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Paintings that turn the ordinary into the extraordinary
There is only one painting in the new book by Peter Brown that is not of Bristol but it does feature the work of another Bristol artist.
Ahead of a Banksy mural appearing in Margate in February 2023, Brown, also known as Pete the Street, was commissioned to head to the Kent town to capture the reaction to the piece.
Banksy has returned the favour in Brown’s new book, Bristol Paintings. “I’m a bit fascinated by Pete the Street,” Banksy writes.
“He paints what you can’t see, as much as what you can.
“I know he’s just applying paint to a bit of board, so how come his pictures tell you the temperature, the moisture, the smell? How the hell does he do that?”
Bristol Paintings by Peter Brown is published by Sansom & Co on November 13
Brown’s book of Bristol images follows others on London and his home town of Bath.
The front cover of the weighty hardback tome may feature a painting of the Clifton Suspension Bridge, but one of the best aspects of the book is its journey into unexpected locations far removed from the picture postcard view of our city.
Among the dozens of paintings are a mini roundabout in Knowle, a yard in St Philip’s Marsh, Dean Lane skatepark in Bedminster, Plimsoll Bridge in Hotwells, Redland Green, the arches from Cotham Brow, York Street in St Werburgh’s, Ashley Road in St Paul’s, Woodland Way in Hillfields and underneath the M32 in Eastville.
The reproductions of his oil paintings are so detailed that many individual brush strokes can be seen among the passers-by, familiar and not-so familiar buildings, and street furniture.
“I’m used to struggling with changing light, weather, tides – but fresh layers of graffiti? That’s a new one,” says Peter Brown of his painting of the M32 skatepark in Eastville
Brown provides the occasional commentary of his paintings which he completed en plein air on his trusty easel in all weathers.
“Wedged in between parked cars, I painted as the light faded and it began to rain,” writes Brown of an excursion to outside the New Found Out pub in Totterdown.
And outside Ka:Fei on the Centre, Brown describes how it “twinkled” on the winter afternoon he visited.
The end of a November day on Prince Street bridge
Twilight on Coldharbour Road in Redland
What is in the book are his views of what he saw across Bristol and a map of locations features snippets of conversations he had while working.
“Why did you decide to paint here?” asked someone in Netham Park.
“I like that unfinished look,” was a compliment received on Wick Road in Brislington.
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Who is your Bristol visual art legend? Nominate them in our new Bristol Legends event.
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Bristol Paintings is a remarkable document of the city in which we live over the last few years.
I found myself looking afresh at streets that I have visited hundreds of times; these common locations imbued with a renewed sense of place.
Brown transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary, the mundane into the magnificent.
A rainy day on North Street
Bristol Paintings by Peter Brown is published by Sansom & Co on November 13. To pre-order the book for £35, visit www.peterbrownneac.com/product/bristol-paintings-by-peter-brown
Peter Brown paints all of his paintings en plein air – photo: Peter Brown
All paintings by Peter Brown
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