CLIVE MCCARTNEY

Front Cover: Twilight, Grand Army Plaza, NY 84 X 119 cm Oil on Board

FRIDAY, CHARLOTTE STREET HOTEL30 X 42 cm Acrylic on Board

3

CATTO GALLERY100 Heath Street • Hampstead • London NW3 1DP

Tel: +44 (0)20 7435 6660 • art@cattogallery.co.uk

Clive McCartney

April 2013

Solo Exhibition

4

RUSH HOUR CROWDS, GRAND CENTRAL STATION122 X 182 cm Acrylic on Board

5

While Clive McCartney worked on this new collection for the Catto Gallery, he often painted to the music of the Americanminimalists such as John Adams and Steve Reich. Anyone familiar with these composers will probably recognise in Clive’spaintings a wonderful pictorial equivalent to the minimalists’ irresistible pulsing compositions.

Take ‘Rush Hour Crowds’, the latest of Clive’s Grand Central Station paintings. This imposing work – far larger than Clivetypically paints – has a rhythmic dynamic that’s almost musical in structure. And there’s a similar feel about other paintings inthe new collection such as ‘Twilight, Grand Army Plaza’ and ‘People In Time, The British Museum’.

All of these works expertly communicate the themes that have made Clive one of the UK’s most successful and best-loved artists.He travels the world to document the unique light conditions, architecture and ambience of different cities. And he admits that, yes,he is a bit obsessed. “I think I share with many artists the ability to focus on one thing and obsess over it for long periods,” he says.

He’s been doing so for many years. Clive was born in India in 1960, and says he has “been painting for as long as I canremember. It is as natural to me as breathing.” He completed his art education at the Central School of Art in London, andtaught at Dulwich College before becoming a highly successful full-time painter.

Today, Clive looks for locations with a particular light – a light that blurs the line between figurative art and abstract line. Lastyear he found these precise conditions in Montmartre, the region of Paris where so many giants of art settled in the late1800s. Clive was delighted to discover so much of the area away from the tourist hubbub to be unspoiled and quiet. It washere he painted “Study In White’, a trademark exercise in geometry that simultaneously suggests the melancholy of unwalkedstreets. “I became very interested in Proust when I was in Paris, and his ideas of time past and time present,” says Clive. “I’mnot a symbolist painter, but I do like the idea of imbuing apparently ordinary scenes with a deeper meaning.”

Montmartre also appealed because of its white buildings, another technical challenge for a painter who usually paints darkerhues. He even experimented with a layered textured effect in these works to further suggest, he says, a sense of time passing.

While many of those familiar with Clive’s work will be thrilled to see again so many of his trademark light-filled urban canvasesdepicting Parisian cafes, London bridges, Roman squares and Manhattan avenues, there will be equal delight at his new destinations.For example, Clive spent many weeks in Barbados relishing the challenge to depict its ‘ice cream colours’ for the first time.

How commendable that a mature artist at the height of his powers should still want to push himself this way. And howexcellent are the results. In the same spirit, Clive says he is now keen to take on the challenge of scale by painting even biggerpictures. Time to get a new ceiling put in at the Catto.

6

CONVERSATIONS, CAFE MARLEY, PARIS84 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board

7

THE LOUVRE, PARIS59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Board

8

TABLES ON RUE DES ABBESSES43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board

STUDY IN WHITE, MONTMARTRE48 X 64 cm Acrylic on Board

9

OLD MONTMARTRE43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board

EVENING TABLES, PLACE DAUPHINE43 X 53 cm Acrylic on Board

10

THE WOLSELEY59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Board

11

CLARIDGES59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Board

12

EMBANKMENT, EVENING43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board

PEOPLE IN TIME, THE BRITISH MUSEUM59 X 43 cm Acrylic on Board

13

BOROUGH MARKET, LONDON43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board

FLEET STREET, TOWARDS ST. PAULS59 X 43 cm Acrylic on Board

14

THE SANDY LANE HOTEL, BARBADOS30 X 42 cm Acrylic on Board

SANDY LANE30 X 42 cm Acrylic on Board

15

THE CLIFF, BARBADOS30 X 42 cm Acrylic on Board

CAFÉ, SAINT MARTIN30 X 42 cm Acrylic on Board

16

NIGHT LIGHTS, TIMES SQUARE59 X 43 cm Acrylic on Board

17

TWILIGHT, CENTRAL PARK89 X 90 cm Acrylic on Board

18

LA COLOMBE D’OR, ST PAUL-DE-VENCE43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board

19

THE OLD TOWN, CANNES59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Board

20

THE GRAND RESERVE, BEAULEAU - SUR - MER43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board

HOTEL DU CAP-EDEN-ROC43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board

21

ROOM 86, VILLEFRANCHE TOWARDS CAP FERRAT84 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board

22

STUDIO STAIRCASE, MONTMARTRE42 X 30 cm Acrylic on Board

STAIRS, MADELAINE42 X 30 cm Acrylic on Board

23

STREETS OF ST. GERMAIN59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Board

24

STILL LIFE WITH LLOYD LOOM CHAIR43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board

STILL LIFE WITH PENGUIN CLASSIC47 X 60 cm Acrylic on Board

25

ENGLISH ATMOSPHERES, TUNBRIDGE WELLS59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Board

26

TANGIER42 X 30 cm Acrylic on Board

DARKNESS AND LIGHT, CAPRI60 X 30 cm Acrylic on Board

27

STUDY IN WHITE AND OCHRE, TANGIER59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Canvas

28

BALTHAZAR, NY43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board

29

SILVERLIGHT, MANHATTAN122 X 182 cm Oil on Canvas

30

FRENCH ROMANTICISM, THE LOUVRE43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board

STREET, MONTMARTRE48 X 68 cm Acrylic on Board

31

STUDY IN WHITE, RUE DES ABBESSES, PARIS84 X 59 cm Acrylic on Board

32

THE WAILING WALL30 X 42 cm Acrylic on Board

CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE59 X 43 cm Acrylic on Board

33

ARCADES, SAN MARCO43 X 59 cm Acrylic on Acrylic

ROOM 32, THE SPANISH STEPS, ROME59 X 43 cm Acrylic on Board

34

THE NIGHTHAWKS, ST GERMAIN59 X 84 cm Acrylic on Board

INSIDE AND OUTSIDE, PALAIS ROYAL59 X 43 cm Acrylic on Board

Back Cover: "The Belongers", Grand Turk 43 x 59 cm Acrylic on Board

GARDENS OF THE TAJ MAHAL50 X 76 cm Oil on Canvas

INDIAN PALACE, KUCHAMAN59 X 43 cm Acrylic on Board

CATTO GALLERY100 Heath Street • Hampstead • London NW3 1DP

Tel: +44 (0)20 7435 6660 • www.cattogallery.co.uk • art@cattogallery.co.uk

Opening times: 10am - 6pm Mon - Sat • 12.30pm - 6pm Sunday • and by appointment