Castle Fine Art | Castle Galleries Newcastle

Thursday, 15 March 2012

INTRODUCING BILLY CONNOLLY

BORN ON A RAINY DAY

It is with great pleasure here at Castle Galleries Newcastle, we announce the launch of a brand new collection of limited edition art by Billy Connolly.

Billy Connolly is most well known as a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. His first trade, in the early 1960s, was as a welder in the Glasgow shipyards, but he gave it up towards the end of the decade to pursue a career as a folk singer in the Humblebums and subsequently as a soloist. In the early 1970s he made the transition from folk-singer with a comedic persona to full-fledged comedian, a role in which he continues. He also became an actor, and has appeared in high profile films, from Indecent Proposal (1993) to Mrs. Brown (1997), for which he was nominated for a BAFTA; The Last Samurai (2003) through to Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), to name but a few.

2012 sees Connolly’s artistic expression take a new path, in the form of fine art. In 2007, on a dull, cold and rainy day in Montreal, Connolly happened upon an art shop, where the urge to create took hold. Several hours and several Canadian dollars later, Connolly was back in his hotel room with a veritable smorgasbord of art supplies and a creative demon to exorcise.

His process is similar to that of the Surrealist Automatism movement, whereby the artist allows the hand to move randomly across the paper or canvas, without an intent to create anything specifically. Indeed, Connolly’s images seem to evolve as they are being created and he allows the image the freedom to become whatever it was destined to become. ‘Surreal’ literally translating as ‘above reality’ perfectly fits these creations.

I am delighted to present to you below a preview look at the new body of work, ‘Born On A Rainy Day’, which is a series of pen and ink drawings, created by Connolly over the last two years, before the official launch on Saturday 17th here at the gallery. This release of work encapsulates Billy’s thought-provoking characters, seemingly without identity. They are a product of Connolly’s vivid imagination; real and recognisable characters, portrayed in a surreal, almost dreamlike way.