PAST EXHIBITION:
JOHN SQUIRE: NOISE - AN EXHIBITION OF NEW WORK
This latest series of large-scale canvases continue to explore the use of text and language within painting, a motif which Squire began experimenting with in a series of paintings he made for his show at the Signal Gallery earlier this year.
The work
In the creation of these mixed media works, Squire has covertly recorded conversations by local people in and around Manchester exchanging stories and anecdotes of their life. These texts are built up on the canvas to form intricately layered land and seascapes with dramatic Turner-esque emotion and movement. Squire at times chooses to highlight occasional phrases which relate to the work or have motivated him in the creation of the work causing, on detailed inspection, an insight into the individual psyche of a stranger on a chance encounter.
Gradually flooding his canvases with a flurry of abstract, lyrical and often searching passages of text, these partial sentences are a stream of consciousness that build in half-perceptible layers through the paint. Snatched words and phrases become part of Squire’s quietly brooding landscapes, creating expressive movement across drifting seascapes and turbulent skies.
The artist
Based in Macclesfield, John Squire's work has necessarily been informed by his dual experiences as a musician and artist. Renowned for his paintings and sculptural works which have, since the late 1980s, frequented the covers of albums and singles from the Stone Roses onwards, John Squire has continued to develop his visual practice for over 20 years.
His early artwork, which was suddenly propelled into a high profile realm as a consequence of his musical successes, inspired a generation of young music fans to explore 20th century painting, and many of his paintings are already iconic images and much loved works with their own identity. However, John Squire's career as a visual artist has always taken its own trajectory, developing independently from his musical celebrity, and his focused, consistent and ever-evolving output demands critical attention in its own right.