Invariably, we carry our history with us, and this influences interactions with our world both covertly and overtly. Skaw's luminous use of colour arises from the practice of blending colours by under painting, a technique that is time consuming as it requires extended periods of time in which the layers of paint must dry before the next stage of the painting can be explored. This output is testimony to the preparation that precedes the creation of a work, preparation that involves the careful and methodical development of numerous small studies in which the problems of the painting are identified and resolved. Skaw is not a prolific artist, producing approximately fifteen to twenty major paintings a year. His is a body of work that draws on the great traditions of painting in many ways, not least in learning from the techniques of previous generations in responding with care and patience to the idiosyncrasies and demands of the chosen medium. What strikes one immediately on looking at Skaw's work is the quality of technique. It is also evidenced in his commitment to education, his encyclopedic knowledge of the working practices, philosophies, theories, beliefs, and inspirations of those artists who have shaped our visual landscape and memory, and his propensity to engage in challenging debate concerning the nature of the arts and the essential role the arts play in defining a society. Skaw's dedication to the visual arts as a medium for exploring the world of thoughtful feeling is not only evidence in the works themselves. Whether big or small, all experiences are reframed later in life in a surprising new light which informs us where we have come from and provides us with a pathway to the future.Īl Skaw's involvement with art has been a life-long involvement, which has not only encompassed that of the practicing artist, but also that of the scholar. Just as a poem that we read decades ago reads differently to us today, such is the way with visual art. It is altogether extremely surprising and occasionally overwhelming how the consequences of life decisions can alter our perceptions of ourselves and the world. All memory, after all, good, bad, coherent, incoherent, sober or dissolute, inspires and creates the character that forms us individually and collectively as our society. That which has come before has always provided our society, and artists in particular with a generous seedbed for establishing new takes on how we view each other and ourselves. The development of any art form invariably uses artistic history and personal experience as inspiration for new ideas, approaches and concepts. The inspiration for this show of painting and drawing comes largely from the memory of past works of my own and the works of others. This exhibition, Surprise Reprise, is my first figurative exhibition in several years.
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