This dramatic cityscape by Tim Garner depicts the Midland Hotel in all its glory, amidst a Mancunian drizzle. The Midland Hotel will be undoubtedly familiar to locals as a landmark of the cityscape - Garner has truly captured the physicality of this iconic red-brick building, placing us on ground level amidst the shadows. We are submerged within the gritty haze of the city streets - we can almost smell the wet pavement around us.
- Media: mixed media on board framed
- Dimensions: 75 x 101cm
- Price: £3400.00
This dramatic cityscape by Tim Garner depicts the Midland Hotel in all its glory, amidst a damp Mancunian drizzle. The Midland Hotel will be undoubtedly familiar to locals as a landmark of the cityscape - Garner has truly captured the physicality of this iconic red-brick building, placing us on ground level amidst the shadows of this grand structure. We are submerged within the gritty haze of the city streets - we can almost smell the wet pavement around us. Although this composition is distinctively Mancunian, it could be a painting of any other city; it is simultaneously familiar yet nondescript. Garner's oeuvre is full of both visual and conceptual contradictions, which keeps his works endlessly engaging and distinctive. With a hazy vignette and iridescent pigments, Garner has portrayed this structure as though it is autonomous from its setting - it's almost ethereal, emphasised by cars fleeting by, which highlights the stillness of the setting within a city in motion. “It’s about juggling contradictions to try and bring out something that’s on the edge” Garner's works are visceral and tactile - they turn ephemeral snapshots and memories into something tangible and permanent on canvas, which live and breathe beyond their creation. Garner has a way of capturing the physicality of the city - as though we would get a residue on our fingers if we were to touch the concrete pavement. Through a formula of industrial materials such as metals and cement, Garner is able to appropriate this physicality, paired with a colour palette of metallics and iridescent paints to imbue texture, light and depth. With this toolkit of materials and methods, Garner is able to capture still moments in time; snapshots of the mundane, anti-landmarks of a city, expanded to large scale compositions which demand our time and attention. Garner views painting as a way of interpreting what's around us in a way that's both physical and metaphysical - his works are full of engaging contradictions, and have their own ability to guide the eye and tell a story of a dynamic city.
Based in his home studio in Stockport, Tim Garner is an artist who captures cityscapes through his own avant-garde lens. Inspired from his time living between Manchester and Paris, Garner works from photography and photo collage as his primary references, taking advantage of their visual immediacy and accuracy. Paint and cement are then used as a way of injecting emotive layers of meaning, forming Garner's distinctive style and flair. Through this process Garner has established his own visual language, which is imbued with character. His works are comfortingly familiar to a Northern audience, whilst enlightening and educating wider audiences. A piece of Mancunian history, this artwork would be a valuable asset for any contemporary art space, collection or home.