‘What?’ 2021
Acrylic on compressed board 52.5 x 70 cm
This month we welcomed our member David McGuire to talk about his experiences in taking on an Art Degree in his more mature years, having started his BA (Hons) Degree with the Open College of Arts in 2017 and finished in December 2022.
One of the milestones for David was being introduced to artists which had a profound influence on his own thoughts and art practice. He admires artists such as Anselm Kiefer, Antonio Lopez Garcia, Alberto Giacometti, Edmund de Waal to name but a few, and talked about some of their works with lots of images to for us to enjoy. One example that David referred to was the 2021 exhibition ‘Field of the Cloth of Gold’ by Anselm Kiefer, which he thought was definitely worth finding on YouTube when you have a moment – it not only brings together painting, but also poetry, ballet and music composed specially for this event. David also referred to his change in attitude to installation art, citing his introduction to the work of Wolverhampton trained Cornelia Parker, and particularly her installation ‘Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View’ 1991.
In the second part of the presentation, David introduced us to the process he undertook over the five years of study, all leading up to the production of a final body of work with a parallel related dissertation, followed by a public exhibition which took place at the end of 2022. For this work David’s subject matter was urban landscape viewed through the lens of ‘place’ and centred (but not exclusively) around a group of dilapidated early to mid-Victorian buildings in Walsall, namely 51 to 59a Stafford Street.
‘One Way’ 2021
‘Place’ 2022
‘Jimmy’s Blinds’ 2021
All acrylic and collage on board 61 x 61 cm
As his work progressed he brought in collage to his acrylic paintings and also worked with poetry that reinforced nostalgic childhood memories of the buildings once full of life and vibrancy, but time having forced them into ever increasing decay and a changed state of degeneration; the boarded-up shopfronts, broken gutters, stained brickwork, graffiti and the effects of vandalism.
David felt his time in further graduate education was both a revelation and a huge success, and he would certainly recommend the experience to others. I am sure that if any of our members would like to find out more he would be very happy to chat further.
Thank you David for an enjoyable and informative evening.