Anthony Garratt 2017

Anthony Garratt Imaginarium

10 - 27 October 2017

front cover: Floodplain - oil & rust on canvas - 120 x 120cm [detail]

IMAGINARIUM I am unsure of whether the word ‘Imaginarium’ exists. I could very easily check online, but for the purposes of this paragraph I am going to pretend it doesn’t. It sounds wonderful; implicit of another world, a terrarium, something which contains an imagined experience.

In the creation of these paintings, I have been excited by the various alternative worlds we are offered by our imagination and memory.

The colours, textures and implications suggested by the paintings are intended as prompts for landscapes with which i have become familiar during the year. I don’t regard this as an escape from reality, more of an exercise in exploring the magic of our imaginations.

My family and I are shortly to move to South Devon, whereupon we shall take delight in exploring Dartmoor and the nearby coast. From imagination, I have attempted to evoke Dartmoor having only visited fleetingly. Other paintings attempt to communicate trips to the North coast of Cornwall, where empty tin mine buildings lie redundant and exposed to the elements. A trip to Ronda, Spain inspired paintings which attempt to communicate the cliché of ‘paradise’; lush, tumbling vegetation into waterfalls and crisp swimming waters. Other paintings refer to an interest in modern architecture and our transient obsession with ‘style’. These works are imagined expressions of the modern interior interacting with the rugged landscape.

There is no doubt that the inspiration for this show has been diverse, but it has been a great pleasure to delve into the memory bank and try to clarify a little of what I have learned of the landscape. Exercising the imagination is a form of play, as is the action of painting and I believe play to be one of the most important aspects of life, for children and adults alike.

Anthony Garratt, 2017

A Moorland Stream oil, rust & acrylic on canvas - 100 x 150cm

Botallack Study oil & acrylic on panel - 40 x 40cm

Day Rambler oil, sand, seaweed & ink on paper - 100 x 70cm

Desert Pool acrylic, rust & stone dust on canvas -150 x 90cm

Field & Furrow oil, earth & acrylic on canvas - 76 x 100cm

Floodplain oil & rust on canvas - 120 x 120cm

Fog, West Wittering oil & rust on canvas - 90 x 90cm

Juice oil & rust on canvas - 120 x 120cm

Lido oil, rust & acrylic on canvas - 120 x 120cm

Light Hits Beach Pool oil & rust on canvas - 70 x 90cm

Mahogany Moor I oil & acrylic on panel - 30 x 17cm

Mahogany Moor II oil & acrylic on panel - 34 x 17cm

Mahogany Moor III oil & acrylic on panel - 34 x 17cm

Mahogany Moor IV oil & acrylic on panel - 34 x 17cm

Mahogany Sea I oil & acrylic on panel - 34 x 17cm

Mahogany Sea II oil & acrylic on panel - 34 x 17cm

Memory Marsh oil on canvas - 90 x 90cm

Memory Mines oil & earth on board - 60 x 40cm

Mineshaft oil, rust & earth on a cotton cloth - 94 x 68cm

Moorland Evening oil, rust & earth on cotton cloth - 96 x 87cm

Mothercombe oil & acrylic on canvas - 90 x 90cm

Night Rambler oil, sand, seaweed & ink on paper - 100 x 70cm

Nightswim oil, acrylic & crayon on canvas - 100 x 100cm

Oak & Mist oil & acrylic on canvas - 76 x 76cm

Paradise Study oil & acrylic on panel - 60 x 60cm

Plucked Mine I oil, rust & earth on panel - 50 x 40cm

Riverbank oil & acrylic on canvas - 90 x 90cm

Saltmarsh Investigation oil & rust on cotton cloth - 100 x 80cm

Seabed oil, rust & earth on cotton cloth - 55 x 29cm

Sennen oil & crayon on canvas board - 40 x 50cm

Sennen Beach oil on board - 50 x 50cm

Some Kind of Paradise oil & acrylic on canvas - 90 x 90cm

Shore Study I oil & acrylic on cotton cloth - 30 x 43cm

Shore Study II oil & acrylic on cotton cloth - 30 x 43cm

Stoop oil, rust & acrylic on canvas - 150 x 150cm

Twelve Gulls Playing oil & earth on canvas - 90 x 90cm

BIOGRAPHY Anthony Garratt was born in Sevenoaks, Kent. He studied at Chelsea College of Art and then Falmouth College of Arts for a design degree. Having worked as a designer for a few years in London, he was able to take up painting full time following two successful Solo Shows.

Anthony is predominantly a painter of the British landscape, his work concerned with the weather, an experience and impact of a landscape. His research time is spent in heavy weather, in remote locations and places that have an emotional impact.

Inspiration comes from the British landscape and ever-changing climate.

Anthony is an artist member of the Royal West of England Academy where he has regularly exhibited. He has also shown work at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the Royal College of Arts Henry Moore Gallery having featured on a BBC2 art series.

In 2012, Anthony was invited by BBC1 to paint the Diamond Jubilee Pageant from the Millennium Bridge. He painted some sketches on the Day, and worked on a series of paintings to follow. In addition, he was selected to have a Billboard at Regent’s Park tube station, during October 2012.

In September 2014, Anthony Garratt was commissioned to create four vast, impressive outdoor paintings installed on the island of Tresco, Scilly Isles. These remained on site for three months.

Following the success of this commission, a further project was funded called HIGH AND LOW – a spectacular outdoor painting installation in Snowdonia, Wales. Two giant paintings, one floating high on the flanks of Snowdon on Llyn Llydaw, and one deep beneath the mountains in a cavern at Llechwedd slate mine. This commission was featured on BBC1 Countryfile on 9th May 2016.

Since September 2015, Anthony has been a tutor at the Newlyn School of Art, Cornwall, which he continues to do today.

Photography by Jeni Nott Published by © Thackeray Gallery

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