In preparation for his upcoming exhibition 70 +, Arthur Neal sat down ‘in conversation’ with Gallery Director Myles Corley.
"It was possibly the Brueghel painting of three very drunk men, slumbered, beneath a strange wheel like table and pancake roofed houses. It was both intriguing, disturbing and alive. . Or maybe it was the Van Gogh portrait of an old man in a straw hat that caught my attention on the back wall of the primary school classroom. I was eight years old. The combination of mystery, hidden narratives and in the case of the Van Gogh, an intensity of feeling and luminosity planted a seed. Fascinated on the one hand and moved by the other. By that Christmas (after much pestering) I was given an oil painting set with brushes, all in a lovely wooden box. As is common with childhood excitements, I found myself truly disappointed. Not knowing about priming, the result was disastrous. To console myself and on discovering that the turpentine had serious warnings of flammability, I made myself a flaming torch. Out of control, I dropped the flaming thing on to the carpet of my bedroom floor, which duly caught fire. I managed to put it out, without the need to call the fire brigade, and managed to conceal the large hole in the carpet until I left for art college many years later. Not much has really changed, apart from my being older and no longer being so foolhardy with matches. There have been many more paintings and many more stories, but the magic and struggle of it all has never faded."
- ARTHUR NEAL
ARTHUR NEAL - 70 +
A retrospective of painting.
The exhibition will feature work from 1970 onwards, where Arthur's painting career began - born out of Camberwell Art School. The title also references his youth of 70+, and also that there will be 70+ works!
The exhibition will run from Saturday November 5th - November 26th and will be shown throughout the entire gallery.