Two artists bring their different takes on the same theme
Two local artists, Martin Grover and Michael Burles, have joined forces to bring their different takes on the same theme – Landscapes – with an exhibition of art created over the past two years, writes Michael Holland.
Michael opened proceedings with a story of him being a footballing World Cup winner, which immediately got my attention. He promptly emphasised the fact that this was the World Masters tournament in Italy, for over-50s’ 6-a-side teams. The final was against Turkey, who had beaten England the year before, and, Michael, tells me, ‘It was a tense, needle game!’
I was fascinated by Mr Burles’s prowess as a footballer, so the interview was quickly turning into one about his sporting career that began at Crystal Palace; I had to bring it back on track.
Michael’s artistic career began when he was 13, and a teacher had the whole class admiring his painting of a Bible story. The young man was motivated enough to go on to study History of Art, followed by art college, a Masters and a career painting for a living as well as teaching.
Of the current exhibition, where he is showing oil paintings on board and canvas, and several mixed media artworks. He explained the mixed media works that combined oil and newspaper text as leaving layers of information. They did add something else when you viewed them, a little je ne sais quoi when half-words appeared from beneath the brushstrokes and piqued the interest.
Martin Grover, on the other hand, often creates art that is blatant and leaves nothing to the imagination, such as his legendary 45s – great vinyl records that evoke warm memories in those that buy them. His landscapes, however, can often feel otherworldly and do need some explanation.
One such artwork was his ‘On the Way to a Better Place’, a large acrylic on canvas piece, that shows two children in a small boat gliding along a wide river that is seemingly lit by a fiery sunset. It is one of the ‘imagined’ landscapes in the exhibition’s title and is based on the book, The Night of the Hunter, that Martin has recently read, which was made into an American Gothic film starring Robert Mitchum as a serial-killer preacher. The painting shows the children trying to escape the murderous churchman, who won’t be far behind, but you would never know that just from looking. Although after we spoke, I did try to find Mitchum hiding in the forest… The Gothic theme crops up elsewhere in Martin’s art in the show.
And his fondness for the surreal can also be found in his landscapes. The titles give a clue: ‘There’s a Crack Where the Light Gets in’ shows a thin beam of sunlight coming through the trees to light up part of a shaded field. ‘Trumpeter, Brockwell Park’ is exactly that. There is something in the quirkiness that I find very attractive.
There are very few people depicted in the landscapes, any stories that the paintings void of humans tell is told by nature alone.
Grover and Burles have put on a good exhibition that portrays the many aspects of a single theme.The art, that should please most people, is very affordable. I know that because at the launch the red – sold – stickers were steadily accumulating.
Artdog Gallery, 23 Brockley Rise, SE23 1JG until 26th April.
Website: https://www.artdoglondon.co.uk
