PAUL HENERY: WILD NORTH - WILD PLACES, WILD WEATHER, WILDLIFE
11th March - 23rd April 2022
Preview: Thursday 10th March 5.30 – 7.30pm
Snow Clouds over Coquet Island, 2021, Oil on board
Paul Henery is a Northumberland based artist who focuses on the landscape and wildlife of the Wild North. For thirteen years he worked as Wildlife Crime Officer for Northumbria Police, one of just six in the country, and in 2006 was named WWF UK Wildlife Law Enforcer of the Year. Aiming to go beyond the realms of mere animal portraiture, he immerses himself in the natural environment and intimately knows animal habits and habitats.
Paul works in a figurative manner, utilising on-location field sketches as the basis for more developed works. Working across a range of media he seeks to capture the light, weather, and mood of a place. At a time when the wind is blowing behind the sails of conceptualism, Paul believes fervently in the power of painting to communicate a depth of feeling and concern about our natural world.
Avocet Stretch, 2022, Oil on board, 24 x 24cm
Snow at the Beach, 2022, Oil on board, 32 x 40cm
The climate crisis is a threat that he addresses head on in a series of new paintings dealing with the industrial landscape of Middlesbrough, in particular the area of seal sands. The paintings show hauled out seals resting on the mudflats, pitted against the jagged and imposing skyline of the port city’s factories and refineries. Paul demonstrates how interrelated mankind is with nature and how our need for ever-expanding economic development has come at the cost of the creatures that we share this fragile earth with.
Paul’s work is produced using oil paints, however not in a typical buttery, impasto fashion. Instead, he uses mineral spirits to thin the paints into a watercolour-like consistency, which allows him to utilise the brilliant white of the boards he paints on.
Whilst some of the paintings deal with the impact of the usage of fossil fuels, Paul also seeks to highlight successful conservation stories. Such as that of the reintroduction of the White-tailed Sea Eagle, on the Isle of Mull in Scotland. This series of paintings was made in the Summer of 2021, when on a single day Paul encountered 15 eagles. A very different story to 1994, when as a Wildlife Crime Officer, Paul took part in operations to protect the eagles from egg collectors that had led to the extinction of these magnificent birds.
Another featured conservation success story, closer to home, is that of Coquet Island, located 1 mile from Amble, Northumberland. Paul volunteers as an RSPB warden on the island, helping to manage and protect the population of Roseate Terns, Europe’s rarest Seabird. Paul is the only artist to have served as artist-in-residence on the island.
No Place To Land, 2021, Oil on board, 60 x 81cm
Paul continues to develop work addressing the climate crisis and the loss of our planets Biodiversity, while drawing inspiration from Wild Places, Wild Weather and Wildlife
Paul has exhibited worldwide, including in exhibitions in Israel, the Netherlands and the USA. He studied at Newcastle College of Art and Newcastle University. He has been presented with numerous Wildlife Art awards including but not limited to, Bird Illustrator of the Year 1995, BBC Wildlife Magazine Wildlife Artist of the Year 2002, the RSPB Fine Art Award 2004, and the Artists for Nature Foundation Fine Art Award in 2005. The latter led to his inclusion on an interdisciplinary arts project in Israel’s Hula Valley, focusing on the restoration of the area’s wetlands, and the population of Crane residing there.
After retiring from the police force in 2018, Paul opened Niche Gallery, alongside his daughter, artist Katie Henery, allowing him the time and space to pursue his ideas full time. This exhibition represents his first major solo show since his retirement.
WORK FOR SALE
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