Norman Long - Catalogue

NormaN

LoNg

FRONT COVER: Covent Garden Epiphany, oil on board, 51x35cm

I am extremely grateful to Artists & Illustrators and the Osborne Studio Gallery for the opportunity to develop and show this new body of work.

One of my long-term goals in painting is to somehow capture the sheer visual excitement of the city. I find stimulus not so much in painting specific locations but in seeking moments of significance, which may be an effect of light or a fleeting connection between two people.

I attempt to use each method of painting to its advantage, working from life for the immediacy of execution while using photographs to access significant gestures and movement.

For me, each piece depicts a specific relationship and setting, but I want the paintings to be open enough both in execution and narrative to invite the viewer to complete them for themselves.

NormaN LoNg

On entering the Artists & Illustrators’ Artists of the Year exhibition and to be confronted by a sea of paintings, I was immediately struck by a work featuring elderly men on a bench, seemingly in a European city. I was captivated and looked no further, in my role as judge, in choosing Norman to be both the winner and indeed the artist we would most like to represent.

A few months ago, I visited him in his studio in Preston and felt more than vindicated in my choice, as he was then working on the show. I was immensely impressed by his use of colour, tone and the interconnection between the individuals and urban landscape. This has culminated in a body of outstanding work.

I hope you will enjoy it as much as we do, you will not be disappointed. geoffrey HugHes Director, osborNe stuDio gaLLery

One of the beautiful things about art is that it is purely subjective, so there is always something a little contrary about staging a competition. Nevertheless, during the seven years we have been running the Artists of the Year awards, you occasionally stumble across an artist who is truly deserving of all the plaudits you can bestow on them.

Norman Long was crowned ‘Artist of the Year’ for his impressive triptych, The Bench, but it is this latest body of work that really makes good on the promise of that painting.

Norman observes the city as an outsider, yet his works are never dispassionate.

Whether he is capturing the neon glow of Piccadilly or dusk along the embankment, he does so with a real fondness for his fleeting subjects that is echoed in his Impressionistic pastel colour palette and masterly handling of shadows and light. steve piLL eDitor, artists & iLLustrators

Tower Magic Hour, oil on board, 46x30cm

Lost or Found, oil on board, 28x41cm

Afterglow, oil on board, 46x51cm

Caught Out, oil on board, 25x35cm

Quicker to Walk, oil on board, 51x35cm

Another Day at the Circus, oil on board, 137x51cm

Working Girl, oil on board, 35x51cm

Charmed, oil on board, 51x122cm

Moonlit Crossing, oil on board, 35x30cm

Backlit, oil on board, 51x122cm

Finding Themselves in Berkeley Square, oil on board, 35x51cm

BACK COVER: Steps to Power, oil on board, 30x30cm

NormaN LoNg borN

Preston, 1976

eDucatioN 2008-’09 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Post Graduate Scholarship 1995-’99 Newcastle University, BA (Hons) Fine Art 1994-’95 Blackpool and Fylde College, Foundation Diploma in Art and Design seLecteD exHibitioNs 2015 Winter Exhibition – Osborne Studio Gallery, Knightsbridge 2014 Artists and Illustrators Artist of the Year – Mall Galleries, London Royal Institute of Oil Painters – Mall Galleries, London Manchester Academy of Fine Arts – Portico Gallery, Manchester 2013 City Reflections (solo show) – Wendy J Levy Gallery, Manchester Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Exhibition – King’s Place Gallery, London Manchester Academy of Fine Arts – Portico Gallery, Manchester and Bury Art Museum 2012 Visions of Manchester – Colourfield Gallery, Cheshire Manchester Academy of Fine Arts – Buxton Museum and Bury Art Museum Summer Exhibition – Medici Fine Art, Cork Street, London Summer Exhibition – Wendy J Levy Gallery, Manchester Summer Exhibition – Walker Galleries, Harrogate Winter Exhibition – Morningside Gallery, Edinburgh 2011 Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Exhibition – King’s Place Gallery, London John Hamilton and Norman Long – Wendy J Levy Gallery, Manchester Manchester Academy of Fine Arts Millyard Art Gallery, Saddleworth Summer Exhibition – Wendy J Levy Gallery, Manchester 2010 Studio Visions – Preston Royal Society of Portrait Painters – Mall Galleries, London Summer / Winter Exhibitions – Wendy Levy Gallery, Manchester 2009 Post Baccalaureate Exhibition – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia PAFA Juried Show – Gallery 128, Philadelphia 2008 “A Mother Like Alex” – National Portrait Gallery, London Departure Show (solo show) – Preston Heart and Soul – PAD Gallery, Preston Touching Art Touching You – Royal Cornwall Museum

2007 2006 2005 2004 2002 2001 2000

1999

1995

awarDs 2013 2010 2008 2006 1999 1999 1995

Royal Society of Portrait Painters – Mall Galleries, London BP Portrait Award – National Portrait Gallery, London BlindArt Exhibition – New York Public Library, New York The Hunting Art Prizes – Royal College of Art, London BlindArt Inaugural Exhibition – Royal College of Art, London Stockport Open Exhibition – Stockport Art Gallery Recent Works (solo show) – Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston Studio Exhibition (solo show) – Preston Laing Landscape Exhibition – Mall Galleries, London BP Portrait Award – National Portrait Gallery, London The Garrick/Milne Prize – Christie’s, London California Landscapes (solo show) – San Luis Obispo, California and Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool Royal Institute of Oil Painters – Mall Galleries, London New English Art Club – Mall Galleries, London Art in Academia: Northern Lights – Bonham’s, London Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition – Mall Galleries, London Long at the Long Gallery (solo show) – The Long Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne

Artist of the Year, Artists & Illustrators magazine de Laszlo Foundation Award, Royal Society of Portrait Painters Academy Merit Scholarship, PAFA, USA International Merit Scholarship, PAFA, USA Artist’s Grant to attend Vermont Studio Center, USA Artist in Residence at King Edward VII and Queen Mary School, Lytham J.Newman Prize for Art History Dissertation Singer & Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition prize winner

seLecteD pubLicatioNs “Artists of the Year”, Artists and Illustrators, December 2013 “Taking the Long View”, Lancashire Life, January 2010 A Mother Like Alex by Bernard Clark (featuring 10 colour illustrations by Norman Long), November 2008, Harper Collins “The Long View”, The Lancashire Magazine, April 2008 “People Like Us”, Lancashire Life, January 2000

The Osborne Studio Gallery, 2 Motcomb Street, London SW1X 8JU Tel: (020) 7235 9667 Email: gallery@osg.uk.com www.osg.uk.com If you have any queries please contact the gallery

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