Humble Humbrol

George Shaw paints the suburbs of his youth, the Council Estates  where so many of us have grown up. He uses Humbrol enamel paints which  evoke nostalgic thoughts in the artist-and in this writer. This medium allows Shaw to achieve an ultra-bland surface to his paintings (on panels). What he says about nostalgia is fair enough. But when he contrasts enamel paints with oil paints which he sees as being more appropriate for religious or High Art then we are on the level of whimsy. Oil paint is nothing more than a traditional medium which can and has been used to paint grand or  humble  objects. It is as basic as Humbrol enamel or egg tempera .

Another peculiarity is his concern with  titles. He found himself a good one in the  title for the show which apparently comes from Hardy. It is "the Sly and Unseen day". In fact it is  condensation of Hardy's phrase , " a day which lay sly and unseen among all the other days of the year"*.The artist  told The Observer that he had chosen "bumptious" titles for his deadpan, photographically dependent paintings in order to prod the viewer into thought.  Well, the most obvious thought is why does he distract the viewer with these pretentious titles? What you see is definitely what you get  and the results lack life. It seems that the titles are trying to force something which isn't there in the unrelenting banality of the images. A room of drawings was due to open but was not available at the time of my visit.

The George Shaw exhibition is on at the Baltic Kunsthalle in Gateshead.

*Chapter XV: referring to Tess's musing on the unknown day when she will die.