Dramatic works with element of mystery
THIS week we talk to artist Phil Parker, whose work wil be on display at Theatr Clwyd, Mold.
Q A
Tell us about your family I am from a large family in Enfield in North London. My father was born in 1898 and served throughout both world wars and was of the Bridport Poetry Prize in later a Labour activist. My 1990. Artwork based on mother was born in India at texture colour, some abstract the Viceregal Lodge in Shimla qualities but mainly figurative, and became nanny to the sold widely throughout the UK Dame of Sark. One brother is for 45 years. Pen and ink a time-served mariner notably drawings. for 13 years on the Royal Yacht,
Q the Queen Elizabeth 11 in the Tell us about your Falklands and as an arms exhibition
A historian and restorer on the The exhibition is entitled HMS Warrior. Two other .the burning church. brothers were also in the based on a book of the same forces, one serving in Malaya. name, written throughout in My sister has raised her own lower case and describing mariner, a daughter who is characters and events that surgeon commander on HMS have coincided and incidentally Iron Duke. collided to create the fate of the author. All the 25-30 paintings of the exhibition are represented in the book which has 100 images in all. The paintings can be seen at Theatr
Q A
What are you best known for?
Muralist, professional portrait painter, winner
Clwyd, Mold. It runs from December 2, 2019 to January 4, 2020.
Q
What can people expect?
A
A collection of oil paintings in strong colour and with powerful graphic qualities touching on literary and historic characters, personal mythology and ancestry. Fact and fiction. Imagery in text and texture. Something to look into and think about.
Q ATell us five things which make your exhibition great? All the pictures on show can be taken away from the gallery in the book, for just £15 which is also on display and for sale in the theatre shop. You will find the exhibition dramatic and colourful, even the frames of the pictures are coloured! There is something to capture everyone’s interest, from portraits to seascapes all linked by a distinctive style, so that the exhibition can be seen as a single artwork of linked images. The gallery is next to the bar! There is an element of mystery in the work. Nothing is real!
Q A
Tell us what’s good about the venue Theatr Clwyd is the arts hub of North Wales and parts of Cheshire. It has two excellent theatres and a studio cinema, a restaurant, bar and shop.
There is ample parking, disabled access and free entry to both the galleries.
Q A
Who is your favourite artist and why?
I have a large library of all the painters I admire, too many to write here.
So it is better to say who I admire today, and that is the Spaniard Joaquin Sorolla for his mastery and the freedom derived from it, to paint fast and loose in whatever manner he wished but always acute, full of brilliant colour and above all, beauty.
Artist Phil Parker and his works, inset, Gypsy, Cuban Breeze, left and Lighthouse, right