John Squire at Signal Gallery

John Squire returns with Re-Engineered Garments, an exhibition of new paintings and mixed media works, on display at the Signal Gallery, East London, from 6 March - 6 April, 2008.

Building on a prolific year’s work and two high profile exhibitions in 2007, John Squire’s collection of new works illustrate his continuing desire to develop and experiment with a set of recurring mixed media motifs, whilst more confidently exploring the textures and layers which his canvases bring to life.

Squire’s latest bold paintings move into the realm of collage, layering pieces of fabric and pat-terned paper, which interweave with thick splashes of scratched, layered wax, against a backdrop of hessian canvas. Squire integrates used, traditional garment fabrics as symbols of Englishness, which underlies this new collection of works. The classic fabrics have been re-appropriated through the ages by different movements and outlets, and reflect a home-grown identity.

Following on from his recent exhibition at Dazed & Confused Gallery, where he first began to work hessian and rougher, more natural tones and textures into his painting, these new works offer more sophisticated, sharp plays of colour and intricate layering, which often mirror the patterns, lines and ripples of the natural world. Squire is in this way a rather quintessentially English painter; his paintings suggesting landscape forms, which move between the rural and the urban.

John Squire’s work has necessarily been informed by his dual experiences as a musician (most famously with the Stone Roses) and artist. Renowned for his paintings and sculptural works which have, since the late 1980s, frequented the covers of albums and singles, from the Stone Roses onwards.

His early artwork, which was suddenly propelled into a high profile realm as a consequence of his success as lead guitarist with the Stone Roses, inspired a generation of young music fans to explore 20th century painting, and many of his paintings are already iconic images and much loved works with their own identity. However, John Squire’s career as a visual artist has always taken its own trajectory, developing independently from his musical celebrity, and his focused, consistent output now demands critical attention in its own right.

John Squire has most recently exhibited at The Smithfield Gallery, London (4 – 29 July, 2007) and the Dazed & Confused Gallery, London (6 September – 4 October, 2007).

John Squire: Re-Engineered Garments is at the Signal Gallery, 96a Curtain Road, London, EC2A 3AA from 6th March - 6th April, 2008, open Tuesday – Saturday, 12 - 6pm.

Image: Detail from No Recomendation For Clemency, 2007