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 


£28,800 


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 


£24,000 


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 


£22,200 


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 


£22,200 


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 


£28,800 


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 


£22,200 


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 


£22,200 


14/48: 

“Futile efforts to Impress: 

48 hours from fine dining in a top hotel restaurant to a 

Chinese takeaway in bed!”

14/48 


£22,200 


Whiskey Flake: 

“Childhood pranks, indoor fireworks and family 

repercussions.”

Whiskey Flake 


£12,000 


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

Rick Garland Intermission catalogue

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