New Walker exhibition for John Moores prize winner
An exhibition of work by John Moores Painting Prize winner Graham Crowley is on show at the Walker Art Gallery.
Graham Crowley: I Paint Shadows runs until July.
The Suffolk-based artist won the 2023 edition of the prestigious painting prize with his work titled Light Industry.
This new solo display, part of the first prize, promises to offer visitors unprecedented insight into his distinctive exploration of light and shadow through painting.
Through his signature style, Crowley investigates what he terms 'sites of creativity', from gardens to workplaces, using varied brushwork to create images that appear simultaneously familiar yet disrupted.
Gallery bosses say his tonal approach ‘builds layers of meaning, challenging viewers' perceptions of everyday scenes through masterful manipulation of light and shadow’.
Crowley himself describes how he attempts "to paint the familiar and make it unfamiliar."
The artist, who first entered the John Moores Painting Prize in 1976, says: "I paint shadows. Light fascinates me, and that involves not just shadows but reflections. While they're collectively ubiquitous, they're essentially intangible and illusory. It's their indeterminate nature that appeals and makes them an appropriate subject for painting.
"It's also these properties that make them analogous to painting. Light is a metaphor for life. I find my subject wherever there's light. The equivalent of light in painting is luminosity. I paint what are familiar 'sites of creativity'. This ranges from the garden to the workplace. But irrespective of subject matter the content is invariably light."
Above: A slide show gallery of paintings from the exhibition. Top: Graham Crowley. Photo by Pete Carr for NML.
"It's also these properties that make them analogous to painting. Light is a metaphor for life. I find my subject wherever there's light. The equivalent of light in painting is luminosity. I paint what are familiar 'sites of creativity'. This ranges from the garden to the workplace. But irrespective of subject matter the content is invariably light."
Crowley applies cadmium yellow to his canvasses and then uses a grey pigment to create an image via a 'wet into wet' technique. Along with brushwork he also uses masking tape, finger painting and a kind of sgraffito style to create his trademark luminous paintings.
He doesn't own a smartphone or take photographs of his subjects, often working on scenes he knows well which he conjures directly from memory, down to the motes of dust which dance in the light which illuminates the spaces he features.
Along with family and friends' workshops, spare rooms and studio spaces, the work in the exhibition at the Walker includes a moonlit landscape - Kerry Moon - featuring an abandoned farm building and animal trailer which was close to his former home in Ireland.
There are also several miniature, unframed artworks painted on board including Allotments 2 which was inspired by the work of 18th Century English wood engraver Thomas Bewick and by historic early 19th Century stamp designs and old American tobacco stamps.
Crowley says: "This is the best show I've ever done, and it contains the best painting I've ever done (Light Industry)."
Above: The interior of Graham Crowley's studio. © Graham Crowley.
Charlotte Keenan, head of the Walker Art Gallery, adds: “I Paint Shadows offers visitors a unique opportunity to experience how Graham transforms everyday scenes through his masterful understanding of light and shadow.
"This exhibition not only celebrates his contribution to British painting but also demonstrates the Walker's ongoing commitment to showcasing the evolution of contemporary artists."
The John Moores Painting Prize marks its 68th anniversary in 2025. The winner of the anonymous submission competition receives £25,000 and the chance for a solo exhibition at the Walker, while the gallery also reserves the right to add the winning work to its permanent collection.
The call for entries for this year’s John Moores closes on March 24.
Meanwhile Graham Crowley is due to be 'in conversation' with Bryan Biggs at the gallery on July 5.
Graham Crowley: I Paint Shadows is in Room 13 at the Walker Art Gallery until July 13.