Old School?
Great works from the past continue to inspire artists today. A new show at Harrow School’s Old Speech Room Gallery juxtaposes historic watercolours by artists such as Turner with new pictures by the distinguished artist Dan Llywelyn Hall, painted in direct response to selected watercolours from the School’s collection.
Dan Llywelyn Hall was a finalist in last year’s world-renowned BP Portrait Award competition and featured on BBC Wales’s Arts & Entertainment Review of the Year 2009 over Christmas. His work is becoming increasingly well known, especially in his native Wales, but beyond as well; in 2003 he was the Sunday Times Young Artist of the Year.
“The opportunity of closely examining a collection as rich and diverse as Harrow School’s was a joy,” says Dan of the commission to produce the works for the Juxtapositions show. “To observe every brush stroke and nuance sparks something that cannot be felt from a reproduction. You somehow feel as though you are involved in a dialogue with the artist.”
Dan painted his reactions to pictures which span the golden age of the English watercolour. His vibrant and colourful paintings, with a greater emphasis on figures, are displayed alongside the School’s watercolours, setting up an exchange of approaches and styles between pictures old and new. His evocative titles add associations which afford the works additional layers of meaning.
The exhibition is called Juxtapositions - A Contemporary Response to Harrow School’s Watercolour Collection by Dan Llywelyn Hall, and will run from 19 January until 27 June 2010. The show is open to the public and admission is free.
Dan Llywelyn Hall was a finalist in last year’s world-renowned BP Portrait Award competition and featured on BBC Wales’s Arts & Entertainment Review of the Year 2009 over Christmas. His work is becoming increasingly well known, especially in his native Wales, but beyond as well; in 2003 he was the Sunday Times Young Artist of the Year.
“The opportunity of closely examining a collection as rich and diverse as Harrow School’s was a joy,” says Dan of the commission to produce the works for the Juxtapositions show. “To observe every brush stroke and nuance sparks something that cannot be felt from a reproduction. You somehow feel as though you are involved in a dialogue with the artist.”
Dan painted his reactions to pictures which span the golden age of the English watercolour. His vibrant and colourful paintings, with a greater emphasis on figures, are displayed alongside the School’s watercolours, setting up an exchange of approaches and styles between pictures old and new. His evocative titles add associations which afford the works additional layers of meaning.
The exhibition is called Juxtapositions - A Contemporary Response to Harrow School’s Watercolour Collection by Dan Llywelyn Hall, and will run from 19 January until 27 June 2010. The show is open to the public and admission is free.