Red Tree with Caterpillars (oil on linen 121x121cm)

Misfits  oil on linen 152x152cm

Kettle Barton – 9th July – 4th September 2016

http://kestlebarton.co.uk

The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016 @ Palazzo Strozzi
Figurative Art Today
The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016 @ Palazzo Strozzi
The Strozzina area of Palazzo Strozzi in Florence will be hosting The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016 @ Palazzo Strozzi from 1 to 24 July 2016, an exhibition designed to trigger a debate on contemporary figurative art in the work of forty-six international artists selected to mark the prestigious European award known as the Columbia Threadneedle Prize.

Over forty works of art ranging from paintings and drawings to engravings will be coming together to probe the relationship between art and figuration today, taking a fresh look at such traditional genres as portrait painting, landscape painting and still-life. Addressing this theme inevitably means reflecting on the intrinsic value of the artistic image, playing realism off against the abstract and fostering an in-depth debate on our society today as it sinks beneath the weight of an ever increasing number of images disseminated via the new digital communication media. While artists such as Nicholas Holmes, Coll McDonnell and Stephen Read focus on chance, everyday issues and topics from daily life, exploring and extolling the theme of looking in painting, others such as Lewis Hazelwood-Horner, Nicola Bealing and Laura Smith appear to want to rethink the role of painting as a metaphorical tool of the present, at times in a totally dreamlike vein and at others in a profoundly realistic manner.

Palazzo Strozzi is the second venue to host the eighth edition of the Columbia Threadneedle Prize, an award devised and sponsored by Columbia Threadneedle Investments, a leading global assest manager, as part of the support the company dedicates to culture and the arts. The exhibition was first held at the Mall Galleries in London, running from 3 to 20 February 2016, but Palazzo Strozzi will be the first Italian venue to host this prestigious exhibition.

The Columbia Threadneedle Prize is selected by an illustrious international panel: journalist Emma Crichton-Miller; artist, writer and photographer David Dawson; Tim Knox, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge; Lewis McNaught, Director of Mall Galleries in London; and Arturo Galansino, Director General of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence.

The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016 @ Palazzo Strozzi offers Palazzo Strozzi and Florence a unique opportunity to establish new forms of cooperation and to foster an important moment of exchange and debate on contemporary art at the international level. A rich and varied programme of workshops and activities forming part and parcel of the event will be held in the Strozzina for the entire duration of the exhibition, providing an opportuntiy for reflection on the figurative genre in contemporary art and on the relationship between cultural heritage and the contemporary art scene in Italy today.

Opening – 2-5pm Saturday 9th July 2016.  Artist’s talk 3pm.

(image – An Escaped Lion – oil and spray paint on aluminium  30x40cm)

I’ve just launched a blog  to tell some of the stories from the Death and Circuses project.   Each post will document and illustrate how an individual museum object launched a painting – or in some cases, a whole series of paintings.

deathandcircuses.wordpress.com

Trannack Misfits  (152x245cm) has been selected for the Columbia Threadneedle Prize Exhibition : 3rd – 20th February 2016, Mall Galleries, London www.columbiathreadneedleprize.com

@nicola_bealing for updates from the studio

@death_and_circuses for news on the Death and Circuses project and exhibition

Swallow Dive  (oil on linen 152x121cm)

Zebra Head  (oil on wood 50x50cm)

I’m delighted to have been awarded an Arts Council Grant for my project with Helston Museum Archive : ‘Death and Circuses’.

2 paintings : Gleaners and Infested Carpet will be included in the National Open Art Competition, Somerset House, London 18th September -25th October.

Infested Carpet  (oil on linen  152x121cm)

‘Boiled’ oil on linen  152x121cm

Cadogan Contemporary, 87 Old Brompton Rd, London SW7 3LD

Image: Swimming Lesson  (oil on linen 152x182cm)

‘An exhibition of paintings, limited edition prints and drawings by leading, contemporary British artists who produce works on paper as part of their practice.’

Image: Aquarium (monotype and mixed media 56x76cm)

Image: Plague Season (121x121cm)

View them all here…

Thanks to Sarah Gillespie for the photo.

Image: Lovers

Exhibition view

Crowd (oil on linen 91x121cm)

Tiresias (oil on linen 71x96cm)

12 large paintings finally finished and photographed! See all paintings here…

Image: Stripped  (Oil on Linen  122x220cm)

Looming Shoal (oil on linen 183x152cm)

 See all paintings here…

Image: New Species, New Disease (oil on linen 152x152cm)

See all Works on Paper here…

Image: Calm Down

A new (big) painting : ‘Battleground’ – oil on linen, 6’x6′ / 183x183cm

I’m delighted to have been invited to join the Royal West of England Academy as an Academician – I’m now an ‘RWA’!

NEW WORK

Campden Gallery  16th June – 8th July

www.campdengallery.co.uk

(Illustrated catalogue available)

(Entomologists  Oil on Linen 91x121cm)

(A Flock of Starlings 121x157cm)