Sex and the sea at The Lowry
Sex and the sea at The Lowry
The Sea: LS Lowry and Maggi Hambling
The Lowry, Salford Quays
Sat 17 October 2009 – Sun 31January 2010
Private View: Fri 16 October 2009
STOP PRESS…..Maggi Hambling is available for interview at The Lowry
on Thursday (15 Oct) afternoon
Unlike the infamous TV programme, contemporary artist Maggi Hambling associates sex with the sea rather than the city, describing the way in which the waves dissolve as “orgasmic”.
Maggi explains, “The strength of the sea, its great mouth eating the land, gathering up the shingle and throwing it up into the air is very exciting. It’s also very sexy, the distant waves, their gradual moves towards the land, when it’s solid for a moment just before it crashes. As the waves dissolve it’s very orgasmic.”
The Lowry is showing Maggi’s latest, extremely powerful paintings of the North Sea and new bronze wave sculptures alongside LS Lowry's own deeply compelling seascapes. Visitors to The Lowry galleries from 17 October 2009 - 31January 2010 can see for themselves the infatuation behind both artists’ work.
Maggi is passionate about the sea, painting it every day. “Early each morning I draw the sea, much as a pianist practices scales, or a footballer limbers up. Back in the studio, in oil paint on canvas, I try to make the waves rise in their curves of the moon, become almost solid for a second, then crash, shatter and dissolve. The sound and speed of their action is what I’m trying to paint. For Lowry it is the quiet calm.”
Maggi also thinks the sea is a metaphor for life and believes her sea paintings reflect her own mortality. She explains, ““The sea is a powerful thing: it's like a lover, it's death, it's rebirth - it's got everything going for it. As a child, I would walk a short way into the sea, stand still and talk to it. Now I listen. The huge power is awe-inspiring and the North Sea, often like a raging beast, is fast consuming the land. As I get older, I identify with the shifting shingle, the sea, like time, enforcing an inevitable erosion. But this raging beast is also as demanding as a lover and I am still challenged and seduced.”
Michael Simpson, The Lowry’s Head of Visual Arts & Engagement, comments: “Both artists share a profound relationship with the sea and a deep commitment to painting the ocean. The sea absorbed and thrilled Lowry. For him the turbulence of the sea represented the battle of life. In contrast, Hambling’s work often pitches the viewer into the middle of churning, turbulent seas. Both Lowry’s and Hambling’s sea paintings pack a tremendous punch, in dramatically different ways.”
Seascapes are perhaps the most surprising element of LS Lowry’s work for those familiar simply with his industrial scenes. Yet the sea was an important metaphor for Lowry – recently described by The Guardian as ‘the greatest seascape painter of the 20th century’; Maggi Hambling is as absorbed and excited by the sea as her predecessor.
The Sea, by Maggi Hambling, a beautifully produced book of words and images, will be launched at the exhibition.
Posted on Wednesday, 14 October 2009 under Press Galleries Press