Monday 13 July 2009

DRAWINGS

At Wolverhampton Art Gallery at the moment is an exhibition by an artist called Anthony Boswell. Tony and I were students together at Birmingham Poly, so it was really nice to see his work. The exhibition is in a small, well lit area to the left of the main entrance, and the pencil drawings are displayed in an informal way which suits the intimate, domestic subject matter well. None are glazed, but instead they are hung on the wall from bulldog clips, the air of physical fragility this method of presentation suggests mirrors the sombre and fragile subject matter. There is something quite melancholy and slightly claustrophobic about the mostly domestic interiors, my favourites are the drawing of the wedding dressing, and the portrait which is basically the back of someone's head reflected in a mirror. Very subtle. They made me think of the Sickert, Gilman school of English artists from the begining of the last century with a similar quiet intensity. Very nice pencil drawings, nice to see an exhibition of monochrome work for a change too.

Upstairs at the gallery is an excellent exhibition of works on paper, and Tony's one man show complements this nicely.



Detail of work in progress - Coloured pencil drawing of a beach

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