EXHIBITION CATALOGUE: PLACE ORDER
Fresh from a recent collaboration with Banksy and inclusion in his ‘Cut and Run’ retrospective at GoMA, this exhibition presents a new series of paintings of London by plein air painter Peter Brown. Depicting 50 views of life on the streets of the city, the exhibition continues Brown’s fascination with our capital city. We see London caught unselfconsciously going about its business in its uniquely wonderful and layered ways. All recorded first-hand through the eye of an embedded observer, portraying the bustle of life on the city streets as it happens around him.
The London paintings in this series are grouped according to location, for example Ladbroke Grove, North End Road, Notting Hill Gate and Primrose Hill. They include a record of events that have taken place over recent times which have captured the imagination and drawn crowds together. These have included royal occasions from the Platinum Jubilee of the late Queen Elizabeth II to her state funeral and the coronation of King Charles III, while other paintings reflect everyday life in the capital city. Brown is as interested in the minor as well as the major beats of London’s continuously pulsing life. The selected views are chosen based on the atmosphere of the occasion or the artist’s emotive reaction to his location. All the paintings are produced in situ, whatever the time of day or weather conditions. These new images of London are rich in intense detail and observation conveying a frank realism.
Having recently completed his term as President of the New English Art Club (NEAC) Brown enters a new phase in his work to which this exhibition is testament. It evidences his zest for discovery in painting with a subject already familiar to his eyes.