Oliver Bak
Mark Barker
Alvaro Barrington
Anderson Borba
Edward Burra
Andrew Cranston
Kaye Donachie
Raphael Egil
Robbie Fife
Libasse Ka
Behrang Karimi
Alastair Mackinven
Andrew Miller
Anton Munar
Mary Ramsden
Frank Walter
For his commencement speech to students at Columbia University School of the Arts, which was published in The New York Review on the 10th July 2014, the great American writer, Hilton Als eloquently described artists as 'builders and destroyers of truth and memory, makers who take from the past-their memories-to create a present that shimmers with veracity and poetry.'
Als borrowed his title, Ghosts in Sunlight from Truman Capote's 1967 essay written on the set of the film adaptation of his 1966 novel, In Cold Blood.
I have stolen it again for this exhibition, which takes place at the height of summer in the gallery at Thirsk Hall, a house steeped in history, standing on the flat land between the dales and moors of North Yorkshire.
There are ghosts here, so it seemed fitting. But it was also Als's ode to artists that spurred me into thinking about why these paintings and sculptures are being brought together.
This approach is at the heart of all of the works exhibited and conveniently connects the two historic painters, Edward Burra and Frank Walter with this group of contemporary artists; allowing us to see how artworks from different periods can sing together in harmony whilst also triggering new unexpected readings.
Mid-20th Century English painter Edward Burra's watercolour and gouache, Composition (1933-34) is heavily influenced by Surrealism with multiple perspectives and symbols and yet the image exudes a vibrancy and expressiveness that still resonates today. Burra's work floats in its own space in time; clearly not the present, but certainly not rooted in the 1930s. It's a world he has envisioned but one that touches our senses.
Artist and writer Frank Walter was born in Antigua in 1926, returning to live and work there in the early 1970s after spells in Europe and Dominica, and remaining on the island until his death in 2009. His dreamlike landscapes were born from continuous observations of nature although the resulting images are so magical in form and palette, they enter another realm beyond his era and place of birth.
Andrew Cranston, Alastair Mackinven, Kaye Donachie, Behrang Karimi, Oliver Bak, Anton Munar, Mark Barker and Robbie Fife all make figurative works that transport us into their own orbit albeit one imbued with the richness of historical figures as much as their daily lives.
Alvaro Barrington, Mary Ramsden, Libasse Ka, Anderson Borba, Raphael Egil and Andrew Miller are more closely engaged with abstraction but the figure is never far away. Subtle references act like traces to something familiar but out of reach. Something that only colour, surface and texture might convey more successfully."
- Rory Mitchell