Graham Dean: Fitter, Quicker,
Longer
7 July – 2 September
Graham Dean makes a timely and colourful
return to Bath with this show of huge watercolours on handmade
Indian paper. Over the last year he visited Olympic and Paralympic
training camps to make small studies of athletes. These were
converted in the studio into large scale exhibition pieces. As well
as documenting sportspeople in action, the paintings also explore
their emotions in the moments before and after an event has taken
place.
“I found athletes’ bodies fascinating,
including the skin – noticing its incredibly healthy glow at a long
jump event, for example. These athletes really were at the physical
peak of their lives.” Graham Dean
Dean enjoys an international reputation as a
figurative painter, with work in many private and public
collections around the world. His distinctive, if not unique
technique involves painting in watercolours onto large sheets of
thick, handmade Indian paper.
Using a method he calls ‘reverse archaeology,’
Dean subverts the traditional practice of watercolour painting
where colours are washed onto paper in semi-transparent layers.
Instead Dean builds the paint up in multiple layers, allowing each
to dry before laying down another coat. The pieces of paper are
then selectively torn and overlapped to create one composite work
from several sheets; this corresponds to the multiple layers of the
epidermis which protects the human body.
Dean has exhibited widely both in the UK and
abroad for over 35 years. He last showed at the Victoria Art
Gallery in 1999 with his ‘Straight to Red’ exhibition. More
recently he held four solo exhibitions at Waterhouse & Dodd in
London. In 2012 his 60th birthday was celebrated with a part
retrospective exhibition at the Williamson Gallery in
Birkenhead.
A catalogue of the exhibition is
available in the shop, price £4.00
Tour of the exhibition with Graham
Dean
Friday 20 July 1.00-1.45; free; early arrival
advised
