John Virtue
Italian Paintings & Monotypes
ANNANDALE GALLERIES proudly present the FIRST SHOWING of the Italian landscape paintings by the internationally acclaimed, London and Lucca (Italy) based artist JOHN VIRTUE.
The comments made by the acclaimed critic, famed television presenter (History of Britain) and author Simon Schama when responding to the London paintings exhibited while Virtue was associate artist at the National Gallery in London in 2005 are still appropriate now. Schama wrote; ?these paintings are punk epics: gritty, brazen with tough truth. You don?t so much look at them as collide with them: pictures which smack you into vision. This is what all strong painting is supposed to do: deliver a visceral jolt, half pleasure-hit; half inexplicable illumination.?
Following his London residency, JOHN VIRTUE bought a house and set up a studio near Lucca, in Tuscany, Italy. The views from the house include some mountain ranges in the distance that provided the artist with ideal subject matter for his work.
The result are paintings of tremendous energy, monumental in scale (regardless of size as the same may be said of the small monotypes as the 2.5 x 3.0 metre canvases) romantic in spirit and expressionist and free in delivery. The influence of the masters he admires is also present from Constable and Turner through to the abstract expressionists, especially Franz Kline, and Japanese calligraphy.
This is John Virtue?s fourth solo exhibition at Annandale galleries. His work hangs in numerous public and private collections in Australia, the UK, USA and Europe. He is the recipient of numerous awards and his exhibition as associate artist at the National Gallery in London in 2005 broke all records for a show of this nature, drawing over 135,000 visitors. He exhibits with Marlborough Gallery in London.
The comments made by the acclaimed critic, famed television presenter (History of Britain) and author Simon Schama when responding to the London paintings exhibited while Virtue was associate artist at the National Gallery in London in 2005 are still appropriate now. Schama wrote; ?these paintings are punk epics: gritty, brazen with tough truth. You don?t so much look at them as collide with them: pictures which smack you into vision. This is what all strong painting is supposed to do: deliver a visceral jolt, half pleasure-hit; half inexplicable illumination.?
Following his London residency, JOHN VIRTUE bought a house and set up a studio near Lucca, in Tuscany, Italy. The views from the house include some mountain ranges in the distance that provided the artist with ideal subject matter for his work.
The result are paintings of tremendous energy, monumental in scale (regardless of size as the same may be said of the small monotypes as the 2.5 x 3.0 metre canvases) romantic in spirit and expressionist and free in delivery. The influence of the masters he admires is also present from Constable and Turner through to the abstract expressionists, especially Franz Kline, and Japanese calligraphy.
This is John Virtue?s fourth solo exhibition at Annandale galleries. His work hangs in numerous public and private collections in Australia, the UK, USA and Europe. He is the recipient of numerous awards and his exhibition as associate artist at the National Gallery in London in 2005 broke all records for a show of this nature, drawing over 135,000 visitors. He exhibits with Marlborough Gallery in London.