Gary Long
Gary Long’s wonderfully expressive paintings capture the extraordinary light and colour of the Cornish landscape where he lives. Originally trained as an illustrator at Birmingham College of Arts in the 1960s, he then worked in Canada for many years, producing work through agents in London and New York for National and International companies and publishers and is an elected member of the Society of Illustrators in New York. Since 1993 he has been painting and exhibiting regularly throughout the UK, with numerous one-man and group shows, as well as teaching drawing part-time at University College, Falmouth.
We are delighted to exhibit twelve wonderful paintings, including two triptychs (seascapes, landscapes and still life’s) in our Autumn Exhibition.
“Gary Long has for many years, in his role as an illustrator, been concerned with the making of images. Now as a painter with a figurative base he is still involved with images; images that speak of the atmosphere of the coast, the sea, the sky and the weather.
Yet there is a crucial difference, for the images alone do not have our exclusive attention. The formal qualities of the work; the colour, line, edge, texture and the paint itself now compete equally to our senses. We are made aware of the surface of the work, with an emphasis to its flatness, giving a real and actual quality, more object-like than simply a depiction of illusion and imitation. Working from memory and intuition, Gary Long has discovered in the paint his true subject and one that is, ultimately, the very essence and ‘stuff’ of painting. “
(Stephen Dove, Artist and Tutor at St Ives School of Painting)
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