This exhibition was developed in conversation with Zvi Noé and via the Rachel Charitable Trust and specifically designed for the staircase at 5 Wigmore Street. These spaces offer interesting architectural areas and are flooded with natural light. They create a wonderful environment for the display of paintings by our participants. It is a great pleasure for us to be working in the building and we would like to thank Zvi, Rachel Charitable Trust and BMO Global Asset Management for this opportunity and for their support of our organisation.
There is an emphasis in the exhibition of the paintings of Albert Geere. Albert has spent the majority of his life within institutions. At the age of two, in 1937, Albert entered the Fountain Children’s Hospital in Tooting.
A recurring theme in Albert’s work is buildings. These pictures resemble the familiar simplified image of a house, or home, with a central front door and chimney, and with windows either side. However, Albert’s introduction of vibrant colour and geometric elements within his paintings are extraordinary, and offer us a glimpse of Albert’s particular perspective of the world.
We are uncertain where Albert’s preoccupation with the ‘home’ arises. Initially we supposed that these paintings were an expression of his desire for his own home, but more recently we looked at images of the Fountain Children’s Hospital and have found similarities between Albert’s paintings and the architecture of the buildings in which he spent his childhood.
Wherever the inspiration for Albert’s paintings may lie, we thought that they offered an interesting link to BMO Global Asset Management’s activities within the built environment.
Also included in the display are works by Stanley Ellis, David Marriot, Jonathan Rogers and Sam Smith, all whom regularly attend our workshops. Alongside these are a few anonymous works and works by participants within our projects.
We have chosen paintings by these artists as they offer a counterpoint to Albert’s methodical and controlled approach to making pictures. The other exhibiting artists are more interested in process in their works, rather than imagination, and exploring the properties of materials. The resulting paintings explode with colour and energy and represent an instinctual approach to making art equally as valid as Albert’s ongoing project.
