Just a quick update with the news that I am delighted to be showing some of my work in the current Christmas Exhibition at The City Gallery in Cathedral Lane, Truro, alongside (and thanks to) my good friend Chris Holloway and nine other artists.

Special thanks to the artist and gallery manager Anne Brooks for accepting my work.

Also there has been a major update of my online gallery today, with fifteen new works added. The uploaded images include Jacob’s Ladder, which is one of my first works in alkyds, plus the latest in my continuing series of Gyllyngvase amongst others………

October turned out to be a very busy month, including more trips to galleries – in particular to The Tate Britain to see the current Francis Bacon retrospective and also to London’s most worthy rival to The Tate(s), the enormous and newly refurbished Duke Of York’s old headquarters, which now houses the newly opened Saatchi gallery, to see the wonderful exhibition – The Revolution Continues, New Chinese Art.

First I will start with the Francis Bacon retrospective. There are some 60 or more paintings on view and the sheer power of his work is formidable to say the least. Violent and raw, yet glorious at the same time with their strange, misshapen but compelling figures, the sheer scale of the paintings is overwhelming in the flesh and I could get sufficiently close enough to them to see the paintwork, but not as close as I could to the work at The Saatchi Gallery………

Charles Saatchi is a godsend to the art establishment, and his new, 70,000 square ft voluminous gallery in Chelsea is truly fabulous. This stunning art space is so light and airy, but thinking back I don’t remember seeing too many windows, and it is divided up into several gallery areas over various floors. Incredibly there were no barriers between the viewer and the art, meaning that it was possible to get very close to the work indeed and refreshingly the taking of photographs was permitted. Whilst I know nothing of Chinese art, apart from what I saw at this exhibition, I understand that some of the works on display were quite valuable, which makes this all the more remarkable. It may have been something to do with the fact that I was at a preview, having been invited the day before the official opening of the gallery to the general public as I have a listing on Saatchi Online, but I suspect and hope that this may be a general gallery policy.

The art itself varied from the sculpture of a giant female nude, and various other works of sculpture throughout the building – including, and from, naked body parts suspended on the roof to a man lying down with his arms outstretched and his tongue stuck to the floor. All of which interspersed the colourful and thought provoking canvasses. I must say, I had to get pretty close to the guy on the floor before I realised that it wasn’t a real man. Very spooky. The whole exhibition is stunningly finished off with the delightful geriatrics in wheelchairs circling each other like fairground dodgem cars down in the basement. The Revolution Continues is a must see, and to top it all entry to the exhibition is free.

I shall be back to London in January to see Rothko at The Tate Modern and I shall definitely be back for another visit to The Saatchi Gallery as well.

MEANWHILE BACK IN THE STUDIO……….

I am delighted that a few more of my paintings have sold this month, including one to the talented artist and children’s illustrator Jacqueline East. Also some new works have been listed on my gallery pages recently, including Waha and Metaphysical Diary (ii), the second work in my ongoing series. I am busily working away on some new paintings in my studio, amongst which are Gyllyngvase (iv) and (v). These are in a similar style to the first three, which have now recently sold, and images will be uploaded to the gallery in the near future.

Well, I rounded off a busy summer by taking Jennie on a trip to Liverpool. It seemed the right time to make my first visit, what with it being the European City of Culture this year. We took in the usual sights and galleries and I must say that the city and it’s people exceeded my expectations in every respect. We spent almost an entire day of the visit around the fabulous Royal Albert Dock. You would think that I would be looking for a break from the waterside but it always has that irresistible lure…..

The Liverpudlians are such great people, friendly and helpful, and there was so much to see and do that we will have to make a return trip.

In the meantime I have come away with plenty of inspiration and ideas for new work…….of course it will have to wait until I have finished my current projects, which look like keeping me busy for the next few months at least.

A few more paintings have been added to the site today, including two commissions of Santorini, and the first in my series of Metaphysical Diary, other works will follow soon,… now where did I put that Billy Fury CD……..

Pending Eclipse, Market Cross Penzance and Thermae, amongst other works, were added to the gallery a few days ago.

The studio refurbishment is now almost complete, thanks to the hard work put in by my brother-in-law Alan Bevis. As ever, his input was of immense help, from initial planning through to completion.

I will be starting work on three exciting commissions on Monday and then when they are complete I shall be back on track with my ongoing projects, as the saying goes, watch this space………..

Also a big thank you to Chris Thornton, my web-designer, who has been working his website wizardry for me behind the scenes, sorting out site transfers and related internet glitches.

Chris Billington and Cecil Riley

Well, the build up to the COAST exhibition has been hectic, the last few days in particular, but last night’s Private Viewing went really well and it was very well supported despite the heavy rain in the early evening.   Thank you to everyone who made the launch of the show such a success.

On Wednesday in addition to the hanging I spent a few hours with my remarkable friend Cecil Riley, pictured above. He visited my home and studio to see my latest works, including my most recent and untitled painting – which he unhesitatingly named “Pending Eclipse”.

As usual Cecil kept me amused for hours with tales of his days at The Slade and his travels with his old pal Bryan Wynter.

COAST ~ the exhibition

Venue:

The Queens Hotel
The Promenade
Penzance
TR18 4HQ
(01736) 362731

Friday 1st August –
Thursday 14th August

Private View
Thursday 31st July 7-9 pm

On Friday 1st August art exhibitors will display their work at the Queens Hotel in Penzance in the seascape inspired ‘Coast’ exhibition. A percent of each sale will be going to the charity ‘Living Tradition’ whose aim is to promote the teachings and practice of the Naqshbandi Sufi order which promotes peace, a sense of unity and social cohesion through seminars, workshops and art exhibitions.

The ‘Coast’ team have been using the Penzance School of Art as their base; drawing inspiration from the Penzance scenery. The School of Art has produced some of the finest artists in it’s time led by Stanhope Forbes and Frank Bramley. Chris Billington said “I am very proud to be associated with such a prestigious art school.  We are undoubtedly sparked by the history and values of the artists that have come before us.”

Ten artists have produced 20 paintings between them for the exhibition which runs from 1st August until 14th August with 20% of each sale donated to art based charity ‘Living Tradition’.

For further information please contact info@chrisbillington.com