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David .A. Hunt 'Painter of the Staffordshire Moorlands' - A Celebration
1st floor of The Nicholson Institute
Stockwell Street
Leek
Staffordshire
ST13 6DW
Tel: 01538 395530
About
A collection of work by the late David .A. Hunt.
The beautiful Staffordshire Moorlands was home to artist David Hunt, for decades it fuelled his creative imagination. It provided him with the inner restless drive to paint, a drive that never abated. David found inspiration in many places and subjects but the Moorlands gave that intimate sense of place and belonging present in so much of his work, we are taken to his landscape, his world. Deeply moved by what he saw, David was compelled to capture and make sense of the natural beauty around him in paint. Through his work, you experience the sensations he felt; the warmth of the sun, cold, wind, stillness, shifting dazzling light, the movement of grasses, water and fast clouds. What he fought to express was elusive and captivating, he was obsessed, he returned time and again to the same lonely stretches of moorland, abandoned places and haunted lanes. He let these ancient places speak to him, he translated that raw experience on to the canvas and shared it with us all.
This process of seeing feeling and painting mattered to him, through it, he revealed his humanity, his need to communicate. He cared, making art is about caring, leaving something of yourself for others to find. Working mainly in oil and pastel over the years his technique evolved from a more structured approach to a great freedom of expression. Often paintings would emerge out of a chaos of marks and simple gestures, his best work would have a spontaneity and speed. He would frequently surprise himself, ‘ look at that, how did that happen’ I heard him say on more than one occasion. He relished the intensity of painting, up close with bold strokes, intuitive marks and smudges, layers of refinement and then the delight of stepping back and viewing the whole, thoughts feelings and intentions realised . He had such quality of control, so skilful, he was a great painter, an artist
David did a rare thing, he lived an artistic life with all its insecurity, doubts and frustration. It may seem reckless and absurd to pursue this desire to create and realise the ephemeral but through his singleminded passion we see beauty and truth.
Shortly before his death David said:
‘At the end of the day I just paint my response to my world.
No more, no less’
Artists' create and paint things others don’t see , so come and enter David’s world, feel the millstone grit of the Roaches, taste the peat in the air and watch the cotton grass dance. Experience the Staffordshire Moorlands through his vision and spirit.
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