The constant search for whatever is next. Last weekend was mostly disappointing in terms of art galleries and shows. A rather questionable, rather perplexing so called pop art show by some self-proclaimed “angry pop artist” down Brick Lane that I did take many photos of and did write a few hundred critical words about but really, who needs it? The constant search for something more, there was a couple of disappointing art show openings on Thursday evening that were probably not really worth a mention either, a couple of disappointing bands on Friday night, a so called punk-flavoured metal band who were more like some kind of clucking hen party then anything anywhere any notion of punk rock. 

The constant search does go one though, something about a dislike of quiet, the sheer wonder of sound and quoting someone who just said that on the the radio? The sheer wonder of paint? It is all mostly about a search for the new but then the best thing encountered in terms of art last weekend was a sneak preview of the Michael Crowther show that opens later this week at Benjamin Rhodes Gallery. A sneak around the back of Redchurch Street and the small gallery that is where you find Benjamin Rhodes now as part of the wonderful red brick buildings of Old Nichol Street that are the edges of the world’s oldest council estate.  

I guess we could tell you what we think about that Ben Turnbull show down Brick Lane, but then I really didn’t know what to think of it and I could tell you about the annoyance of going to the Maximilian Wolfgang Gallery during their clearly advertised opening hours only to find no sign of life. Yes I know life gets in the way of running an art gallery sometimes, been there, done that, but does it take more than a second to say something on your social media or gallery website when you can’t be open? And whoever Maximilian is, they had been bugging us to come see the current exhibition for most of the previous week, we did get a rather amusing note about art and sustainability; apparently the subject of the current show and a talk they were having that they wanted yours truly to come and partake in or cover or whatever the hell they were on about? They wanted me to come along but were apparently a little worried I might ask an awkward question or two. Oh no, we can’t have anyone questioning the current crop of East London art galleries can we? Heaven forbid, no no no. Yes men and women only as far as the current crop of cool kid self-congratulating East London art galleries are concerned. Apparently they wished to extend an invite but but but they want to make it “a constructive and peaceful conversation for all attendees” so no awkward questions or challenging the gallery or the artists involved, that is pretty much what they said, a debate where you can’t question anything, just a “constructive and peaceful conversation”. not sure what the hell they thought I might do or say? I don’t know, I was just busy making sustainable art and bypassing the annoyance of art galleries while leaving leaves on the street…

So that sneak preview of the Michael Crowther show that opens later this week at Benjamin Rhodes Gallery, an exhibition that actually opens this coming Wednesday evening, a sneaky early look gallery alive with small pieces of art, small paintings that are far from small. He was of course noted for his far larger works back there, but these pieces are really only smaller in terms of their actual size, they feel rather large to me.

A painter (and teacher), born in County Durham back in 1946, he was based in Cardiff for a long time, he is now based up in York and this is a collection of his recent work produced in that fine city that we are about to experience here in East London. New paintings. A first solo exhibit from the York studio, sequences of rich oil paintings that are touching on farm living and the north, paintings that are both beguiling and poetic, intriguing, I almost want to say delightful, but that makes them sound twee when really, these rather powerful paintings are about as far away from twee as things could possibly be… 

“There are a number of titles I have in mind which hover around the paintings. They may appear to have a loose connection to the final image but provide me with necessary fuel while I am working. Two are place names, most people would recognise “Scarboro”, a resort on the Yorkshire coast, few would know “Bollihope”, a place of scattered farms in County Durham. Other titles are more elusive, even evasive: “Off”, “Sideshow”, “Amongst Farm Horses”, “Silly Quid”. Some of these are the result of recent experience and recent reading, others have been around for an age, all of them are rooted in the bucolic, an area in which it seems I have an enduring interest. In the nineteen-eighties I made paintings and drawings of a farmhouse interior, a specific place I remember.  I have large drawings from this time around the house, and related drawings have been ever present in my books, apparently in incubation”.

“Recent work has followed a period of still life painting. Shells, sea food, nougat, hot cross buns, cake stands, but mostly flowers, were set up on a deep shelf I constructed in the studio. For a long time I painted objects that were in front of me. The paintings were made wet into wet and kept mobile throughout, the final image mostly emerging after an eleventh-hour erasure and repaint. My current paintings have evolved from much of this. Our move back to the north of England has made its own contribution”.

These paintings on the wall at Benjamin Rhodes Gallery are darkly coloured yet alive with rich colour, with life, they’re small, they’re big, they’re exciting all together in exact lines on the white walls of the small space and once again you really need to go see then, photos do these paintings very little justice. They’re powerful all together in the space, their detail demands you focus, not detail in terms of intricate painting, details in term painting decisions, in terms of marks made, marks placed..

Michael Crowther: Bollihope and Others runs from 3rd April until 23rd May 2025 at Benjamin Rhodes Arts which in turn is found at 62 Old Nichol Street, London E2 7HP. The gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday Midday until 6pm.

Previously on these pages

ORGAN THING: A two artist show, Luminous, two painters, two properly proper painters and the anticipation of light, colour and imagination. Richard Kenton Webb and Emrys Williams at Benjamin Rhodes Arts, East London…

ORGAN THING: Richard Kenton Webb at Benjamin Rhodes Arts. Painting as subversion? The great other? Paintings clever enough to not need to…

ORGAN THING: Tricia Gillman, Moment Fields at Benjamin Rhodes Arts – the tiny details feel important, the layers beneath, the things you almost sense rather than see. This, for more than one reason, is a rather recommended exhibition…