Jane Matthews

26 March, 2009

WALKING into Da Gadderie at the Shetland Museum and Archives it is soon apparent that, for artist Paul Bloomer, Facing the Sea represents more than that which surrounds us geographically. More than a source of immense beauty and inspiration, the sea that Paul Bloomer faces is everything; life, death, politics, religion and art itself. In one (crowded) gallery we face all this too, while simultaneously being entertained and arrested by composition, brushwork, intense colour and light.

With work predominantly from the last five years and almost exclusively representing Shetland, this exhibition is a fantastic marker for an artist who has made Shetland his home, life, subject and muse for over a decade. This is felt in the energy and expression both of the large canvases and the many works on paper displayed in portfolios within the gallery.

“The work on paper is the back bone of everything else,” says Bloomer of his drawings and paintings, created on hills and beaches in all weathers with sand and wind and seawater an integral part of them. Nature is his “visual anchor”, a reference point to which he returns relentlessly in search of a personal, diverse and profound painterly enlightenment.

From his roots in the industrial Black Country of middle Britain to the academic studios of the Royal Academy in London, Paul Bloomer’s life has been led by a frenetic and insatiable obsession with art. And here in this exhibition it is easy to feel the energy; recurring patterns, rhythms, urgent sketches, flashes of pigment, and boundless passion, we are swept up by the fervour of this work as iridescent vermillion skies play against deep blood-burgundy shadows, alongside turquoise and azure seas.

Bloomer’s work echoes that of so many of the greats from the canon of art history and references come thick and fast; Monet-esque suns, Van Gogh brushwork, the haunted eyes of Goya’s subjects, the carnivalesque caricatures of Ensor’s revellers and the purity of light of the early Italianate painters. As profound as any is the affinity I felt that Bloomer has with the great English painter of the 20th century, Stanley Spencer (1891-1959).

Spencer spoke of bringing to his work, ‘the feeling the bible gave me’. He devoted a large part of his life to representing populated pastoral scenes of his native Berkshire that were rich with religious reference and meaning. Here in Shetland, Paul Bloomer seems to have just that same drive, passion and, most importantly, vision. He sees the wild land and seascapes that we see around us and transforms them into hymns. And like Samuel Palmer (1805-81) – another English great - the representation of spirituality in nature is born out through a love of the landscape.

Here each painting feels full, if not brimming, with the spirituality that comes from Bloomer’s own faith. From contemplation in The Lamentation of the Fishes to Gannets at Noss 1 and 2 where the sky appears like a whirling mass of celebratory crucifixes, from the saints and sinners of Up Helly Aa, to the Golgotha-like vision of Windfarm. Allegory and suggestion is rife.

There is an overriding sense of unease in many of the figurative works; a swarming air-raid of lapwing, a portentous vision of goldfinches, drawn to the light. But contrast this with the simpler (but no less expressive) landscapes of his patch of south mainland – Quendale, St. Ninian’s – where the paint does the work; textures and brushstrokes create traceries of light and sound, and the result is like being caught in a storm. I am drenched, buffeted and exhilarated by it all.

If anything Bloomer’s work is too big for this space, his paintings need more room to speak, because they have so much to say. However it is a treat to have such a measured yet intense mind working (literally) on these shores.

Facing the Sea, an exhibition of recent paintings by Paul Bloomer, in on show in Da Gadderie until 20 April. On Sunday 29 March, Paul will give an illustrated talk about his art in the in the museum's auditorium. Starts 2.30 pm, entry is free.