Rick Garland Intermission catalogue

R I C K G A R L A N D
I N T E R M I S S I O N

RICK GARLAND
INTERMISSION
6th November – 27th November 2021

In his new collection, Rick
Garland ‘curates’ his own
memories, employing the
motif of the museum display.
Museums began in the homes
of collectors who created their
own groupings of objects,
with the mundane often
sitting alongside the bizarre.
In Garland’s new paintings,
glass bell jars encase the
artist’s memories, whether
uplifting or traumatic.
Antique printers’ drawers and
display units become
Garland’s own ‘cabinets of
curiosities’. The memories of
an individual may seem
random to anybody else, but
they have a logic within one
particular life.
Garland’s antique containers
preserve memories as though
they are creatures treated by a
taxidermist. However, they
also neutralise those
memories, enabling them to
be observed and analysed
from a safe distance. They
have literally become
‘museum pieces’, kept safe
and, in some ways, made safe.
But memory can distort the
past over time. Just as a
museum curator cannot create
an exhibition without
imposing their own ideas
upon the past, so a collection
of memories is inevitably
coloured by the individual’s
subsequent experiences.
Garland’s paintings raise
many questions. Why have
certain events or objects been
brought together? Can
memories ever be isolated in
this way, or are we always in
a continuing dynamic
relationship with them,
constantly taking them out of
their cases and reordering
them?
There are many memories
layered within each painting,
some very personal to the
artist. Garland has handwritten
a letter about each
piece. These letters have been
enclosed in envelopes with
the artist’s own wax seal.
It is up to the owner to choose
whether to open the sealed
envelope or create their own
interpretation of the story
with the basic information
supplied.
These are absorbing paintings,
which invite us to consider
the nature of our own
memories. What would we
put in our ‘cabinet of
curiosities’?

Mannings:
“One memorable party night in the country at the start of
the 1990s. Consistent fuel leaks from the old Citroen
‘Party Car’.
The fleeting nature of youthful fun....”

Mannings
76 x 92 cm / Acrylic on panel
£22,200
Click image to view fullscreen

Buddleja:
“Memories of weekend fun and family television. Simpler
times…”

Buddleja
122 x 92 cm / Acrylic on panel
£28,800
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The Quince Tree:
“The huge sprawling quince tree at my first childhood
home. The backdrop to my growing up and the
television and toys that accompanied it.”

The Quince Tree
102 x 76 cm / Acrylic on panel
£24,000
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Pine Fresh:
“A wet Devon camping trip with my Brother:
A drinking and pool competition with some Marines…
In a flooded field trying to get warm and dry in our old
Nissan Micra… The smell of pine fresh from cleaning the
camping gear in a car park after a drunken night… And
being faced with an unhinged local dressed as a cowboy,
who drew his guns on us at High Noon as we waited in
the laundrette for the sleeping bags to wash...”

Pine Fresh
83 x 83 cm / Acrylic on panel
£22,200
Click image to view fullscreen

Rematch:
“An important milestone in adult life:
Music, losing the drinking competition with my date
and us being rudely awoken with a shower of glass and
a golf ball, with shouts for breakfast coming from her
father.”

Rematch
92 x 76 cm / Acrylic on panel
£22,200
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O.G:
“Seven days of my life:
The crashing realisation of first true love lost, mix tapes,
party highs and blindsided rejection. Sunday morning
stream of calamitous events culminating in the good
fortune of a bus replacement service at a Berkshire train
station.”

O.G
122 x 92 cm / Acrylic on panel
£28,800
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The Rocket:
“The Rocket, a Citroen ‘School Party’ car, jointly bought
for £5 each with a retro fitted 90's stack hi-fi.
We wore clown disguises as we drove around town in
our school uniforms so as not to be recognised.
We felt a sense of honour, only taking and drinking the
milk opened by blue Tits whilst the local police staked
out the car.”

The Rocket
76 x 92 cm / Acrylic on panel
£22,200
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Holbrook:
“3 surreal days stuck in Australia:
Deliriously tired, limping the broken down camper van
into a deserted inland New South Wales town covered in a
plague of dead hawk moths. There in front of me was a
British world war 2 submarine on a roundabout… Then
waiting 3 days in this other worldly place for our hired
van to be mended.”

Holbrook
92 x 76 cm / Acrylic on panel
£22,200
Click image to view fullscreen

14/48:
“Futile efforts to Impress:
48 hours from fine dining in a top hotel restaurant to a
Chinese takeaway in bed!”

14/48
76 x 92 cm / Acrylic on panel
£22,200
Click image to view fullscreen

Whiskey Flake:
“Childhood pranks, indoor fireworks and family
repercussions.”

Whiskey Flake
61 x 71 cm / Acrylic on panel
£12,000
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Intermission Interview
Please click the image below to view Rick Garland
discussing the Intermission collection:
To view the limited edition catalogue
please click the link below
Intermission – Limited Editions collection

COLLEY ISON GALLERY
85 – 89 Colmore Row
Birmingham
B3 2BB
0121 236 0920