Human nature

Aug 11 2008 by David Whetstone, The Journal

Celebrated artist Chris Gollon talks to David Whetstone about forthcoming dates in Gateshead and Durham.

AMONG the many artists represented at the NewcastleGateshead Art Fair next month will be one whose relationship with the North East is set to deepen in 2009.

Chris Gollon, whose work includes these striking paintings from his Stations of the Cross series, has accepted a fellowship and residency at Durham University’s Institute of Advanced Study.

This was set up in 2006 to mark the 175th anniversary of the university.

It is described on the university website as “a prestigious, ideas-based Institute which brings together some of the world’s finest researchers from every discipline to examine themes of major intellectual, scientific, political and practical significance”.

At least 20 fellows a year gather at the 18th Century Cosin’s Hall at Palace Green to join Durham scholars in subjecting various themes to rigorous intellectual scrutiny.

The theme for January to March next year is Being Human. “What, if anything, is distinctive about being human?” asks the Durham University website.

“My role is that I’ll take my easel and paints and for three months I’ll paint pictures about being human,” says Chris.

“At the moment it’s all a bit vague but I’m sure it’ll become more specific once I get up there. For the time being, I’ve got a list of topics to look at. One is Being at Home, which is to do with migration and whether people can feel happy in a country where they weren’t born.”

An exhibition called Early Thoughts, featuring the paintings you see on these pages, is currently on show at IAP Fine Art in London, the gallery which represents Chris. He explains that it represents his early thoughts about the forthcoming Durham adventure.

Chris was pleasantly surprised to be offered a fellowship but not daunted. Go back to the Renaissance, he suggests, and people like Leonardo da Vinci were engaged in a whole range of disciplines, from science to architecture and biology. In any case, art can stimulate debate in many different areas.

Chris was born in London in 1953 and “came to art quite late”.

He explains: “I did business studies when I was younger but I always drew. I didn’t become a professional artist until I was about 38 or 39 but luckily I’ve never had to do anything else since I’ve never had any trouble selling paintings.

“When you first start out you have to look at other people until you find your own style. My influences include Max Spielmann and Francis Bacon.”

Chris first came to public attention as a finalist in The Spectator Prize in 1989. Since then, he has exhibited widely in Europe and America, and has had six solo shows in this country. In 1998 he exhibited with Yoko Ono, David Bowie and Gavin Turk, one of the so-called Young British Artists who rose to fame alongside Damien Hirst.

But whereas Hirst and Turk seem to have delighted in rocking boats and upsetting apple carts, which certainly hasn’t done them any harm, Chris Gollon has proved adept at blending into some of the more rarefied corners of British life, such as the etiquette-ridden Henley Regatta and the Church of England, which could be described in a similar way.

He received a major church commission in 2000 to paint the Stations of the Cross, a series of pictures telling of the last moments of Christ leading up to the Crucifixion.

“It came out of the blue,” recalls Chris. In fact, his work had been spotted in a gallery window by the rector of St John on Bethnal Green who was impressed by its visual power.

Chris was interested because St John on Bethnal Green is a famous, Grade I listed church designed by the architect Sir John Soane.

He admits his theological knowledge was a little sketchy at first, but having been interviewed by a couple of archdeacons, “to see if I was an OK sort of bloke”, he began work on 14 dramatic paintings.

They were unveiled in the Good Friday service at the church this year and are due to be installed permanently by next Easter.

Chris has also developed a relationship with the River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on- Thames. The museum bought a large work of his in 2001 and then commissioned him to paint the Henley Regatta.

Chris happily complied with the strict dress code of what, to the outside world, is regarded as a rather toffee-nosed affair. It’s a lounge suit or blazer and flannels for the men, apparently. But not any old off-the-peg blazer. No, apparently it has to be a proper rowing blazer from your old, almost certainly public school.

Chris came up with a painting called Gollon At Henley that now hangs in the museum alongside Regatta At Henley, a famous painting by the French artist Raoul Dufy.

Clearly Chris Gollon is an artist in demand. You can see some of his work at NewcastleGateshead Art Fair (The Sage Gateshead, September 11-14) where he will be representing IAP Fine Art. For more art fair details, visit www.ngartfair.com