Cathy's Art Diary

Strange but beautiful exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery marking Graham Crowley winning the John Moores Painting Prize in 2023. Crowley had entered the prize 16 times over the years and had been shortlisted twice as well as being a juror. He won in 2023 and part of the prize was to have this display which was focused on his painting "Light Industry" which the gallery bought in 2021. All the works were in cadmium yellow and grey and yet they were amazingly detailed. They all showed his workshops, studios and gardens, all areas of creativity for him. They were slightly dazzling en mass but I loved the effect. He is in essence painting the light and shadow of the place. Closed 13 July 2025

Interesting exhibition at the Walker Gallery for this painting competition which is held every two years and aims to reflect the best of contemporary art. As with most competitions there were some nice works and some not so good. I’ll admit I didn’t really understand the winner “PV windows and floorboards” by Rose Wylie and could feel the words “A child could have done it” starting to appear in my head but I am sure there is something I missed. My favourites were inevitably the ones with a subject such as David Dawson’s “18.45 April 7th 2011” a picture of 1930s houses in a street done in thick impasto paint or “Tony Noble’s “Small houses and big tress”. I fell in love with Frank Pudney’s “People 68104” which had thousands of tiny people grouped together to make up a Chinese style picture. It had a feeling of Anthony Gromley’s “Fields” or as I call them, with great fondness, the little people. The most novel work was one by Conor Niall Rogers painted on a crisp pa...