Saturday 5 November 2011

The Genji Series

Hello everyone,

I hope that you're all enjoying the beautiful autumn weather we've been having this week, and that it's keeping you in a positive frame of mind.  If not, then you still have 3 days left to come and see some beautiful paintings inspired by autumn at the gallery, and they are guaranteed to inspire you.

One of the artists exhibiting is gallery regular Mark Nichols Edward, whose instantly recognisable paintings of exotic fish are always so popular. In fact, we are lucky enough to own a superb Mark Edward painting ourselves.  His paintings seem to have an extremely calming and positive effect on all who view them: just this morning a client commented that he felt he could put his hand into the painting and actually stroke the fish - what a lovely concept.  Mark's work is constantly developing with new techniques and concepts appearing all the time, but it has to be said that for this exhibition he has really excelled himself, producing what I believe to be his best work so far.  just take a look at this:


 














'Genji I', acrylic on canvas, by Mark Nicholas Edward.
A real beauty, isn't it?  One of a series of 9 Genji paintings we have in the gallery.


Mark always uses interesting titles, and the use of Genji is no exception.  Genji, a story written by the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, is generally considered to be the world's first novel.  In very, very simple terms it is a tale of love and passion that follows the lives of many characters from childhood to old age.  It documents how they change and develop over that time, and Mark has long likened this to the changing of the seasons - how appropriate for an exhibition entitled The Onslaught of Autumn.  Just like his meticulous paintings, his use of such a title is thoughtful and clever.

Feel free to pop in for a look if you have the time.

Speak soon. 

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