Mike McInnerney: Ebb & Flow
15 July - 3 September 2017
Mike McInnerney will be returning to Kestle Barton with a summer show titled Ebb & Flow. The exhibition will present landscape reflections on the Helford River, and its seven creeks.
McInnerney’s previous show at Kestle Barton in our opening season of 2010, titled Routes and Branches, exhibited portraits of trees encountered on walks around Frenchman’s Creek. The artist’s interest in nature as a subject for work was prompted eight years ago by discovering Vanaprastha a Hindu term for the third of four important life stages towards an ascetic life. ‘It is a word that literally means “retiring into the forest” and as I was sixty-five it seemed appropriate’ explains McInnerney.
He continues: ‘Over the years I have come to understand the benefits of Vanaprastha and the profound allocentric experience of immersing myself through “live” painting into nature. Documenting nature through the action of painting is a very physical experience scratching at the surface of an immense kinetic force and endless communication existing within each second of every day throughout nature. It is an experience that makes me acutely aware of the primordial formed senses I possess and what I now do with them to understand the world.’
McInnerney studied graphic design at the London College of Printing, now the London College of Communication, and left in 1966 to take up the post of Art Editor at the counterculture newspaper International Times. Professional practice, spanning forty-three years, has been varied, from painting shop fronts to stage sets, producing conceptual illustration for magazines and newspapers, making posters, textile designs, record covers and book covers to exhibiting and teaching.
Ebb & Flow will offer a series of new works on paper painted, primarily in gouache, on-site over an average of three hours each. McInnerney describes his method of working in this way: ‘The work develops abstract brush marks into factual descriptions and is a primary example of improvised making with a risk of failure.’ In preparation for his exhibition, McInnerney will be at Kestle Barton and it is likely that those walking on the circular footpath around Frenchman’s Creek, or the nearby area, will be able to see him at work.
The exhibition opens on Saturday 15 July with a Public Opening from 2pm -5pm. An informal Artist Talk with Mike mcInnerney will make place at 3pm. All are welcome.
Following on from the huge success of his first Walking Drawing workshop in June, Mike has agreed to offer another day of his action-filled adventure drawing workshop – click here for more details.
