We’re saddened to read the news, shared by Flowers Gallery this morning, of the passing of wonderful Welsh painter Kevin Sinnott (1947-2026). Back in 2022 we wrote that “Kevin Sinnott’s paintings are about movement, the movement of paint, the movement of the subjects, the people (the movement of the viewer, you do need to move around these pieces), the movement of the bodies and their relationships – there is a lyrical style, a flow, a dance, the paint is glorious, joyous, dynamic, it really really is a thrill to be in here with all these paintings (with the room to myself). Gloriously gestural, exciting paintwork, the paintings are beautiful complex yet wonderfully simple, free, easy, they feel very natural”. It was an absolutely (exciting) pleasure to see his work in the flesh at that 2022 show, his humanity, his paintings that explored human relationships, and that sense of South Wales in his work.
Flowers said on that 2022 show: “We were honoured to present an exhibition of his recent paintings at our Kingsland Road space in 2022, ‘Liebestod’, which translates from the German as ‘love’ and ‘death’, and is also the title of the show’s central monumental painting, Sinnott’s largest and most ambitious work. Sinnott described the scale and theme of Liebestod as ‘operatic’ in its exploration of the tragedy of human love, fusing a personal iconography with references to the legendary doomed lovers Tristan and Isolde”.
Born in Sarn, South Wales in 1947, Kevin Sinnott trained at Cardiff College of Art & Design, Gloucestershire College of Art & Design and at the Royal College of Art, London. Sinnott remained in London throughout the 1970s and 80s, exhibiting in London, the USA and mainland Europe, before returning to Wales in 1995, where he has established himself at the forefront of the renaissance in Welsh painting. He was elected to the Royal Cambrian Academy in 2007. His work is collected worldwide and he is represented in public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Museums and Galleries of Wales; National Library of Wales; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; British Museum; Arts Council of Great Britain; Royal College of Art, London; British Council; and Deutsche Bank AG, London amongst others.
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ORGAN THING: Kevin Sinnott’s big big paintings at Flowers Gallery. Wow! Wasn’t expecting that…
THE ORGAN 