Attending a fine art exhibition like ‘Nothing Like Something Happens Anywhere’ (6 July – 2 September 2012) at Chapter Gallery, Cardiff, Wales is enough to make an abstract artist alternate their previous style, from violent brushstrokes to calming detail; from abstraction to Romanticism or Impressionism.
Among the featured artists was George Shaw (b. 1966), whose paintings of mundane suburban landscapes produced with model-making paint (Humbrol), are more than satisfactory in motivating someone to become a fellow practitioner.
His chosen medium is warming and inventive, and the subject matter’s imagery is familiar and alarming.
In an age of yet another recession, and spelling financial and political ruin, Shaw’s work reminds us of what it means to take risks but not for the wrong reasons. Not to squander countries currency, not to raise bad blood between types, and certainly not to lose the people’s trust.
It is inspiring…
But then, questions about the conflict between the working class and the Bourgeois arise, raising suspicion about integrity and compromise. Such a drastic move may not be cause for concern over selling-out, nor is it in league with evolution. It is simply impulse.
If artists did not look out of their windows to see the passage of time there would be no desire to craft. Everything would be for sale and nothing would be meeting the needs of the people who need it the most. What do they need? Creativity.
It is this will which has granted us the freedom to make decisions and carry us into the next day. This trait is genetic and at times, like anything inherited, can be abused often misinterpreted at times.
It is our choice to do what is necessary but choice depends on the freedom to choose. And if we live in a society on this earth in this day which would deny us the ability to pursue happiness, then we are already living in 1984. We have failed.
To paraphrase Orwell: wars are not meant to be won but continued so that there is always a ruling class and a working class, and a division that can be exploited.
This is what we should be painting. This is what we should be fighting.
