An insight into Gavin Watson's paintings
Gavin Watson’s exhibition Protect & Survive at Gallagher & Turner started on December 2nd 2020.
Covid restrictions make seeing this exhibition in person impossible at the moment, but we caught up with the artist to get a better understanding of what his oil paintings are all about. Thanks for this Gavin, it’s a really interesting read!
You can view the exhibition catalogue here and for more information about and images of Gavin’s work see our Instagram page , our Facebook page and the Protect & Survive exhibition page.
Wild at Hart
The title is a play on the Barry Gifford 1989 novel and subsequent 1990 David Lynch film. The white hart deer represents an almost mythical status in English history.
Most notably as the badge of the tragic king Richard 11, as seen on the Wilton Triptych. In my painting I have displaced the glowing white hart deer into a Northumbrian domestic setting, with a traditional flock wallpaper.
The Joy of Rex
The title references the book ‘The Joy of Sex ‘by Alex Comfort, 1972. This painting is of a Russian Toy Terrier dog.
Rex (Latin for king) is an apocryphal name for a dog. This is a voluptuous painting: the little king is proudly nestled in the embrace of the pink sofa. Very Rexy!
Protect and Survive
The title of this painting references a booklet printed by the UK government in the1970’s, intended to inform citizens how to protect themselves during a nuclear attack.
The painting brings together a number of themes which run through my work. The flamingo derives from childhood trips to ‘Flamingo Park’ in North Yorkshire. Even as a child I found these exotic birds extraordinarily displaced in the grey 1960’s Northern England.
The figure started as a self-portrait of me as a child then developed into a fairy Greta Thunberg, protecting the flamingo as the sea rises and the waves approach.
Creature Comforts
The title references the early ‘Aardman ‘ film made by Nick Park
Truly domesticated family of British Bulldogs with all their ducks in a row and their evening slippers. The wallpaper pattern acts as a crown on the central bulldog
Grumpus
A big fat ginger cat based on my cat George. The title is taken from a song by American singer songwriter Kurt Wagner AKA Lambchop.
Pugmalion
The title references '‘Pygmalion’, the play by George Bernard Shaw.
Lucky Jim
The title references the novel and plot ‘Lucky Jim’ by Kingsley Amis, 1954: an ordinary little dog, made good.
The stance of Jim is taken from one of the outer panels of the Wilton Diptych 1395-99 (National gallery London) depicting a white hart stag which, until recently, I (mis)understood to be a whippet.
A Trick of the Tail
The title references the 1976 Genesis album of the same name. The composition references both the Annunciation - the white dove being symbolic of peace – and the magician’s prop.
Great Escape
The title is appropriated from the 1963 film directed by John Sturges. The compelling boy’s own version of captured allied soldiers escaping from a German prisoner of war camp. The film was hugely popular throughout my childhood and still retains a special status in the psyche of the British nation. By using ‘Great Escape’ as the title, I aimed to give context, purpose and a heroic presence to the boy in my painting.
On September 2nd 2015 Alan Kurdi, a three year old Syrian / Kurdish boy died and was washed up on a Turkish beach while his family were trying to reach Europe amid the refugee crisis. From a note in my sketch book.
The boy in my painting is a representation of many poor South American refugees, where fighting and sports represent their only means of earning money, freedom and passage to the USA. During my visit to Mexico, I witnessed a number of outdoor boxing gyms set up on roadsides and underpasses. They are targeted at young children, with the aim of instilling discipline and a hope that it will prevent them from falling into a life of crime.
The English Bull terrier has been targeted under breed specific legislation, a law that prohibits or restricts particular breeds of dogs, labelling them as dangerous and vicious.
In Mexican mythology the underworld dog guid ‘Xolotl’ is sent to bring us from our darkened state, across the nine fold river to a new life, a rebirth. A note from a visit to The National Anthropological Museum in Mexico City.
On August 19th 2020 the body of sixteen year old Abdulfatah Hamdallah was washed up on a Calais beach. He died attempting to cross English Channel in a small boat. From a BBC radio news report, a note I made in my sketchbook.
In my painting ‘Great Escape’ the boy stands on the shoreline, it acts as a boarder and liminal space. He appears about to undergo a right of passage. He is present but not official, he is stateless.
I have a postcard on my studio wall by Artist Gillian Wearing, a man holds a message which says ‘Everything is connected in life, the point is to know it and to understand it’.