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Exhibition by Bernard Heslin
Steven Mendoza writes Bernard Heslin is a figurative painter whose formal concern is mainly colour. His colour is strong and richly decorative but also expressive in a way which in most of his paintings undermines their sensational qualities. In the same way his depiction of the single nude female figure only very rarely has the sensual qualities that might be expected of this motif. Usually the emotional content is disturbing and strong. This conflicts with implications of decorative or sexual qualities. What that emotional content is Heslin is reticent about. At one level it is political, concerned with liberation from suffering and oppression. But his idea of revolution is also personal, a ‘turning about in the seat of consciousness’, liberation of the spirit, liberation of compassion. He works spontaneously, concerning himself with the formal demands of the picture to balance colour and composition. The work is meaningful because he is concerned, not because he contrives it. In the same way his gestures are always candid and never depend on calligraphic facility. Images which may initially seem arbitrary come to be understood as meant and dense with extended acquaintance. The Artist Bernard Heslin presently has a Studio in London with ACAVA and also works in their ‘Artspace’ mental health programme. In addition he has a base in the south west of Scotland where he spends some of his time and where much of the new work is initially generated. Born in 1947 in Barrow in Furness he did not follow the usual shipbuilding and related engineering trades but left to join a religious order. Even at this time Bernard painted - largely self taught but supported by an active programme of arts events at the college. On leaving the religious order he decided to continue with his painting, studying at Christ’s College Liverpool and later attended part time courses at St Martin’s School of Art. He has painted for the last 30 years supporting his painting by a variety of jobs. In 1982 he was awarded a residency at Lowick House printmaking studios. His work is represented in several collections including The Arts Council of Great Britain, Greater London Arts Association, Rank Xerox, Barclays Bank, and private collections. Artist writes "I am a painter and have been painting for some 30 years working mainly in oils with supporting studies and drawings and some printmaking. I am a member of an artists’ studio group in London. In my work I have followed a line of investigation expressed through the motif of the human figure, usually a single female figure. I consider the work to be poetic in nature rather than descriptive and to be structured from a colourist standpoint, with the paint fluid and applied freely but denoted in a calligraphic manner. The work can be said to be expressive in style but there is no attempt on my part to shock the viewer. Each painting is worked organically without previous planning and generally belongs to a series of linked works."
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