Rick Sanderson:
Travellers Tales
The fleeting movements of race horses in the parade ring, the joyous freedom of playing on a Cornish beach and the light splashing across the nets of Thai fishermen on the Mekong river: just some of the themes transformed by Rick’s use of luscious colours and lively rhythms. At Morvah Schoolhouse Gallery you can see his intuitive drawings collected from travels through India, South East Asia, Spain and, closer to home, the west of Cornwall. Drawings made on journeys into the exuberant and colourful world of horse racing will also be on show. As Rick fills his sketchbooks with vibrant pencil lines, he also fills his senses with memories of the vivid sights, sounds and smells encountered. Back in his Bath studio, these delicate drawings are transformed into sumptuous, life-affirming paintings that layer rich imagery and meaning in dynamic pictorial spaces.
“Exotic backwaters, temple ruins, great river. Racecourse, cliff path, boat at sea. Something has happened to me and I have happened upon something.
In the studio, each now of my experience becomes part of a geology of response. Paintings are laid down in mixtures of then and now. Each completed painting, like a Travellers Tale, an object of experience, something for someone to happen upon”.
Every visitor to the exhibition will respond to the dynamics of the paint in a different way depending on their own well of memories. Those who have travelled to exotic places, had wonderful summers on the Cornish coast or have revelled in the excitement of horse racing, may connect with their memories of places and events. However, the paintings are a celebration of more than the scenes that Rick originally captured in his sketchbooks. The wide appeal of Rick’s paintings is shown by the fact that its collectors range from musicians, authors and TV presenters, to Gurka officers from Nepal! This exhibition provides the perfect opportunity to enjoy the intensity and warmth of these sparkling works.
