Natural Forces

COOMBE GALLERY

NICK AGAR & GERRY DUDGEON

NATURAL FORCES

FORWARD

Nick Agar and Gerry Dudgeon are two contemporary artists with established and well deserved reputations and Coombe Gallery has been proud to work with them for a number of years. Whilst Nick has sought his inspiration in the layers and ages of wood, Gerry has delved into the landscape from deep beneath the earth to all the marks on its surface. These ‘Natural Forces’ have shaped Nick and Gerry’s inspiration for years and have provided a rich foundation for our exhibition.

Nick Agar, is acknowledged as a world-class wood turner yet he is particularly recognised as a sculptor of wood, making the turning the starting point rather than the finished article. His consummate skill is in drawing out the essence of the tree form and texture be it Australian Alaia burr, Monkey puzzle, spalted beech or oak burrs, elm or chestnut. Then the imagination leads him to constantly experiment with complex varieties of finishes incorporating colours, metals, and scorching techniques. This exhibition brings together the full range of his work from wall-pieces and sculptural forms to beautiful turned bowls often with a typical Agar original twist to them. He is always reaching further to return to arefined essence.

From the familiar landscapes close to his Dorset studio to the deserts of Morocco Gerry Dudgeons’ paintings seek to express the layers beneath the land and the marks man has made upon it. The strata of the Jurassic coast or the sand formed layers of the desert are evident in his semi abstract canvases, giving the viewer scope to add their own interpretations. Visual clues through the shapes of minarets, palms, cultural references and distant seas are often achieved by scratching through the multiple layers of paint he had already applied to the canvas. His paintings, like many of the best paintings, allow the viewer to revisit them and still find fresh areas to explore. From a distance the brushstrokes merge to create a powerful unity of colour yet up close you can still enjoy the artist at work, exploring the working of the surface, which is layered with latent energy.

Both Nick and Gerry have become firm friends over all the years that we have worked together and it is a pleasure to be working with them at such a rich point in their careers.

Mark RileyCuratorCoombe Gallery

COOMBE GALLERY

NATURAL FORCES22nd MAY - 13th JUNE 2009

20 Foss Street, Dartmouth, Devon TQ6 9DR t. 01803 835820

e. [email protected]

www.coombegallery.comcatalogue design & layout:Antony Riley

Bowl - Walnut - d:42 x h:15 cms

NICK AGAR

My work is inspired by nature, organic forms, ceramics, geography, ancient artefacts and cultures worldwide and I feel a very strong connection with the ancient civilisations such as North American Indian, Egyptian, Mayan and Aboriginal arts.

Before my apprenticeship in woodturning with the late Duggie Hart, I was a forester in Devon and it was here that I gained a deep understanding and affection for wood and I feel a natural ability to read it. I would much prefer to buy the whole tree rather than a plank of wood as this gives me the opportunity to cut and prepare it as I wish. This can be the most exciting or the most disappointing moment when you get to see inside the tree and what treasures it has to offer.

I like to push the boundaries of what is usually conceived in people’s minds of woodturning taking inspiration from sources other than wood craftsmen, for example glass blowers, ceramicists, sculptors, architecture and the natural world around me. I enjoy making wall sculptures as this gives me a large area to express and explore many

of the surface enhancements that I enjoy imparting to my work often over-doing it completely and having to work backwards to try and find a point that I am happy with - as sometimes the simplest work is the most effective.

Carving, texturing, colouring and scorching are among many of the surface enhancements that I use and I often incorporate carving and metalwork in my pieces.

I am on the Register of Professional Turners (RPT), a member of the Association of Woodturners of Great Britain (AWGB) and American Association of Woodturners (AAW).

COOMBE GALLERYCOOMBE GALLERY

Wall Sculpture 3 - Cherry - h: 116 x w: 68 cmsWall Sculpture 1 - Oak burr -h: 30 x w:50Bowl - Beech burr - d: 47 x h: 22 cms


Vessel - Monkey Puzzle TreeZulu Dawn - Ash - d: 92 cms


Bowl - Beech - d: 37 x h: 7 cmsSpiky Seed - Sycamore, steel, paint acrylic - h: 45 x h: 80 cms


Wall fish sculpture 2 - Oak burr - h: 67 x w: 78 cms Wall Sculpture1 - Oak burr - h: 90 x w: 40 cms Wall Sculpture - Elm burr - with agricultural toolh:118 x w: 50cms


Moroccan Series

GERRY DUDGEON

Born in Darjeeling, India in 1952 Gerry Dudgeon studied Fine Art at Camberwell School of Art, gaining a first class Honours degree in 1979, and then an MFA postgraduate degree from Reading University in 1981.

Recent Dorset SeriesThese paintings evoke the rhythms and contours of West Dorset’s hills and attempt to convey the diversity of colour in the landscape, ranging from deep translucent blues to turquoise greens. There are references, in some of the works, to the rounded shapes of boulders found on the shore. Filigree lines cutting across them suggest the calcite lines and fossil traces in the blue lias limestone, while accents of orange and red indicate the presence of iron oxide in the rock. These high points of contrasting hot colour also give the predominant greens a bit of a kick.Some of the deeper blues echo the colours used in my Greek Diving Series, which has been exhibited over the years at Coombe Gallery. Within the Dorset context, these passages also perhaps recall the fact that this landscape has been submersed beneath the sea twice in

its long geological history. The presence of fossilized sea-living creatures is a constant visual reminder of this fact.

Recent Moroccan SeriesThese hot and dry paintings contrast in temperature with the Dorset works, yet similarly reflect my interest in elemental forces. The space is often rendered in bands of colour receding into the distance, but without the use of conventional linear perspective. The presence of mud-built towers and walls emerges from the painted surface in an understated way, so that they appear to grow organically out of the landscape and sit harmoniously within it. The suggestion is that man is not at odds with Nature but conversely coexists peacefully with it. Fragments of mosaic tilework and trelliswork, frequently found in Berber architecture, occur here and there almost as relics of an ancient past, which nevertheless have an unbroken link with the present. I particularly like the way that one can wander amongst ruined buildings and easily pick up ceramic gems and artefacts scattered in the dust.

Ancient Kasbah 74 x 79 cms.tif


Moroccan Series Cypress Grove 43 x 38cmsAncient Kasbah 74 x 79 cms.tifMoroccan Series Moroccan Series


Moroccan Series Mosaic Fragments 71 x 80cmsMoroccan Series Golden Desert Light 76 x 87cms


Moroccan Series White Domes 51 x 57cms Dorset Series Dorset Hill Contours 66 x 71cms


Dorset Series Greensand 66 x 71cmsDorset Series Dorset Woods and Valleys 66 x 71cms


Dorset Series Lias Lines 66 x 76cms Dorset Series Pathways 43 x 38cms


www.coombegallery.com

Natural Forces

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