CURRENT EXHIBITION:
Eric Gadsby: Works 1967-1977
20th March – 24 April 2015
Austin / Desmond Fine Art
Pied Bull Yard
68/69 Great Russell St
London WC1B 3BN
T: +44(0)20 7242 4443
F: +44(0)20 7404 4480
E: gallery@austindesmond.com
www.austindesmond.com
Born in Derby in East Midlands region of England in 1943, Eric Gadsby attended Derby and
District College of Art from 1961-1965. Gadsby found success at a young age when he was
selected for Bryan Robertson’s seminal 1966 exhibition: The New Generation 1966 held at
the Whitechapel Gallery. Gadsby’s work was also included in Robertson’s 1968 Whitechapel
show titled Interim, where he invited each artist from the previous show to select a
single work.
The New Generation exhibition series saw the most innovative British artists explode onto
the UK art scene; including David Hockney, Bridget Riley, John Hoyland, Phillip King and
William Tucker among others. “British art in particular has suddenly woken out of a long
provincial doze, is seriously entering international lists and winning prestige for
itself” (Bryan Robertson, The New Generation, Whitechapel Gallery, London, 1964).
Eric Gadsby’s large scale, bold abstract paintings are oil paint on cotton duck canvas and progress from the constraints of a traditional straight sided stretcher to shaped stretched canvases. The surfaces are painted in thin layers, carefully worked over, creating seamless transitions between colours and giving the impression of 3-dimensionality as well as a having seductive and powerful visual effect. “The measure of Gadsby’s success is that these images don’t look facile, despite the opulence and sweetness of their colour; instead they are aloof, constrained and tinged with mystery.” (Catalogue, New Generation, 1966)
Bryan Robertson described Gadsby’s work Odeon 1968, which was included in the Whitechapel exhibition Interim, as “…one of the best paintings I’d seen in England by anyone for a long time; very deep, silent and loaded”.
By the 1980s difficult circumstances had arisen in Gadsby’s life that interfered with further development of his work. Like so many artists of Gadsby’s generation, the lack of arts patronage in Britain limited the success and international recognition that many of these artists deserved in what was an exciting moment in art history.
| ABOUT | |
| 1943 | Born in Derby |
| 1961-65 | Attended Derby and District College of Art |
| 1963-65 | Exhibited paintings in several provincial art galleries |
| 1965-66 | Moved to London and attended Hornsey College of Art as a postgraduate in painting |
| 1966-70 | Taught at Norwich College of Art |
| Taught at Wolverhampton College of Art | |
| Taught at Guildford College of Art | |
| Taught at London College of Printing | |
| Visiting USA on Peter Stuyvesant Foundation Travel Bursary. | |
| EXHIBITIONS | |
| 1964-66 | Young Contemporaries, London (Arts Council touring exhibitions 1964 and 1966) |
| 1964 | Midland Group Open 21, Exhibition |
| 1965 | John Moores Liverpool Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool |
| 1966 | The New Generation: 1966, Whitechapel Gallery and subsequent tour |
| 1967 | Edinburgh’ 100’ Exhibition |
| 1968 | Leicestershire Collection: Part II, Whitechapel Gallery, London |
| 1968 | New Generation: Interim: Exhibition of Painting, Whitechapel Gallery, London |
| 1970 | John Moores Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpoo |
| 2015 | Eric Gadsby: Works 1966-1976¸ Austin / Desmond Fine Art, London, 20 March – 24 April |