Chichester: rediscovering their love of painting

Three creatives return to a first love of painting for an exhibition entitled Point Of View at Chichester’s Oxmarket Centre of Arts from November 11-23.
The pier Grahame DudleyThe pier Grahame Dudley
The pier Grahame Dudley

Grahame Dudley and Nigel Rose are ex-art directors, and Mick Dean is an ex-advertising photographer and director of TV commercials.

All three trained at art school in the 60s and have now returned in their 50s to the business of fine art via various universities.

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Chichester-based Grahame, who is organising the show, said: “My work is mainly figurative. I am just drawn to the human body, either in terms of the nostalgic or what I call the myth of memory. You look at a painting, and it is an invitation to speculate what exactly is happening. I have done a number of paintings down at West Wittering as a place of wonderful childhood memories, but what are you actually remembering? ...which is why I call it the myth of memory, the balance between fact and fiction, what we see as our memories.”

The pier Grahame DudleyThe pier Grahame Dudley
The pier Grahame Dudley

Graham, currently studying for his BA at Chichester University, has taken a year out to concentrate on developing his studio practice. He is delighted at the diversity which has come together through the exhibition – and would like to think they will all exhibit together again.

London-based Mick Dean has won numerous painting prizes and has had numerous one-man shows at Highgate Contemporary Art, The Chelsea Arts Club, Royal Society of Oil Painters, Mall Galleries and the Albermarle Gallery.

The core of Mick’s work is based on erosion. The foreshore of the Thames and the old industrial heartland of London, now fast disappearing, have been a constant fascination.

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Nigel Rose, also London based, works predominantly in portraiture and the female nude. He has exhibited at Ladak Gallery, London, the BP Portrait Awards 2012 and Sheen & Webb’s Gallery.

For Chichester-based John Harmer, a found image, a memory or a quick sketch may act as a catalyst for a painting. The act of painting is its own journey. He has exhibited at the Mall Galleries, London, Dulwich Art Fair, the National Open Art Competition, 2010 and 2012 and Pelham House.

Thomas Lewis, Chichester based, mostly bases his paintings on found photographs. He uses images he feels have a degree of dream-like nostalgia in them, evoking a sense of place without being instantly recongnisable. He has exhibited at the National Open Art Competition, Brighton Art Fair and at the Oxmarket.

Sculptor Lou Rapley, Chichester based, is currently studying fine art at Chichester. Inspiration of her work comes from the beauty she finds in mundane objects, often discarded and worn. She has exhibited at the Otter Gallery, Stride Open, and ArtOne, Chichester University.

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