George Shaw

the long version

"George Shaw is known for his minutely detailed and luminously atmospheric depictions of the urban landscape and woodlands of central England. Painting scenes from his native region, he meditates on the central themes of relationships, ancestry and love. His preferred medium, Humbrol enamel paints, is a deliberate means of distancing himself from the traditions of oil painting. Yet as a teenager in Coventry, Shaw developed a deep relationship with the National Gallery, making regular day trips to London to draw from those artists he found inspiring. In 2014, Shaw began a two-year residency as Associate Artist in the Gallery, finding new inspiration from the Collection. Although the evocative works he made during this period appear strictly representational, they allude not only to the religious and mythological stories told in the paintings of Bellini, Crivelli, Titian, Poussin and Contable, but also to the popular and lowbrow films and magazines of his youth. This new series of paintings, Shaw's first on canvas, is reproduced here, together with working drawings and an illuminating essay by the artist himself"--Back cover.