Mike Cain - A Terrible Beauty.

 
A TERRIBLE BEAUTY: Thoughts on the work of Ian Pearsall by Mike Cain.

Stoke on Trent has been painted and photographed many times over the last hundred years or so. Michael Ayrton painted a 'Shard ruck' in Etruria in the 1930s. Ernest Warrilow created a huge archive of photographs of the city (now held at Keele University) and Arthur Berry painted 'The Potteries' and its people throughout the post-war period until his death in 1994. These and many other artists have made Stoke on Trent one of the most visually well documented places in the country. So whenever I see new work showing the city I ask myself what does this artist bring to the table?
In the case of Ian Pearsall it begins with his composite approach. He sketches, takes photographs and finds images, then draws past and present together into compositions that offer an exciting sense of the dynamic. In one of the paintings the outline of a terrace of houses runs down a hillside from left to right across the picture plane. From the centre of the image comes a line of figures walking towards us. Their collective form makes a kind of black wedge. These elements give the work a sense of movement, space and depth.
Ian’s work isn’t just about Stoke on Trent, but whatever the subject matter his work’s strength often derives from a strong sense of tonality with blacks, whites, and greys juxtaposed with smaller areas of strong colour. His willingness to create what I can best describe as a colour climate rather than working within the perceived palette, shows considerable courage. Finally there is that something special. A kind of raw energy. It is a quality that the poet W.B Yates speaks of in his poem Easter 1916 - 'A terrible beauty'.
Stoke on Trent has produced countless objects of great beauty, but that achievement has come at a great cost. Its interdependent industries not only scarred the land with their smoking chimneys, slag heaps, shard-rucks and marl holes, they scarred the workers and citizens with tuberculosis, silicosis, rickets and all manner of respiratory diseases.
Ian's paintings have great integrity. They do not attempt to glamorise and while they often draw on the past, they do not wallow in sentimentality. He has the courage to show his world ‘warts and all’ hence a 'terrible beauty'. His work has something else – progression. He continues to experiment and to move forward, and it is this, which I believe holds the key to his future as an artist.

'Fire & Light - The STEEL Series of drawings' opens at The Arts & Craft Collective Gallery; 93 Causwayside, Edinburgh, EH9 1QG on Thursday 18th October 2018 at 6.30pm for canapes and drinks!