Kevin Sinnott 1947- // A Retrospective 1973-2004


Before I had any sense of history; before my horizons had spread not far beyond the free-time jaunts of a village in South Wales , and the torch of ambition had barely flickered; before this, I was aware of the significance of Paul Cezanne's painting. Such is the effectiveness of modern mythology perhaps, that such a strange cultural juxtaposition could occur. Nevertheless it was through the fullness of the respect paid to Cezanne by the twentieth century that the nineteenth century master of Aix could have reached my outpost and, in turn, send me scuttling beyond.




Acrylic on Canvas / 120 x 170cms. At the start of my 3rd year in the Royal College, and after a summer of intense creative involvement when a radical change in direction had taken place, I embarked on a series of paintings whereby my very immediate surroundings were rendered in as direct and honest a technique as my medium permitted.
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Acrylic on Canvas / 120 x 170cms. At the end of my 2nd year in the RCA which was my 6th in art education I experienced a summer of intense creativity when ideas kept me from sleeping at night. At the start of my 3rd year, I embarked on a series of paintings whereby my very immediate surroundings were rendered in as direct and honest a technique as my medium permitted.
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Acrylic on Canvas / 166 x 200cms. I regard this painting as the masterpiece of my college years. It was the center piece of my degree show in 1974. Towards the end of the 3rd year I had began to introduce elements of oblique relevance to the otherwise simple approach of rendering, in a very direct technique, my immediate surroundings: Kenneth Clark might have visited the studio between shooting his TV series Civilisation!
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Acrylic on Canvas / 160 x 180cms. At the start of my 3rd year in the Royal College, and after a summer of intense creative involvement when a radical change in direction had taken place, I embarked on a series of paintings whereby my very immediate surroundings were rendered in as direct and honest a technique as my medium permitted.
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Dry Pastel / A1. ..... Such drawings as this one would be treated with little regard for illusionistic devices eg. shading and perspective; would be executed without hesitation or worry, never corrected and always confident.
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Dry Pastel / A1. ..... Such drawings as this one would be treated with little regard for illusionistic devices eg. shading and perspective; would be executed without hestation or wor; never corrected and always confident.
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Dry Pastel / A1. ..... Such drawings as this one would be treated with little regard for illusionistic devices eg. shading and perspective; would be executed without hestation or worry, never corrected and always confident.
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Pastel & Guache / A1/ On leaving art school in 1974, I experimented more and more with what I saw as 20th Century Modernism: it's main strands, eg. Cubism and Abstract expressionism . This led me to a technique which has been called transparent form, denying any solidity to, say, the figures, I was brought back to the flatness of my surface and moved in and out of abstraction.
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Pastel & Acrylic on Cotton // 141cm x 181cm. By 1975, one year after leaving art school, I had established a regime of working for pay as a postman in North London while travelling into the East End to my studio to paint in the afternoon. Matthew my eldest son was 4, Gavin was born in the June of this year. Since late '74, I had been experimenting by drawing in transparent form, denying any solidity of the form and moving in and out of abstraction. Though this work was painted in 1976, in 78 I got it into the Whitechapel Open and the John Moores in Liverpool. Both occassions gave me much heart.
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Pastel & Tempera on Cotton / 150 x 170cms/ By 1975, one year after leaving art school, I had established a regime of working for pay as a postman in North London while travelling into the East End to my studio to paint in the afternoon. Matthew my eldest son was 4, Gavin was born in the June of this year. Since late '74 I had been experimenting by drawing in transparent form, denying any solidity of the form and moving in and out of abstraction.
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Acrylic & Tempera on Cotton / 160 x 180cms/ By 1975, one year after leaving art school, I had established a regime of working for pay as a postman in North London while travelling into the East End to my studio to paint in the afternoon. Matthew my eldest son was 4, Gavin was born in the June of this year. Since late '74, I had been experimenting by drawing in transparent form, denying any solidity of the form and moving in and out of abstraction. This painting is now in the collection of Jan Troha of Colorado.
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Tempera & pastel on Cotton / 122 x 168cms// Just before this time I remember putting on an exhibition in Thetford for Alan Stones. It was in association with the Local Authority, only lasted a week-end and was specifically designed to engage with the public. Well I came away concerned about the publics difficulties in reading my 'transparent form' paintings and decided to clarify the space. This was the result. Incidentally, this picture was later used in an article for Art News in the US (1980) to illustrate some point that Bill Feaver was making as the London correspondent for said Magazine.
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