Trading places and improving on reality
By Celia McGuire
By Celia McGuire
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Exhibition visitors can be heard to exclaim admiringly over a well-executed artwork, "lt's just like a photograph!". British artist Robert Sedgley would beg to differ. The apparent compliment - because viewers obviously enjoy his meticulous pictures - actually gives too little recognition to the careful process of construction by which he builds to unified proportions.
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lronically, photographing a scene from various angles does provide a base element in many of the images showing in 'Trading Places', his fourth show at the Barefoot Gallery, images of trades as disparate as lawyers' offices, kiosks and hotels. The exhibition title contains a pleasingly punning element, for 'to trade places' can mean to exchange one's perspective for another's.
That is Sedgley's forte as he selects aspects and presents an apparently homogenous unit by fractionally manipulating the truth. Subtly he adjusts the 'fit' to his own satisfaction slnce he is averse to the straightforward reproduction of a vista - " the conventional beautiful view has no interest for me as a painter", he states. lnstead he painstakingly assembles features that emphasise his abiding enthusiasm about light, colour and shape.
Which is not to say that his work is not beautiful but more appropriate adjectives might be spontaneous, sympathetic, observant, even quirky; the last is prompted by a definite European perspective. Where Sedgley refuses any simplistic, romantic overtones by both his execution and his choice of material, he does occasionally strip a street scene of the chaotic vibrancy normally present in Sri Lankan town life and livelihoods. From the outset the majority of his pieces exhibited in this country have had a Lankan bias. Even when, as so often is the case at Barefoot, the buyers are both natives and foreigners.
It was intriguing to note that the first few works sold at the opening were the most colourful, where the watercolours leaped from the paper, and which perhaps held greater appeal to eyes used to bright hues? Some pictures are just a mite too tidied up, a trifle empty, very self-contained. But when grey skies were the order of the day in the misty hill country scenes, those have been reproduced faithfully. ln is own explanation of hls works he uses musical metaphor but architectural parallel is nearer the truth, for this selection of his work at least.
Sedgley's observations and meditations, caught initially in sketches and photographs, then brought together in a balance that demonstrates the painter's passions. He owns that his boyhood hero was Frank Lloyd Wright and an early ambition was to join the architects profession until he recognised regretfully that his mathematics were likely to fail him! Much of his work is in fact purchased by members of the lnstitute of Architects, this being a legacy from his first Sri Lankan exhibition which took place on their premises, arranged with generous assistance from his friend and native fellow artist, Sarath. One of his visitors to that inaugural show was Barbara Sansoni and the subsequent transference to Barefoot was initiated.
The popularity of his exhibitions ensure that sales always cover his costs of travel from Spain where he has been based since retiring from after twenty years' teaching in England. His five years of formal education in Fine Arts and Sculpture came only after as many years of working life as a 'lettering artist'. Not the same as a signwriter, he maintains, because it has the British advantage of being studio-based, so there's less chance of being rained on! The execution of silk screen printing requires attention to detail, an early training that may have some bearing on the exquisitely-caught minutiae that make his artwork so intriguing.
A carelessly abandoned umbrella; saplings sprouting from a gutter; a realistic, of-the-moment pose - a stretch, a lean; windows left half ajar; the back end of a three-wheeler vanishing out of the frame. (We're back to photographic imageryl) lt was amusing to find out about the lettering history, given the number of signs that advertise the trading places. He confesses that he doesn't promise exact adherence to the Sinhala alphabet, being more drawn to the contrast of the signboards hung from ornate facades, "slipping into decadent old age", as he puts it.
"Even an ugly water tank perched on a roof, when depicted with deep blue greys and reflecting a streak of yellow, can take on an almost jewel-like appearance." As an artist, Robert Sedgley asks that you look beyond the illustration and explore what was the initial attraction for him. You have the chance to do so at Barefoot until March 4, and it's an art worth spending time with. These finalwords are the artists'own: "Paintings in a gallery should be islands of tranquility; they need a quiet mind to allow them to reveal their secrets".
That is Sedgley's forte as he selects aspects and presents an apparently homogenous unit by fractionally manipulating the truth. Subtly he adjusts the 'fit' to his own satisfaction slnce he is averse to the straightforward reproduction of a vista - " the conventional beautiful view has no interest for me as a painter", he states. lnstead he painstakingly assembles features that emphasise his abiding enthusiasm about light, colour and shape.
Which is not to say that his work is not beautiful but more appropriate adjectives might be spontaneous, sympathetic, observant, even quirky; the last is prompted by a definite European perspective. Where Sedgley refuses any simplistic, romantic overtones by both his execution and his choice of material, he does occasionally strip a street scene of the chaotic vibrancy normally present in Sri Lankan town life and livelihoods. From the outset the majority of his pieces exhibited in this country have had a Lankan bias. Even when, as so often is the case at Barefoot, the buyers are both natives and foreigners.
It was intriguing to note that the first few works sold at the opening were the most colourful, where the watercolours leaped from the paper, and which perhaps held greater appeal to eyes used to bright hues? Some pictures are just a mite too tidied up, a trifle empty, very self-contained. But when grey skies were the order of the day in the misty hill country scenes, those have been reproduced faithfully. ln is own explanation of hls works he uses musical metaphor but architectural parallel is nearer the truth, for this selection of his work at least.
Sedgley's observations and meditations, caught initially in sketches and photographs, then brought together in a balance that demonstrates the painter's passions. He owns that his boyhood hero was Frank Lloyd Wright and an early ambition was to join the architects profession until he recognised regretfully that his mathematics were likely to fail him! Much of his work is in fact purchased by members of the lnstitute of Architects, this being a legacy from his first Sri Lankan exhibition which took place on their premises, arranged with generous assistance from his friend and native fellow artist, Sarath. One of his visitors to that inaugural show was Barbara Sansoni and the subsequent transference to Barefoot was initiated.
The popularity of his exhibitions ensure that sales always cover his costs of travel from Spain where he has been based since retiring from after twenty years' teaching in England. His five years of formal education in Fine Arts and Sculpture came only after as many years of working life as a 'lettering artist'. Not the same as a signwriter, he maintains, because it has the British advantage of being studio-based, so there's less chance of being rained on! The execution of silk screen printing requires attention to detail, an early training that may have some bearing on the exquisitely-caught minutiae that make his artwork so intriguing.
A carelessly abandoned umbrella; saplings sprouting from a gutter; a realistic, of-the-moment pose - a stretch, a lean; windows left half ajar; the back end of a three-wheeler vanishing out of the frame. (We're back to photographic imageryl) lt was amusing to find out about the lettering history, given the number of signs that advertise the trading places. He confesses that he doesn't promise exact adherence to the Sinhala alphabet, being more drawn to the contrast of the signboards hung from ornate facades, "slipping into decadent old age", as he puts it.
"Even an ugly water tank perched on a roof, when depicted with deep blue greys and reflecting a streak of yellow, can take on an almost jewel-like appearance." As an artist, Robert Sedgley asks that you look beyond the illustration and explore what was the initial attraction for him. You have the chance to do so at Barefoot until March 4, and it's an art worth spending time with. These finalwords are the artists'own: "Paintings in a gallery should be islands of tranquility; they need a quiet mind to allow them to reveal their secrets".