From the Black Country to Shetland

GEORGINA COBURN examines the work of Shetland-based visual artist Paul Bloomer

IN AN art world driven by celebrity and the shock of the thirty second fix, the work of Paul Bloomer is an example of the lasting significance of evolutionary practice.

The extraordinary range, power and focus of his work represent dark and light as equal parts of the same vision. There are a number of Northern artists that remind us that the search for truthfulness in painting never really went away, and Bloomer is undoubtedly one of them.

The artist’s work over the last twenty years is a fascinating journey, celebrated in his current solo show at The Boundary Gallery in London (until 21 April 2007).

The uncompromising nature of the woodcut and the artistic integrity of this technique characterise the artist’s work. Bloomer describes it as “the backbone of (his) narrative compositions”. Woodcut by its very nature “forces unclear ideas into shape by the demands of cutting a block, forcing inventive deliberate shapes and special solutions.”

In order to appreciate light you must also understand darkness. This is not just a reflection of aesthetic contrast but one of morality, social engagement and humanity, qualities also seen in the work of German Expressionists such as Nolde, Beckmann and Grosz.

This striving towards light is a guiding principle of Bloomer’s work in woodcut, etching, charcoal drawing, watercolour and oil painting, and is reflected in the need for constant experimentation, stripping back what is known to nothing again and again to satisfy a basic search for truth in a synergy of technique and subject matter.

Lack of light in the North has brought its own intensity to this process, moving from the urban industrialisation of the Black Country where Bloomer grew up to Shetland, which has been home to the artist since 1997.

In the same manner as Beckmann, Paul Bloomer’s work exhibits the hand of a superb draughtsman, and is clearly seen throughout his work from early charcoal drawings in the late 80’s, woodcuts of the 1990’s and recent narrative paintings.

The move from urban subject matter and the exploration of the ”human psyche in all its brokenness and brilliance” in black and white has in more recent times been transformed into the joy of light, luminescence and colour of the natural world in watercolour, oils and mixed media.

This ability to not get too comfortable even within the strength of a distinctive body of work is a definitive feature of Bloomer’s art. It takes courage to not rest with what you know and continue to develop new ways of seeing as an artist. It is a challenge that this artist fully embraces, wherever that journey may take him, and viewing his work over the last twenty years this visible creative force forms a remarkable signature.
 
The 1990 charcoal drawing “Journeyman” (366 x 152cm) is an accomplished large scale composition with the central figure striving in the midst of a spiral of water that reads like a vortex. The piece is full of Black Country imagery, a bleak post industrial townscape with the protagonist or artist at the centre of the triptych.

The charcoal drawing “The Children at the Furnace” (244 x 153cm, 1990) presents a harrowing urban interior reminiscent of German Expressionists George Grosz and Otto Dix. This feeling of striving against darkness and the depiction of the human condition is also echoed in the woodcuts “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” (122 x 174 cm, 1999) and “The Highway” (48’ x72’, 2002).

The starkness of these black and white images creates a demand for strong composition, uncompromising treatment of the figure and critical social commentary. Bloomer describes his work from this period as being “forced into shape by a very powerful emotion, sense of urgency and desperation”.

Though profoundly different in character and feeling later works such as “Journey’s End”(Oil on canvas, 120 x120 cm, 2006) find their strength in composition and narrative through this earlier work.

The transition from an urban environment to rural Shetland is marked by the need to create a new language. Large scale woodcuts such as “Flight” (36’ x 48’, 2000) represent a spiritual shift from darkness to light. The spiral of movement and low landscape beneath are a superb evocation of life in nature realised in black and white.

Exploration of these qualities in painting and a return to narrative work emerged from immersion in this new working environment and in the words of the artist “a safe sanctuary for the soul”.

Connecting with the Shetland landscape does not define this artist as landscape painter. Painting day and night in all weathers, the effects of sand, wind and snow on the paint surface and the exploration of colour to convey emotion, natural beauty and light displays a maturity where “colour and form (begin) to carry equal weight.” This handling of paint moves beyond depiction of land, sea and sky to convey vibrancy, energy and hope.

Bloomer cites the “spiritual colour” and “versatile conception of space” of 14th century artists Lorrenzetti, Simone Martini and Ducco, and the work of fellow Sienese artists Sassetta and Giovani de Paolo of the fifteenth century as strong influences.

The work of Vuillard, Bonnard, Monet and Rothko also inform the artist’s use of colour, transcending its decorative associations to emerge as a pure emotive element of luminous energy.

Mixed media techniques allow the artist to layer effects of light and colour with sensitivity, this interplay in works such as “Approaching Snow 7” (Mixed Media, 21x 30cm, 2006) and “Northern Lights Over St Ninians” (Mixed Media, 42 x 59cm) create a sense of depth and movement into abstraction.

Paul Bloomer’s work reveals the strength and vision of work created in relative isolation. What is most fascinating is the way in which exploration of subject and technique throughout the artist’s work illuminate the human condition. His art defies narrow definitions associated with geography and is dynamic, socially relevant and universal.

As a member of the artist-led group Veer North based in Shetland, Paul Bloomer’s work is independently inspired by its locality but in no way insular. The artist describes the importance of identity as part of a wider circle of influence:

“Highlands and Islands artists should strive to maintain international identity without denying what it is that makes our work unique to the location we live in. Think of the difference the St Ives crowd had on the subsequent development of British Art.

“What is beneficial is the space and isolation needed to develop a personal vision, the emotional security that this environment provides as well as such close contact with nature.”

What is beneficial and satisfying to the viewer is being brought into such close contact with our own nature as human beings and the nature of that struggle in darkness and light.

The advice given by artist and professor Norman Adams when Bloomer was a student at the Royal Academy Schools still hold true: “Find yourself a visual anchor” and “Do not turn your back on pain and suffering”.

The current London exhibition “From the Black Country to Shetland- 1989-2007” displays the extraordinary range and depth of this artist’s work, which consistently defies categorisation. I am certain that Paul Bloomer’s work will continue to evolve in unique ways, true to the creator’s vision.

A 36-page colour catalogue of the current exhibition is available from the Boundary Gallery, London.

© Georgina Coburn, 2007

Links

• Paul Bloomer
• Boundary Gallery