Anthony Daley (b.1960 - British artist originally from Jamaica) creates colour saturated paintings which are rooted in the essential vernacular and textures of abstractionism, embraced in a heady dialogue with the artist’s irresistible pull towards Romanticism and beauty. Often starting with the gravitational pull of a single drip as it traverses the canvas, these luminous paintings with their brooding colours and occasional surges of tender light seem to be in a constant dance of flux and flight.
Subliminally, these paintings whisper something rich and inexplicable, as pheromones in the ether signal and summon up feelings of ecstasy or love. To experience these paintings is to feel some of exquisite balancing act traversed by the artist in his pursuit of beauty; the physicality and intimate connection to the painted surface which yearns for that elusive moment where the ‘surface looks felt and born all at once.
Daley says of this process, ‘The attainment is not truth, but a freedom to mingle and navigate a beauty- truth- love- continuum through a pictorial minefield littered with the potential pitfalls of chaos and collapse. It is that yearning for a singular defining magic moment when one brushstroke, mark or gesture in any distant part of the picture can seem to commune with every other part, all at once, as if in the realm of quantum weirdness and brings the entire picture to a climatic finish.’
Daley first came to prominence in 1983, selected as one of the 1st artists for the acclaimed Artist of The Day series of exhibitions at Angela Flowers Gallery, London and was awarded the Pollock-Krasner Painting Fellowship in 1984. His work is held in major public collections, including The Tate and National Portrait Gallery and he has been shown to critical acclaim in numerous exhibitions internationally, including solo exhibitions in New York, L.A and Zurich. In 2022 his work will be the subject of a solo exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London.
This exhibition occurs at a time when there is a long-overdue re-appraisal and appreciation of the work of important artists of Caribbean heritage. The imminent Tate survey, Life Between Islands, Caribbean- British Art 50s – Now is the latest in an important lineage which has included No Colour Bar (2015) and Get Up Stand Up Now (2019) – coupled with a noticeable surge of representation in the commercial gallery sector.
The exhibition private preview will take place on Tuesday, 7 December. If you are interested in attending please be in touch directly with hello@galleryoca.com.
Photo © Gallery OCA
