Wellington Arch
Private View: Thursday 8 February, 6-8pm
9 February – 21 April 2024
Somewhere Between The Sea and The Table is James Drinkwater’s first solo exhibition with Vigo Gallery. It will be presented in the Quadriga Galleries of Wellington Arch Museum in partnership with Apsley House and English Heritage between 9 February and 21 April 2024.
James Drinkwater’s paintings are celebrated for their vibrant, expressive colors, dynamic brushwork, and emotional depth. His works often convey a sense of energy and spontaneity, drawing viewers into a rich visual experience that reflects his passion for storytelling through art.
The inspiration for this group of paintings painted whilst a guest of the artist Jordy Kerwick at his studio in Albi, France derives memories of time spent on the beach back home in Australia with his wife and children.
Drinkwater hails from an Australian working-class town called Newcastle with a busy working harbour of fishing vessels, ship cargos and industry surrounded by remarkably beautiful beaches with rolling waves, beautiful sand, and magical light. In his youth many friends’ parents trained horses which they would bring down to the beach for exercise and relaxation and he now takes his young family to experience the same romantic visually rich scenes. In regional coastal Australia, bringing your horse down to the sand/water is still a big part of what it is to give a horse its mental nourishment and Drinkwater sees such natural beauty in this imagery. For him it’s about watching the horses luxuriate in the water and roll in the sand as he experiences family time on the beach. When the day is done it is common to fish for one’s supper and if you don’t catch your fish from the sea, you get your prawns, oysters or whatever on the way home from the fishmonger which you cook over a fire. The perfect day:
‘I’m playing with the hazy memory of a beautiful long summer day by the sea, with horses frolicking and children playing. At the end of the day, you roll into bed full, happy, hot - this inspired Somewhere Between the Sea and the Table.’ JD January 2024
‘James Francis Drinkwater paintings are physical - muscular - messy articulating something that Picasso started… blending nameable and unameable or recognizable imagery with nondescript painted signs, dancing in a frenetic ballet of attack after attack, sometimes confounding sometimes parting the seas of expression to a clear cohesive rhythm where painted cacophony reigns not over matter but out of matter. Personal familial local of somewhere faraway and right around the corner. James Francis (Drinkwater) paints in the same lively spirit of the great English painter Alan Davie look him up if you don't know him.' JULIAN SCHNABEL November 2023, Rome, Italy
James Drinkwater (b. 1983, Newcastle, Australia) is a painter and sculptor based in Newcastle, Australia. He studied at the National Art School, Sydney (2001) and has held 30 solo exhibitions since 2004. Major surveys of his work have been held at Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle; the NCCA, Darwin; The Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University. Drinkwater has also collaborated with fashion houses, choreographers, and composers to produce capsule collections, costumes and sets. He has produced commissions for Monash University and Multi Arts Pavilion, MIMA Lake Macquarie. He was awarded the Marten Bequest Scholarship (2011), the Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship (2014), the John Olsen National Art School Life Drawing Prize (2002) and has been a finalist in many prizes including the Wynne Prize three times, the Sulman Prize and the Dobell Drawing Prize. He is currently part of A Dream About a Horse at Vigo’s Masons Yard Gallery with Jordy Kerwick and Jenny Watson who have also delved into their subconscious to mine equine imagery in a primal unfettered way, taking snippets of memory and fantasy relating to the theme of childhood to inspire very different works.
Vigo at Wellington Arch: Vigo has curated shows in this historic venue by many emerging and established artists including Jordy Kerwick, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Daniel Crews-Chubb, Henrik Godsk, Matthew Burrows, and Erin Lawlor.
