Highgate Contemporary Art Gallery PRESS RELEASE
‘THE CALLING OF THE CELTIC SEAS’.
PIERS BROWNE ‘Painter of the North’ is showing in London, January
2014
Exhibition date : January 15th to February 8th 2014
Private View: Wednesday 15th January 6-8pm
Awarded the distinguished accolade the ‘Painter of the North’ in 2011 at London’s Discerning Eye
exhibition, Piers Browne continues to paint the land and the seas that inspire him with an exhibition
of 40 new oil paintings focussing on the romantic Celitc seas and once great seaports of the North
East.
Piers is a hunter, forever searching the ideal locations where he can capture the light and subtlest
nuances of the warm and cold colours of the north east coast, such as the sands at Saltburn or
Sandsend or the West coast light at Aberdaron where it stretches out into the Irish sea in North
West Wales. It was Celtic relics inside their churches that their once strong Celtic history forcibly
struck him.
But the cold romantic coasts of Britain are not his only haunts, Piers Browne is renown for recording
his love of the Mediterranean and Aegean. The wonderful dawn and dusk lights, the heat and the
Olive trees. His love of travel has taken him on many adventures. The most amusing when in
Tunisia, just as the Revolution began, the now ousted Tunisian President’s henchmen apprehended
Piers thinking his easel some kind of unique radio equipment. Piers continued to paint as they sat
behind them with guns to the ready, and in his best French, explained the rudiments of painting! A
few of these Mediterranean etchings are included in this exhibition.
Best known for his etchings of the Yorkshire Dales, Piers has recently diverted to concentrate on
painting in oils. He begins with observations in smaller oils and drawings, and uses these as
references for the larger canvasses. He is mesmerised and captivated by the happenings around him
and these are noted in his finished works – such as a horse coming into sight, or oystercatchers
darting to and fro in front of him as in his etching "Oystercatchers: New Year's Day, Morgat". Often
his paintings are repainted over entirely three or four times on the spot, until he is entirely happy
that harmony reigns and the painting hums. By this stage brushes lay strewn at his feet!
Piers paints from his heart ..’I cannot paint when my heart is not open’. Thus he returns time and
time again to loved places …’No tinkling cymbal here with just an exercise in just recording a place or
atmosphere..’ That loves shows through in his work - it is maybe what makes Piers’ paintings glow.
He knows and loves his motifs and they exude the romance between Piers and his landscapes.
Exhibition runs: 15th January to 8th February
Highgate Contemporary Art
26 Highgate High Street
Highgate Contemporary Art Gallery PRESS RELEASE
T: 020 8340 7564
opening times: xxxx
Free entry
For further information and high resolution images contact Laurie Maclaren
Swallows, Bridlington
From Sutton Bank