andrew gifford spring, amman...french painting, art2000, business design centre , islington 1998...
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Andrew Gi f ford—Spring, Amman
John Martin Gallery
Looking West from the Rooftop of the Hotel Asia, Study 2011Oil on panel7¼ x 8½ ins 18.4 x 21.6 cm
Andrew Gi f ford—Spring, Amman
12 October - 5 November 2011
John Martin Gallery
38 Albemarle Street T +44 (0)20 7499 1314 www.jmlondon.comLondon W1S 4JG F +44 (0)20 7493 2842 [email protected]
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, 2011Oil on canvas45½ x 43¼ ins 115.6 x 110 cms
View from the Wild Jordan Café Looking North East, Late Afternoon, March 2011Oil on canvas 60 x 48 ins 152 x 122 cms
6-7
Looking downtown from Jabal Weibdeh, Early Evening StudyOil on panel 11¾ x 12 ins 30 x 31 cms
8-9
View From Wild Jordan Café Looking North East, Evening, March 2011Oil on canvas, 60 x 48 ins 152 x 122 cms
10-11
Study of Buildings from Jabal Weibdeh, AfternoonOil on panel 11¾ x 12 ins 30 x 31 cms
12-13
View From Wild Jordan Café, Afternoon StudyOil on panel 7½ x 7¼ ins 19 x 18.5 cms
Next Page:View from Wild Jordan Café, Looking North, DiptychOil on canvas48 x 96 ins 122 x 244 cms
14-15
Souk next to Al Husseini MosqueOil on panel 11¾ x 12 ins 30 x 31 cms 18-19
Looking West from the Rooftop of the Asia Hotel, Evening, 2011Oil on canvas43½ x 45½ ins 110.5 x 116 cms
20-21
Towards Al Husseini Mosque, Late Afternoon StudyOil on panel 8¼ x 8 ins 21 x 20.3 cms
22-23
Towards Al Husseini Mosque, Late AfternoonOil on canvas
45 x 43¼ ins 115.6 x 110 cms
24-25
Souk Al Taj Road, Mid-Afternoon StudyOil on panel7¾ x 7½ ins 20 x 19 cms
26-27
Souk Al Taj Road, Mid-AfternoonOil on canvas
45 x 43¼ ins 115.6 x 110 cms
28-29
Souk next to Al Husseini Mosque, Afternoon StudyOil on panel12 x 12 ins 30.5 x 30.5 cms
30-31
Al Husseini Mosque, Afternoon StudyOil on panel12 x 12 ins 30.5 x 30.5 cms
32-33
Souk Jabal Amman, Midday StudyOil on panel7½ x 8½ ins 19 x 20 cms
34-35
Street Study Looking Towards the SoukOil on panel8 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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