06.10.1948–present
Godfrey Blow
Godfrey Blow was born in Lincolnshire, moved to Western Australia in 1982 and has lived since then in Kalamunda, near Perth. He paints the dry, rocky landscape around his home, spending several months on a single picture. In 2002 he founded the Perth Stuckists, and his work is held by the Art Gallery of Western Australia and other collections.
Biography
Godfrey Blow was born on 6 October 1948 in North Hykeham, Lincolnshire. Another Stuckist, Eamon Everall, was born on the same day.
He studied at Sheffield Hallam University, where he gained a BA Hons degree, and then at Manchester Metropolitan University, where he qualified as a teacher. Before leaving he managed to show his work in London: in 1976 at the Barnet Arts Centre, in 1980 at Hendon Library. In 1982 he emigrated to Australia and settled in Western Australia. He made his living by teaching and through his own work; in recent years the emphasis has been on painting. His first solo shows there were held in 1983 at the Fremantle Arts Centre and at the Glyde Gallery in Mosman Park, then in 1984 at the Undercroft Gallery of the University of Western Australia. Next came the Quentin Gallery in Claremont (1986), the Fremantle Arts Centre (1989), the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery at the university (“Facing the Dawn”, 1992), the Geraldton Regional Gallery (1993) and the Gomboc Gallery in Middle Swan (1996 and 1998). In 2001 he showed at the Church Gallery in Claremont; the reviewer Judith McGrath wrote that the viewer travels from the dark realms of the troglodyte to the bright hues of angels, and that in the images themselves, despite some tortured forms, there is a noticeable spirituality. In 2006 the exhibition “Symbols & Metaphors” was held at Stafford Studios in Cottesloe, and in 2014 “Landscape, Sea and Beyond” at the Harvison Gallery in Perth.
His paintings are highly finished and worked on over many months. He draws mainly on the dry, rocky landscape around his home: hot, earth colours and crisp detail. Myths and mythical landscapes remain a constant source of subjects for him.
In 2002, after a conversation with Charles Thomson, the founder of Stuckism (an international art movement that champions figurative painting), Blow formed the Perth Stuckists (by other accounts, in 2003). He has exhibited with the group, notably in “The Stuckists Punk Victorian” at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool during the 2004 Liverpool Biennial. In 2006 he took part in “The Triumph of Stuckism”, shown as part of the next biennial.
His awards are mostly regional: the Bunbury City Invitation Art Purchase Award (1984), the Western Australia Week Invitation Art Award (1985), the Silver Anniversary Art Award at the 25th Albany Art Competition (1987), Highly Commended at the Royal Agricultural Society of WA Invitation Art Award (1987) and at the City of Gosnells Art Award (1993), the Cossack Art Award for painting (2002) and Highly Commended at the Minnawarra Art Award (2007). In 2006 he was a finalist for the Fleurieu Peninsula Biennale Art Prize for Australian landscape painting, and in 2007 a finalist for the Mandorla Art Award.
Blow’s works are held by the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Artbank, the University of Western Australia, Curtin University and Sheffield Hallam University, the collections of the cities of Bunbury, Albany and Fremantle, the Holmes à Court Collection and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, as well as in private collections in Australia, France, India and the UK.
Profile notes