Basil Blackshaw, H.R.H.A

Fenton Gallery, Cork, where purchased by the present owners

Cork, Fenton Gallery, Basil Blackshaw, 23 September - 21 October 2005.

Original canvas in excellent original condition with strong passages of impasto throughout. Under ultraviolet light there appear to be no signs of retouching. Unframed.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Executed circa 2003-2005, the fluid handling and thick impasto of the present work exemplifies the dynamic style Blackshaw has been developing over the past few decades. Hovering dramatically between abstraction and representation, Studio Door is also crucial in referring directly to a seminal moment in his artistic development - the burning down of his studio in 1983 which forced him to reconsider the direction of his career. In contrast to his more well known subjects such as Chaser in a Stable (lot 64), it led to an important series of works focusing on the urban subject of his friend Joe Bell's council house. In works such as Joe Bell's House (sold in these rooms, 30 October 2007, lot 44) he fused a concern for architectural outline with the energetic application of heavy impasto and has clearly heightened this effect in the present work.