Geoff the Rust: Work by Geoff Yeomans
12 September 2015 - 24 October 2015 / Oriel Q - Queens Hall Gallery / Art Categories Events, Exhibition / / / / / /
Opening on Saturday 12th September until October 24th an exhibition of work 'Geoff The Rust' by Geoff Yeomans.
Geoff Yeomans was born in Birkenhead in 1934 and spent much of his career as a teacher, ending as Head of Fine Art at Nuneaton College of Art before retiring 25 years ago.
Moving to west Wales he painted full time, sometimes in a photorealist style, enjoying the subversive and witty absurdities of politics and life and always with an incredible eye for detail. His drawings and etchings capture the character of a person, and his longer studies and self portraits become landscapes of intricate surfaces. He became known as 'Geoff the Rust' and this is the title of this exhibition at Oriel Q Narberth.
Originally it was discussed that he exhibits part of his retrospective shown at The Williamson Gallery in Liverpool, which was held in his eightieth year in 2014.
His first show in 'The Queens Hall Gallery, Narberth was in 1996, nineteen years ago in a touring exhibition with John Boydell Rogers. It was the first touring show that curator Lynne Crompton had organised and went to Carmarthen, Cardigan and onto The Glynn Vivian in Swansea. He later showed here with Geoff Wilde, his series of etchings called 'God has hidden the dice' and again had a solo show with his photorealism work in 1998. He has been a great supporter of 'Oriel Q' and was one of the founders of 'The Friends' in 1994. He has contributed to most of the 'Open Shows' over the years and it has been an interesting journey to see his different subjects being executed with such skill under intense scrutiny.
He has decided that 'less is more' and has chosen to concentrate on his later 'rust works' – the patterns seen on the hulls of boats and ships, and the debris washed up on the beaches around Pembrokeshire. These have often led to him drawing figurative subjects out of seemingly abstract sources, or creating surreal landscapes from found objects.
His 'Manifesto for a Painter' is distilled in the following statement:
SIGHT is touching at a distance.
PAINTING is a love affair with surface:
It exists between light and touch,
Tracing an experience, it distils an essence of now with yesterday.
It is how I define myself.
ART is how a society defines itself.
Duration 12 September 2015 - 24 October 2015
Times Open Wed - Sat, 10am until 5pm
Cost Admission free!
Venue Oriel Q - Queens Hall Gallery
Address Queens Hall, High Street Narberth SA67 7AS, ,
Contact 01834 869 454 / lynne.crompton@yahoo.co.uk / www.orielqueenshallgallery.org.uk