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Graham Crowley on the state of play for contemporary painting
Graham Crowley is one of the most distinguished living painters in the UK today. As the deadline closes on entry to the John Moores 2010 competition, Jobs and Opps Editor Kate Brundrett asked him for his views on the competition’s significance and for his ‘take’ on the state of contemporary art practice.
How important is the John Moores to painters? If a Martian turned up in your studio and said, “Tell me what’s been happening in post war British painting.” You could do a lot worse than to show him some of your John Moores catalogues. It would give him a pretty good idea of what had been going on. Looking at the Moores and the Walker as a project, you’ve got one of the most comprehensive histories of post war British painting. Whereas, when you look at the Tate collection over the last 10 or 20 years it’s become increasingly a reflection of the market. There are fewer and fewer paintings that have any kind of influence on the discourse of practice, and certainly very few paintings that have any political kind of cogency or subject matter. With the Moores, you’ve got a history there that is totally parallel, another history, and a more comprehensive reflection of post war British painting than just about anywhere else. With prizes like the Turner we’re all aware of the influence that a few dealers exert. The John Moores is relatively free of these influences. This leaves the way open for some of the more engaging, innovative,...
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