Foolish Romantics at Quays Arts, Newport.

Foolish Romantics

Matthew Burrows,

Simon Burton and

The Baron Gilvan

Michael West Gallery, Quay Arts

Sat 13 Feb – Sat 3 Apr

Drinks Reception: Sat 13 Feb 2 -– 4pm All Welcome

Foolish Romantics is an exhibition of three contemporary painters who look at the idea of the artist as fool or trickster. From clowns to strange transmogrified creatures and landscapes, the paintings explore the balancing point where expectation hangs between meaning and meaninglessness. It is a cosmic cultural adventure, a cocktail of myth, folklore and religion. It is a moment of transition between mortals and gods, the natural and the supernatural or perhaps between romance and the restless antics of the fool.

The exhibition will include paintings and works on paper by Matthew Burrows, Simon Burton and The Baron Gilvan.

The Baron Gilvan is best known through his bawdy concert hall performances with The Karaoke Circus and the song writing duo of Foster & Gilvan (www.myspace.com/fostergilvan).

His paintings have drawn from the characters around him that often inhabit a world of Victoriana, faded grandeur, and addiction to diazepam. In 1991 he suffered a breakdown that lasted 18months and it was during this time at Barrow Gurney Psychiatric Hospital that he was able to devote more time to painting. Since then his drawings and paintings have helped to inform his often ludicrous and endearing stage personas, they reference classical landscapes and portraiture that Baron Gilvan encountered at British Stately Homes and castles in the Alsace.

Foolish Romantics by Matthew Burrows, Simon Burton and The Baron Gilvan, runs from: Sat 13 Feb – Sat 3 Apr 2010, Michael West Gallery, Quay Arts, Sea Street, Newport Harbour, Isle of Wight PO30 5BD

Tagged as: Foolish Romantics, Matthew Burrows, Michael West Gallery, Quay Arts, Simon Burton