GALLERIES

Writing in the catalogue of the

Evelyn Williams' exhibition at

Martin Tinney Gallery

, Peter

Wakelin compares the effect of

her astonishing paintings and

drawings to a “gleam like water

from the deep well of her own self

and cast into a mirror pool”.

These are reflections possessed

of universal rather than personal

qualities, so that they speak of all

mothers and lovers, all panicked

crowds and distressed individuals

with the profoundest compassion.

Hers is a vision of love for, and

an understanding of, the human

condition that stands at the polar

opposite to Lucien Freud for

example, and one that, five years

after her death in 2012, gets more

and more tenderly and powerfully

relevant to the present moment

(think of all those images after

Grenfell Tower).

One can only hope that the

Tate curators who recently

refused to accept one of her most

remarkable pieces, ‘Burning Man’

(on the curious grounds that they

could not see how to integrate it

into future displays) may perhaps

come to reconsider their decision.

It is, meanwhile, a distinctly

interesting moment for her

reputation in other ways too with

the inauguration, this month, of a

£10,000 Evelyn Williams award

within the Jerwood Drawing Prize

to support an extended drawing

'project' and 2018/9 exhibition.

The vision moves into the future.

We have become so inured to the

idea that ‘good’ art has to be

defined by ‘experts’ – usually not

themselves practising artists –

that it is easy for artists to lose

confidence in their validity. No

group more so, perhaps, than

painters where the barrage of

‘painting is dead’ critiques have

been going on since the late 60s.

So it is good to see the painters

now fighting back – Marcus

Harvey’s Turps Banana magazine

and Elephant and Castle-based

art school is one such example,

Robert Priseman and Simon

Carter’s Contemporary British

Painting another. Founded four

years ago as an exhibiting and

purchasing group, it has

developed rapidly, moving from

exhibitions in London churches to

significant shows of 80 British

painters’ work, currently touring

major Chinese art galleries and

schools. There is also a painting

prize; the 12 short listed artists

(chosen by other painters) for the

2017 version are currently

showing at

Stables Gallery

Orleans House. The rewards to

the winner are not insubstantial –

a purchase prize of £2000 and a

solo exhibition at Herrick Gallery

not to mention, declaring an

interest, a critical essay by myself

– the final prize selection being

the only time non-artists are

allowed near the process!

Meanwhile their website has all

the artists and all the work.

Common enough in the past –

think the Breughels, the

Gentileschis, the Pissarros or

even, in early 20th century, the

Nicholsons – families of artists

have, for whatever reason, gone

out of fashion in the current

climate. All of which makes the

‘Ramion and Family’ exhibition –

the collective title for the

paintings, book illustrations,

collage/photographic pieces,

decorative art and, stretching it a

bit, the poetry, of the Hinks/Haire

family – currently showing at

The Cello Factory

, and such a

delightful and refreshing

throwback to earlier practices.

The title comes from the

mythical world of stories – ‘The

Rock of Ramion’ et al – that father

Frank Hinks first told and then

illustrated for his three sons, with

the accomplished paintings

coming from son Alexander,

delightful decorated mirrors from

son Ben and the poetry readings

from son Julius. The

photographed collages are by

their mother, Susan Haire

(president of the London Group)

who also appears, affectionately,

as the witch with the purple hair in

the now successfully published

‘Rock of Ramion’ books.

Nicholas Usherwood

OUND-UP

GALLERIES SEPTEMBER 2017

ove

story

Painters unite

Family

force

from left

velyn Williams ‘Togetherness’ Martin Tinney

Gallery

Juliette

Losq ‘Terra Infirma’ Orleans House Gallery