News update:
Steve's current exhibition at the Sottivira-Ostaria Venexiana,Freienhofgasse 12, 3600 Thun continues until 26th January 2012. Open 08.30-22.00 daily except Sunday.
Steve will be exhibiting at GZ: Art Basel 2012, June 13-17th
June also sees the publication of 'Artists in Switzerland 2012' including Steve's work by Kunstbuch-Verlag Dori Art.
In October he shall be exhibiting in Steffisburg/Thun with ArtwithBusiness.
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Born Portsmouth, England, 1956 Studied: Portsmouth and Cheltenham Colleges of Art and Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic BA (Hons) Fine Art
Exhibitions
Cyprus: Opus 39, Nicosia* / Rogmi Gallery, Limassol* Eire: Tom Kenny Gallery, Galway England: Drey Gallery, Chelsea, London* / Duncan Miller Fine Art, London / Contemporary Fine Art Eton Scotland: Gallery 41, Edinburgh / Cromarty Gallery, Cromarty* / Alder Arts, Inverness / Browns Gallery, Tain / Tore Gallery, Inverness / Scottish Arts Club, Edinburgh / Lyth Arts Centre, Wick Switzerland: Alte Post, Riehen* / Kunst Forum International, Meisterschwanden
* solo exhibitions
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November 2011 Critique: 'The Artwork of Steve Brockman-More' by Penelope Sexton, as Freelance Curator (now working as Curator for the award winning Compton Verney Art Gallery, Warwickshire)
The Artwork of Steve Brockman-More
Well-known British born painter Steve Brockman-More has worked as an artist for over 30 years, initially and primarily painting landscapes in the familiar style of the post Impressionists or Colourists. The style of these early works reflect the sweep of colours found in the works of Scottish painters John Duncan Fergusson and Samuel John Peploe, and of British artist Ivon Hitchens, especially in the impression of movement in the foreground, such as in the work Autumn Fire (2006).
His portrait painting, a style of linear realism, such as that of painter Lucien Freud, draws the eye to the work, where you feel empathy for the feelings of the sitter, as in Christopher (2007). The expressionism within the works leaves the viewer feeling as if there is something more, the deep down inner thoughts, which on first viewing you may have missed.
Brockman-More’s more recent works have taken a new direction and since 2009 have been produced exclusively digitally, although we still see elements of the earlier work, especially in his use of the digital paint and full brushwork.
These digital collages may seem innocent at first, but the subtle detail of additional imagery come to the fore such as the striking digital photos of fast cars or threatening black crows.
Within these works the most evocative references are to the personal upheaval of the artist, to the lives and feelings of the sitters, similar to those seen in Brockman-More’s earlier portrait paintings.
These newer works are not necessarily comfortable to engage with - they reveal connections to the family, loss and in particular, abandonment; a loss of a member of the family or a loss of love by the artist. The work A Mothers Love (2011) depicts a mother with her child, initially hidden from view hiding behind the door. The woman is more focused on herself and her image rather than the relationship she has with the child. The sombre feeling evoked in this work, can only make you want to embrace that child.
These works also embrace current issues such the world of glamour versus health, where there seems to be a focus on weight and food (Beach Pose (2011)) and economy, with references to tourism (The Bird Lover (2011)). They sometimes will feature or make reference to paintings such as those by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825 -1905). More recently the artist’s purely constructed photographic works of men, women and children on the beach (as seen in Red 1 Blue 1 (2011)) allow the viewer, without choice, to become a voyeur on the scene set out before us.
One of Brockman-More’s new works really stands out. The two sorrowful children situated between the tree’s in the foreground of the work Remembrance (2011) makes reference to the Pre-Raphaelite movement (1848-50), a group of Victorian artists’ who wanted to achieve clarity of colour, line and realistic treatment of religious subjects. These children have 21st century faces, seemingly in a world of despair. The digital landscape painting and the image of the black crows (a Christian symbol of death and destruction) sit in the mid-ground and leave you searching through the detailed layers of the work, wanting to know more about each element in which you have been immersed. The final part of this work disguised, as part of the landscape, is a body, the gender undefined, lying and possibly dying between the trees. Who is this person? What is their relationship to the children? What is their relationship to us?
The artist has made a major shift from paint to pixel in the development of his work. It is through experimentation using these new tools he can perfectly develop form, colour, composition and personal subject matter, which allows the viewer to empathise with the artist’s feeling of vulnerability, pain and loss through the power of the digital brush.
Penelope Sexton November 2011