Barry De More: Dab And Stroke

Barry De More: Dab And Stroke

An hour spent talking to Barry De More (b.1948, Guernsey) in his current studio in Elland is more satisfying and entertaining than a day spent with many a more celebrated artist, thanks to an essential modesty that is rarely combined with such an obsessive commitment to painting. Barry’s urban landscapes and figurework have, since 1982, been been widely exhibited in the locale – and have featured in at least one group show at Dean Clough.

If this sizeable solo show is long overdue, it at least means that a wider audience will get the benefit of seeing a mature painter who has successfully developed his impasto work as a way of structuring the ‘found energy’ that has always inspired him.

There is, as Barry puts it, “a deliberate clumsiness or nervousness” in these images of local scenes and family members (“I don’t look for the picturesque” he notes “but prefer to make something memorable out of the mundane”). There is also, though, considerable observation and a clear basis in drawing that lies behind the final, discretely complex and hard-worked canvases.

Held in the Upstairs Galleries.