George Shaw is known for painting Tile Hill, an estate in Coventry where he grew up in the 1970s. His use of Humbrol enamel, normally used for painting Airfix models, has long set his work apart from other artists’. The reflective, lacquered effect finish offers a great contrast to the darker palette and his vision of the British landscape. Shaw was offered the position of Associate Artist at the National Gallery in London in 2014, where he revisited the work of the artists that had inspired him when visiting the museum as a teenager. Each morning, before the Gallery was open to the public, Shaw explored the various mythological woodland landscapes in the work of old masters like Titian and Poussin. In these woodlands he often found stories of drunken revelry, violent acts and illicit sex.
Shaw drew parallels between these works and his experience of the woodland around Tile Hill, where on morning walks with his dad he would encounter the discarded beer cans and pornography left behind from clandestine meetings and parties. During his residency at the National Gallery, Shaw used these memories. Shaw’s works may appear to be of traditional natural subjects at first glance, but a closer look reveals a narrative that explores British culture and its relationship with the landscape just beyond our towns and suburbs.
In 2016, George Shaw: My Back to Nature, an exhibition of the works created during Shaw’s residency, was shown at the National Gallery. In January 2017, Abbot Hall Art Gallery became the first partner venue to host Shaw’s exhibition, along with three works from the National Gallery’s collection that had inspired his work. Abbot Hall has a large collection of watercolours and a gallery dedicated to showing works on paper. Landscapes by artists such as J. M. W. Turner, David Cox and Joseph Wright of Derby are included, as well as key figures of British Modernism such as Graham Sutherland and John Piper. Shaw’s work will be a valuable addition to this collection.
