Where the Light Takes Him
4th - 27th Spetember 2024, David Messum Fine Art
My London Exhibition with David Messum Fine Art opens at his Gallery in St James on 4th September 2024. The gallery always has an evening Private View, by invitation, but for my exhibitions, David also has an All-Day Private View. This enables friends and fellow artists to spend a day in London and drop in, to see the show. I will be there from around midday and would love to welcome anyone who can make it.
Since my last London exhibition of have re-visited some of my favourite locations, made new drawings and found new places in which to draw. In the spring I returned to the West Coast of Ireland and discovered Achill Island, off the coast of Co Mayo. I was inspired to go there after seeing the film ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’. I found the theme of the movie very dark, but the landscape of Achill Island, where it was filmed was magnificent, so I flew out to discover it for myself.
In October last year, I returned to Venice, with my son Richard and we were there again in July, this time to make a film of me working on location, with Steve of Steve Russell Studios, behind the camera and my son Richard of Fab Shack Productions, directing it. The film, which can be seen here, not only shows me drawing above the canal reflections, but also captures the atmosphere and working life of this unique city.
Venice
When I first went to Venice in the 1970’s it was quite a challenge, as numerous artists before me, over many centuries, had painted the familiar famous sites along the Grand Canal, from St Mark’s Square to the Rialto. Although I couldn’t resist drawing Salute from the Accademia Bridge, particularly in early morning light, or the evening shadows along the Riva Degli Sciavoni, I felt I needed something more. Images that would make Venice my own.
Over the next few years I returned a number of times, finally deciding to take a studio there one summer. I no longer lingered along the Grand Canal, but leaving its iconic sights behind me, I had the time and space, over several months, to discover the many narrow canals that criss-cross the city, looking down on them from bridges or as I walked along the mainly deserted fondamentas. I would scan the tops of the buildings, often brilliantly sunlit, then lower my gaze to the shadowy foundations, disappearing beneath the lapping waters of the canal. Here I finally found my inspiration.
It was not the buildings themselves that excited me, but their reflections in the waters below. Sometimes I would be looking at a perfect mirror image, then a barge would chug by and suddenly the canal became a mosaic of multicoloured patterns; dark, from the sombre stone work just above the waterline, then brilliant ochres, crimsons and golds from the reflected sun-drenched facades high above. I never tire of painting these reflections, as they are forever changing, depending on the subtle colours of the houses, the time of day and the variety of canal traffic, to give me the images that excite me. So, although I am still occasionally drawn back, to paint St Marks, Salute and the Riva degli Schiavoni, it is the canal reflections that will always take me back to Venice.
Provence
I first went to Provence as a student, in search of the areas where Van Gogh and Cezanne had painted. I found my inspiration however not among the sunflower fields of Arles or below Mont Sainte-Victoire, but in the Vaucluse and the Luberon. Here I discovered the hill-top villages of Gordes, Bonnieux and Lacoste and these three ‘village perche’ have featured in my paintings for many years. From a terrace in Lacoste I can look across to Bonnieux, like a tiered wedding cake, or sit opposite the stunning facades of Gordes, with its imposing buildings having only the rockface for their foundations and topped by its imposing chateau. Although I have occasionally explored other regions of Provence, I am always drawn back to the Luberon. The vineyards, olive groves and cherry orchards, below Bonnieux are amongst my favourite locations, particularly in the spring when the trees are in blossom. I sit in the fields with the sun on my back, the smell of the wild herbs and the chant of the of the cigales and try to capture the essence of the Luberon and to give each painting a sense of place. I will never tire of retuning to Provence.
"Once upon a time Alan said to me 'You must follow your heart in painting', and that's what he's ever done, setting up his easel in places he enjoys, and, while enjoying, illuminating...
The sun shines much on all his latest work, and this delights me; but I am still of the mind that the heat of the artist comes from within and
it never ceases to burnish all that Alan does."
The late Tom Salmon, distinguished Cornish writer and broadcaster, was Head of BBC Television South West.
Piemonte
Piemonte is the wine growing region of northern Italy, producing the renowned Barolo and Barbaresco wines. Visually the area is stunning and there are more hill towns in that one region than anywhere else I have ever been. The beauty of the landscape is quite spectacular. The Italians built their villages, with villas, castles and churches, on the tops of the hills and in silhouette these are simply quite beautiful.
I first travelled there with my friend, Italian restaurateur Mario Gerlotto, who grew up amongst the vineyards of The Langhe. He would say to me “Why don’t you come to my region? It is more beautiful than Tuscany or Provence.”
We went there first in the spring where everything was green and lush, with mists drifting through the valleys. Then we returned the following autumn, and the landscape was transformed into a mosaic of brilliant warm colours. It was late autumn, the grapes had been harvested and the vine leaves had turned to magnificent ochres, reds, golds and deep purples. Many of my Piemonte paintings are looking across the landscape towards distant hills topped with a castle or church. The rich colours of the vines in the foreground contrast with the misty valleys stretching away to the undulating hills. The sharp focus from the foreground vines to the distant hills in ever fading tones of blue, dissolving into soft silhouette, allows me to create tremendous spacial depth.
It is extremely difficult to portray the hilly countryside of the Langhe but through his use of light and shadow and with his skill and his deep understanding, Alan Cotton has succeeded in uniquely capturing the atmosphere of our landscape. He has experienced these sensations, these emotions. He has spread these sentiments on his canvas. His works of art are a canticle to our hills, they are the ecstasy of warm autumn colours diffused by the tenuous mists which embrace our small villages.
Ireland
Having painted along the West Coast of Ireland for many years, I have become aware of the way the skies affect the landscape, change its moods and dictate the traditional way of life of its people. In a number of my later paintings the horizons have dropped lower and lower, the skies have become as important as the landscape. The huge variety of cloud formations are of constant interest, sometimes even dark foreboding clouds have brilliant light glinting from behind them, which gives me a terrific visual buzz. Traditional Irish cottages, also feature strongly in my paintings, sometimes with abandoned, derelict buildings beside them, revealing the dark days of Ireland’s past.
Many of my Irish paintings are along the coastal edge, some with rock-pools left behind as the tide recedes and others with evening skies reflected in the water. The varying stages of the tide generate terrific changes and as a knife painter it allows me to use a wide variety of dragging and scumbling techniques to create textures and surface movements.
Over the years I have painted on the Dingle Peninsula, in Connemara and in Co Donegal. More recently, however, I have discovered Achill Island, off the coast of Co Mayo. This was after seeing the magnificent landscape in the dark film ‘The Banshees of Inisherin”, which was filmed on the island, and the new Irish work in this exhibition, is of Achill Island.
As I watched the dancing clouds set in that huge expanse of skies with the constantly changing patterns and colours of the landscape, it became clear that Alan Cotton in his paintings had perfectly captured both the essence and the spirit of Ireland. All art is more profound and spiritually fulfilling when the heart is fully engaged. There is little doubt in my mind that Alan Cotton's heart is well and truly engaged with the beauty of the Ireland’s west coast.
Bill Holland Former Head of Universal Music - Classics and Jazz and Consultant for Warner Music UK
Snowdon
Long before I stood at the Tibetan basecamp of Everest, gazing in awe at the world’s highest peak, I had long had a love of painting mountains. From my home in the Wye Valley, Snowdon was my nearest high mountain. I spent many weekends drawing the impressive Snowdonia range and have painted it at different times of the year and in all weathers. Now, after many years of exploring other parts of the world, this spring I returned to this spectacular Welsh Mountain and was once more inspired to produce two large paintings for this exhibition.
Cyprus
Cyprus is wilder than Provence and Piemonte. The ground is harder to cultivate and the hills have been sculpted into plateaus and terraces on which vines and olive groves abound. All around these nurtured areas, nature has taken over and thistles abound, together with other rambling wild flowers. It was this contrast between the cultivated and arid landscape, with the distant Troodos Mountains, that inspired me to return again and again to Cyprus. The dark greens of the Olive trees and the well-tended vineyards, set against the bleached grasses of the parched scrubland and rich colours of the foreground plants gave me so much exciting material with which to work.
Where The Light Takes him
4th -27th September 2024
David Messum Fine Art - 12, Bury Street, St James, London SW1Y 6AB
Daytime Private View - 4th September 2024