in the city rather than go to the more obvious places outside like Petra or the outlying hills or deserts. Amman spreads itself over a series of steep hills with the city centre below. It meant I had to paint either at street level, up close amongst the markets, people, cars with all the movement and noise; or from one of the many hills overlooking the city, with the changing light creating patterns across the raw concrete facades, and offering me the hues and shapes that you only see in the Middle East. All the small works in this exhibition were done on the spot going back perhaps three or four times. Painting downtown always brought a crowd: whilst painting Souk in Jabal, Amman (p.34), I had 20 or so guys around me who couldn t understand why I wanted to paint an ordinary market stand with a bunch of yellow and green washing liquid bottles on it. They said I should paint the Roman citadel instead. But after about an hour, when the painting started to come together, the joking and laughing turned into a more serious fascination. This was one of the poorer markets, but nearly everyone spoke a little English to me - I was offered tea and ice cold lemon juice whilst being filmed by 20 phone cameras. I often paint in places where the locals might never go to an art gallery, so it s like taking the art to them and the art is completely relevant because it is their environment. I don t stylize or romanticise the view: most things have an innate beauty but perhaps it is the job of an artist, even a foreigner, to make the familiar surroundings seem new. On my return from Jordan, I set about making larger works in my studio in Brighton working from those smaller paintings. They are made in a different way: they are not a reaction any more, but rather a memory of the first reaction, a kind of distillation of those first feelings. It is about recreating the poetry of the place. Painting them becomes a slower and more meditative process. I think about scale, composition, colour balances and harmonies whilst also maintaining the level of energy that gave those first paintings their life. The hard part is keeping the bigger paintings vibrant: close up, the surface builds up into a complex mass of seemingly accidental scrapes, drips and glazes - these are the marks give the paintings their movement, that gives them their pulse. Thanks to Ola of Start and the kids that I met, what a pleasure to help them make their first paintings. Also thanks to Stephanie and Baba Ali, Fuad and his family, Ramsey and the UN girls, Nora, Venessa and Belene for their hospitality and laughter. Andrew Gifford, 2011 Detail: Towards Jabal Hussein Mosque, Late Afternoon, 2011 Oil on canvas 45½ x 43¼ ins 115.6 x 110 cms
View from the Wild Jordan Café Looking North East, Late Afternoon, March 2011 Oil on canvas 60 x 48 ins 152 x 122 cms 6-7
Looking downtown from Jabal Weibdeh, Early Evening Study 11¾ x 12 ins 30 x 31 cms 8-9
View From Wild Jordan Café Looking North East, Evening, March 2011 Oil on canvas, 60 x 48 ins 152 x 122 cms 10-11
Study of Buildings from Jabal Weibdeh, Afternoon 11¾ x 12 ins 30 x 31 cms 12-13
View From Wild Jordan Café, Afternoon Study 7½ x 7¼ ins 19 x 18.5 cms Next Page: View from Wild Jordan Café, Looking North, Diptych Oil on canvas 48 x 96 ins 122 x 244 cms 14-15
Souk next to Al Husseini Mosque 11¾ x 12 ins 30 x 31 cms 18-19
Looking West from the Rooftop of the Asia Hotel, Evening, 2011 Oil on canvas 43½ x 45½ ins 110.5 x 116 cms 20-21
Towards Al Husseini Mosque, Late Afternoon Study 8¼ x 8 ins 21 x 20.3 cms 22-23
Towards Al Husseini Mosque, Late Afternoon Oil on canvas 45 x 43¼ ins 115.6 x 110 cms 24-25
Souk Al Taj Road, Mid-Afternoon Study 7¾ x 7½ ins 20 x 19 cms 26-27
Souk Al Taj Road, Mid-Afternoon Oil on canvas 45 x 43¼ ins 115.6 x 110 cms 28-29
Souk next to Al Husseini Mosque, Afternoon Study 12 x 12 ins 30.5 x 30.5 cms 30-31
Al Husseini Mosque, Afternoon Study 12 x 12 ins 30.5 x 30.5 cms 32-33
Souk Jabal Amman, Midday Study 7½ x 8½ ins 19 x 20 cms 34-35
Street Study Looking Towards the Souk 8 ½ x 7 ½ ins 20 x 19 cms 36-37
ANDREW GIFFORD b. 1970 SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2011 Spring- Amman, John Martin Gallery, London Pigment & Light, Phoenix Gallery, Brighton 2010 Budapest, John Martin Gallery, London 2010 Looking West from Albert Embankment, London Art Fair 2008 Istanbul Light Series, ArtLondon 2007 Tyne Bridge Tower Paintings, John Martin Gallery, London 2006 Ganzfeld Ball Installation, London Art Fair, Arts Projects 2005 Paris Paintings 1, John Martin Gallery, London Paris Paintings 2 & Dordogne Landscapes, John Martin Chelsea 2004 Leeds /Bradford Paintings part of Tales of the City, Leeds City Art Gallery London Street Paintings, John Martin Chelsea Andrew Gifford at the London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington 2003 Fontaine Evening Paintings, Art London 2002 Berlin Paintings, John Martin Gallery, London 2001 Retrospective, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh 2000 Paintings from the Sellamoto Studio, Middlesbrough Art Gallery 1999 The Limehouse Series, ArtLondon, Duke of Yorks Barracks 1998 Recent paintings, John Martin Gallery, London 1993 Artist in Focus, Middlesbrough Art Gallery GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2010 Art Athina, John Martin Gallery, Greece 2008 Changing Landscapes, John Martin Gallery, London 2000 Blue, The New Art Gallery, Walsall French Painting, Art2000, Business Design Centre, Islington 1998 Art98, Business Design Centre, Islington 1997 Fifty and One, John Martin Gallery, London The Discerning Eye, selected by Susan Moore, Mall Galleries, London On a Grand Scale John Martin Gallery, London Edinburgh Art 97, Business Design Centre, Islington 1996 Winter Exhibition, John Martin of London Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition, R.S.A. Edinburgh Selected Artists, John Martin Gallery, London 1995 Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London The Laing Art Exhibition, University Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne 1994 Light Fantastic, nine artists, Walsall Museum and Art Gallery, West Midlands AWARDS 1998 Gilchrist Fisher Memorial Prize 1997-98 Finalist, Villiers David Prize 1996 The Journal Art Competition, University Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne 1988-89 NYCC Art Centenary Award, York College of Art & Technology DOCUMENTARIES 2004 Heist, Channel 4 1997 Date with an Artist, BBC2 1997 Don t Look Down, Scottish Television
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