Tremenheere Gallery’s delayed 2020 programme begins with a collection of new and recent paintings by Cornwall-based artist Bernard Irwin.
Bold colour, striking abstraction and a commanding presence typify Bernard’s paintings. The exhibition will feature a number of his signature large-scale paintings alongside smaller works, many of which were created during lockdown, including the painting ‘Let’s build a boat and sail away’, which also lends it’s title to the exhibition.
For Bernard, his paintings are kind of singing, the place where he find a voice. They invite the viewer into an abstract world of unexpected images that surprise and delight. Lyrical, quirky, poetic; they arise out of his experience – things seen, heard and felt. Sometimes edgy, sometimes humorous, their finely balance relationships are nuanced by the tension created between the flat colour of foregrounded shapes and the endless, airy spaces they inhabit. Themes of change and transformation run through all his paintings.
This summer Tremenheere Gallery will be open on the reduced times of Wednesday – Saturday, 11am – 4pm. Closed Sunday – Tuesday. The number of visitors allowed inside at any one time will be limited and a one-way system will be in place. Gallery admission is FREE! ‘Bernard Irwin: Let’s build a boat and sail away’ will run in the upper gallery, 22nd July – 8th August.
Image: Bernard Irwin, High Flying, h. 108 x w. 108 cm, acrylic on canvas.