Ordeal, 2021

Brian Neish  

Brian Neish is fascinated by painted surfaces, particularly surfaces having to endure the extremes of sunlight, wind, frost and rain. He calls the appearance of these debilitating effects ‘Noble Decay’ to suggest a sense of them displaying increasingly unique visual qualities over extended periods of time. He never scrapes paint off, it’s all about the considered application of paint, one layer at a time Each series of treatments, conducted over many months, reveals surprising and unexpected moments.

Brian’s love of decay and the transience of buildings, especially the painterly surfaces of doors and walls, is clearly apparent. His layering of paint creates its own organic life, where past surfaces are seen though present surfaces. There is space and an open quality where the viewer can develop a relationship with the paintings.

This painting is a work from Brian Neish’s mini-series "Grey Paintings", comprising of six works were started in early 2020 and resolved by the summer of 2021. They are an evolution of ideas first explored in his "Panels" series from 2011 and more recent "White" series: the use of solid shapes, grids, and framing devices to develop a motif.

"Ordeal" appropriates the idea of using a red panel as a focal point. This feature was used in works dating back to that made between 2010 – 2012 when Neish was fascinated by decaying red fire hydrant panels incorporated into walls in Italian hilltop houses. The more formal use of a regular grid to situate the panel is the new development here, as well as accentuating the sense of exposed layering.