Gallery Talk

Beryl Cook 81 dies at her home in Plymouth.

 

Beryl Cook, one of Britains best loved artists has died at her home in Plymouth at the age of 81. She had been fighting cancer but kept it a secret from all.  

Beryl had an enthusiasm for life which was infectious and this was what made her so popular.  She could find humour in almost any situation and depicted this in all her paintings of the instantly recognisable fat ladies.  Who else, could ever depict scenes like

                        'Dirty Dancing' ,                                               

                             

                                           

Beryl is an artist whose humour filled work will be greatly missed.

Banksy painting fetches £288,000

A painting by cult "guerrilla artist" Banksy has sold for £288,000 at auction - a new record for the artist.

 

Space Girl and Bird, which sold for 20 times its estimate, was commissioned by Blur for their Think Tank album cover.

It was sold to a telephone bidder from the US. Earlier, a Banksy self-portrait showing an ape's face fetched £198,000 - five times its estimated value.

BBC article

'Trash' sold for almost £1m

Painter's discarded works, diaries and bits and bobs rescued from skip by electrician create a storm in Surrey

Nearly 30 years ago, an electrician called Mac Robertson working at Francis Bacon's studio in west London noticed the artist dumping rubbish in a skip. Something of a squirrel, and clearly no fool, he persuaded Bacon to let him keep these few discarded paintings, diaries, photos and bits and bobs. He hung on to the stuff, storing it in a friend's attic in Surrey.

Last night, this collection of Bacon's trash, now accorded the grandiose title of the Robertson collection, was definitively transformed, from its owner's perspective, into treasure. Conservatively expected to make £500,000, the 45 lots in fact fetched a total of £965,490, not including 17.5% buyers' premium.

Full article from The Guardian's website

         

Philip Gray

Philip Gray had plenty of time to hone his talent for painting sea-scapes with 17 years in the Navy where he had the great advantage of having a unique perspective on Irish landscapes and seascapes as viewed from the Atlantic Ocean, which shows in much of his art.

Read more about Philip Gray on the website.

Susan Brown

Another profile added to the website for Susan Brown.

Susan Brown likes to explore the mathematics, rhythm and movement within structures and the relationship between man and the built environment and with her background in design, she has an exceptional command of colour, texture and pattern.

Find out more about Susan Brown here.

Artist Profiles

Many collectors and visitors to the gallery have an artist that they follow, one they take a real interest in. With that in mind, we have created a new section on the Gallery Website that profiles artists and tells you a little about them, including their background and inspirations for their work.

This is taking some time to do but we've started the task with profiles on the following artists:

• Doug Hyde
• Fabian Perez
• Henderson Cisz
• Jonathan Shaw
• Rolf Harris

I'll keep you updated as we add more. As you can see from the shop, that might take some time.