Andrew Gi f ford—Spring, Amman

John Martin Gallery

Looking West from the Rooftop of the Hotel Asia, Study 2011Oil on panel7¼ x 8½ ins 18.4 x 21.6 cm

Andrew Gi f ford—Spring, Amman

12 October - 5 November 2011

John Martin Gallery

38 Albemarle Street T +44 (0)20 7499 1314 www.jmlondon.comLondon W1S 4JG F +44 (0)20 7493 2842 info@jmlondon.com

I had painted in Yemen four years ago and had wanted

to return to the Middle East for some time. The events

of the last year, what I saw in the media, made it

somehow more urgent. I wanted to be back there - not

to make any political comment, not to be involved in

something that wasn’t my business, but just to record

what I saw and paint what interested me at a moment

that obviously had a bigger significance. As a painter

who was fascinated visually in the Middle East, I could

go there to paint, nothing more.

A childrens art charity called Start had offered me a

studio in Amman. I decided to stay in the city rather

than go to the more obvious places outside like Petra or

the outlying hills or deserts. Amman spreads itself over

a series of steep hills with the city centre below. It meant

I had to paint either at street level, up close amongst the

markets, people, cars with all the movement and noise;

or from one of the many hills overlooking the city, with

the changing light creating patterns across the raw

concrete facades, and offering me the hues and shapes

that you only see in the Middle East.

All the small works in this exhibition were done on the

spot going back perhaps three or four times. Painting

downtown always brought a crowd: whilst painting

‘Souk in Jabal, Amman’ (p.34), I had 20 or so guys

around me who couldn’t understand why I wanted to

paint an ordinary market stand with a bunch of yellow

and green washing liquid bottles on it. They said I

should paint the Roman citadel instead. But after about

an hour, when the painting started to come together, the

joking and laughing turned into a more serious fascination.

This was one of the poorer markets, but nearly everyone

spoke a little English to me - I was offered tea and ice cold

lemon juice whilst being filmed by 20 phone cameras. I

often paint in places where the locals might never go to

an art gallery, so it’s like taking the art to them and the

art is completely relevant because it is their environment. I

don’t stylize or romanticise the view: most things have an

innate beauty but perhaps it is the job of an artist, even a

foreigner, to make the familiar surroundings seem new.

On my return from Jordan, I set about making larger works in

my studio in Brighton working from those smaller paintings.

They are made in a different way: they are not a reaction

any more, but rather a memory of the first reaction, a kind

of distillation of those first feelings. It is about recreating the

poetry of the place. Painting them becomes a slower and more

meditative process. I think about scale, composition, colour

balances and harmonies whilst also maintaining the level of

energy that gave those first paintings their life. The hard part

is keeping the bigger paintings vibrant: close up, the surface

builds up into a complex mass of seemingly accidental

scrapes, drips and glazes - these are the marks give the

paintings their movement, that gives them their pulse.

Thanks to Ola of Start and the kids that I met, what a

pleasure to help them make their first paintings. Also

thanks to Stephanie and Baba Ali, Fuad and his family,

Ramsey and the UN girls, Nora, Venessa and Belene for

their hospitality and laughter.

Andrew Gifford, 2011

Detail: Towards Jabal Hussein Mosque, Late Afternoon, 2011Oil on canvas45½ x 43¼ ins 115.6 x 110 cms

View from the Wild Jordan Café Looking North East, Late Afternoon, March 2011Oil on canvas 60 x 48 ins 152 x 122 cms

6-7

Looking downtown from Jabal Weibdeh, Early Evening StudyOil on panel 11¾ x 12 ins 30 x 31 cms

8-9

View From Wild Jordan Café Looking North East, Evening, March 2011Oil on canvas, 60 x 48 ins 152 x 122 cms

10-11

Study of Buildings from Jabal Weibdeh, AfternoonOil on panel 11¾ x 12 ins 30 x 31 cms

12-13

View From Wild Jordan Café, Afternoon StudyOil on panel 7½ x 7¼ ins 19 x 18.5 cms

Next Page:View from Wild Jordan Café, Looking North, DiptychOil on canvas48 x 96 ins 122 x 244 cms

14-15

Souk next to Al Husseini MosqueOil on panel 11¾ x 12 ins 30 x 31 cms 18-19

Looking West from the Rooftop of the Asia Hotel, Evening, 2011Oil on canvas43½ x 45½ ins 110.5 x 116 cms

20-21

Towards Al Husseini Mosque, Late Afternoon StudyOil on panel 8¼ x 8 ins 21 x 20.3 cms

22-23

Towards Al Husseini Mosque, Late AfternoonOil on canvas

45 x 43¼ ins 115.6 x 110 cms

24-25

Souk Al Taj Road, Mid-Afternoon StudyOil on panel7¾ x 7½ ins 20 x 19 cms

26-27

Souk Al Taj Road, Mid-AfternoonOil on canvas

45 x 43¼ ins 115.6 x 110 cms

28-29

Souk next to Al Husseini Mosque, Afternoon StudyOil on panel12 x 12 ins 30.5 x 30.5 cms

30-31

Al Husseini Mosque, Afternoon StudyOil on panel12 x 12 ins 30.5 x 30.5 cms

32-33

Souk Jabal Amman, Midday StudyOil on panel7½ x 8½ ins 19 x 20 cms

34-35

Street Study Looking Towards the SoukOil on panel8 ½ x 7 ½ ins 20 x 19 cms

36-37

ANDREW GIFFORD

b. 1970

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2011 Spring- Amman, John Martin Gallery, London

Pigment & Light, Phoenix Gallery, Brighton

2010 Budapest, John Martin Gallery, London

2010 Looking West from Albert Embankment,

London Art Fair

2008 Istanbul Light Series, ArtLondon

2007 Tyne Bridge Tower Paintings,

John Martin Gallery, London

2006 Ganzfeld Ball Installation, London Art Fair,

Arts Projects

2005 Paris Paintings 1, John Martin Gallery, London

Paris Paintings 2 & Dordogne Landscapes,

John Martin Chelsea

2004 Leeds /Bradford Paintings part of ‘Tales of the

City’, Leeds City Art Gallery

London Street Paintings, John Martin Chelsea

Andrew Gifford at the London Art Fair,

Business Design Centre, Islington

2003 Fontaine Evening Paintings, Art London

2002 Berlin Paintings, John Martin Gallery, London

2001 Retrospective, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh

2000 Paintings from the Sellamoto Studio,

Middlesbrough Art Gallery

1999 The Limehouse Series, ArtLondon,

Duke of Yorks Barracks

1998 Recent paintings, John Martin Gallery, London

1993 Artist in Focus, Middlesbrough Art Gallery

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2010 Art Athina, John Martin Gallery, Greece

2008 Changing Landscapes, John Martin Gallery,

London

2000 Blue, The New Art Gallery, Walsall

French Painting, Art2000, Business Design

Centre , Islington

1998 Art98, Business Design Centre , Islington

1997 Fifty and One, John Martin Gallery, London

The Discerning Eye, selected by Susan Moore,

Mall Galleries, London

On a Grand Scale John Martin Gallery, London

Edinburgh

Art 97, Business Design Centre, Islington

1996 Winter Exhibition, John Martin of London

Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition,

R.S.A. Edinburgh

Selected Artists, John Martin Gallery, London

1995 Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual

Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London

The Laing Art Exhibition, University Gallery,

Newcastle upon Tyne

1994 Light Fantastic, nine artists, Walsall Museum

and Art Gallery, West Midlands

AWARDS

1998 Gilchrist Fisher Memorial Prize

1997-98 Finalist, Villiers David Prize

1996 The Journal Art Competition, University Gallery,

Newcastle upon Tyne

1988-89 NYCC Art Centenary Award, York College of Art

& Technology

DOCUMENTARIES

2004 Heist, Channel 4

1997 Date with an Artist, BBC2

1997 Don’t Look Down, Scottish Television

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