My first introduction to Joe Grieve was on the banks of the Blackwater River in Ireland. He was standing there in front of me with long curly blonde brown hair about to work for an artist that I'd collaborated a lot in the past showing me his sketch book. On his flight to Ireland he'd whipped out his sketch book and painted two studies of the Irish Sea whilst flying over it. The man lives to paint, he literally goes just a little bit mad (well madder than he is) if he stops painting for a prolonged period of time. I've worked with Joe on a number of projects at this point and he stresses to me with about 2 or 3 weeks to go before the project completion that "I'm gonna take a big break after this probably not paint for 3 or 4 months..." without fail a few days later he's stretched a canvas or his sketch book is out and ready to be filled with psychedelic landscape imagery.
When Joe arrived at Colstoun in October 2022 he was the guinea pig, he's never one to shy away from a challenge and so without much thought or planning at the start of our residency journey I said to him... "so what do you want to do?"... he quickly responded "I want to paint a really big painting"... and so we set about collaborating on a giant work... he provided the creativity, the paint, the canvas, the wood, the ability and I provided a space... seems like a pretty fair collaboration.
Within days what started to unfold is unlike anything I was expecting. after stretching a canvas over 4m wide and 2.4m tall (a single canvas by the way not a diptych) he began to paint another painting... in my mind I am thinking to myself what on earth is happening here? and then another canvas appears, and another one again... at this point I think to myself a young 25 year old has had a laugh and this guy has no idea what he's doing. but over the course of a month Joe painted and painted and explored and foraged his way around Colstoun producing a number of large works, a massive painting and countless sketches and studies. from dawn until dusk the boy paints.
Joe immersed himself into our family and took advantage of the facility we provided him, honestly he was the perfect first person for the residency and provided me with the buy in from my family to pursue the residency in 2023 in a more meaningful way. As the days progressed the smell of oil paint permeated through the building the house became a hive of activity after 5 weeks past by in a flash it was sad to see Joe leave and return to London and his studio. he had to prepare for a second show with BWG gallery and left full of inspiration for a series of 50 small oil paintings that was realised with his show "Between Place & Time" on Soho Square. The works would be shown alongside larger paintings by Joe and lead to international public institutions connecting with Joe's work for the first time.
After Joe finished his show we set about producing something on a different scale at Colstoun, we wanted to give people a chance to see how Joe could produce a show on a different scale, one that wouldn't be possible in London. The Other Side saw Joe spend the best part of a year bringing together a linear body of work that in Large scale represented a year of journeys and exploration both literal and emotional. It sits in the middle of a year which has seen Grieve be a part of 2 London Group shows, a Canadian group show curated by LBF Gallery and an inspirational trip to Nepal.
Joe has provided us with a number of works for RESIDENT I including mosquito farm, where the colour has literally been sucked out of the work by mosquitos all that remains is a charcoal outline of what was too come. Grieve's works are becoming ever more distinctive and obviously by his hand combining a combination of colour, psychedelic imagery, imagined spaces, imagined flora and fauna interspersed with hidden imagery and symbolism littered throughout his work, the more you look for it the more you will find. 2025 is setting up to be an incredibly exciting year for Joe with interest for shows seen in Korea, USA as well as other big news to be announced.
Drastic Detached is a highly contrasted abstract landscape that incorporates rich purple red skies that to my eye include voluptuous female figures dancing amongst the golden sunset light. Tied into lush green hills punctuated with cloud inversions pocketed across the landscape. Grieve loose and fast, painterly and bold brushstrokes provides the viewer the opportunity to add their own detail, and when combined with strong contrasting colours produces a neo-fauvist sensory delight.
Website: www.joegrieve.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joebennellgrieve/
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