DARTMOUTH FIVE
Dartmouth Happy Families Cards. By simon Drew, John Gillo, Andras Kaldor and John Donaldson
Virgin Mary, had to carry Riley (the smallest) as Jesus to a manger under the supervision of Drew as the Archangel – but Riley was still dropped into it. At the dress rehearsal for the swimming, Donaldson remembers that they were standing on a dais in the exhibition room, mostly in underpants with noseclips, practising receiving their gold medals, when in walked a family to look at the paintings. They froze. Very slowly, the family went from painting to painting, until they came to the unmoving tableau, considered it, and moved on. they had created their first piece of installation art, a true Gilbert and George. Wives were always an integral part of it, critics of the art, man-
agers of the business, organizers and morale boosters. They re- member lots of dinners, particularly at Sally’s Bistro at the Kaldors’ place and regular eating at the Gillos’, Drews’ and Rileys’. They went on holidays together, to the vineyards of Bordeaux (this spawned an art exhibition in the restaurants of Dartmouth with a food-and-wine theme), and elsewhere in the south of France. What held them together? They all say Dartmouth, they all
say friendship and they all say food. Was it the art? Gillo says ‘the group meant a huge amount to me for both inspiration and support. They have all been true friends over the last thirty years or so. It has been great to watch our work develop with shared inspiration and ideas. We all work in our own way, but we all pursue visual goals that are ultimately philosophical.’ Drew points out that because art is fairly solitary, being with like-minded artists was tremendously encouraging, and that combined exhibitions attracted attention and helped sales. But for him and the others, the company and having a good time were equally important. As Riley says ‘There was great camaraderie and mutual respect. We had a good time and we supported each other’.
JOHN GILLO the first to arrive of the five, John Gillo set up a gallery in Dart- mouth in 1976. He had studied at Brighton School of Art, and in the early days taught art, first in Falmouth school of art and then Churston Grammar School. ‘During the winter of 1976’, he says, ‘I realised that the idea of teaching art for the next thirty-plus years was totally abhorrent and one particularly boozy evening with a friend...we decided to go out and set up a gallery.’ at first, Gillo’s work was about abstract ideas to do with colour interaction, often on a large scale. Since this did not work commercially, he turned to traditional watercolours, mostly of Dartmouth and the surrounding villages. Within that discipline he found himself still trying to develop complex patterns and struc- tures. ‘Some of the work I now shudder to think of’ he says. But some he still likes. Now, he has gone back to acrylic and more abstraction. Still within what he calls a ‘landscape format’, it is an exploration of distortion.
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River mouth (used as the book’s cover illustration) nudges the architectural chaos perched on Dartmouth’s hills to make a subtle vortex of houses tipping off their foundations with the same shift- ing landscape appearing through the colours of the water while the clouds above scud off to the far right. The buildings, water and clouds become a maelstrom, with the painter and viewer inside; his painting Two Ferries moves with the same dynamic. mackerel uses complementary colours to create a sense of con-
stant movement caught by shifting light from above and below. He says ‘Fish lend themselves to this composition, highly directional, they flash through the water reflecting light and colour.’
Horne Hill Steps, Dartmouth, acrylic by John Gillo, 2007
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