Today I visited the new exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery featuring work from Rabiq Shaw from the last 10 years. His painting are breath taking. At first glance, the bright, clashing colours, jewel and glitter embellishments immediately grabbed my attention. But beneath the beautiful surface are much more sinister scenes inhabited by cannibal, SM monkey warriors! and other mythical creatures. His paintings are inspired by the work of Holbein and Bosch, revisiting their often controversial subjects. Whilst his style often reflects that of Persian minatures and Japanese textiles. The scale of the paintings considering the detail is amazing. Most of my photos are close ups as you wouldn't be able to make out the scenes otherwise. I watched the documentary being shown which featured Shaw himself taking you through his processes and themes. As a student at Central St. Martins School of Art, Shaw had little money (as most of us do!!) So instead of spending 2 weeks worth of food money on a tube of oil paint, he rocked down to the hardware store to buy the cheapest wall paint going. He then experimented mixing the paints with other mediums such as enamel. He has since been perfecting this technique for the last 30 years and, although he has now upgraded to better quality paints, still uses it today. The marbled effect created using this technique looks fantastic and the detail had me squinting inches away from every piece. His main theme is satire of the human race, and although monkeys are the main subjects, their actions are not far from those of people all around the world. I really enjoyed the exhibition, and had a little grin on my face all the way round. I think it's important to not take life too seriously, and that definitely come across in Shaws work.
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