Munster Express Online

Drift for a While is an exhibition of paintings by English Artist Jay Lear, which goes on view at Garter Lane Gallery. Perhaps it is just the gentle easing into the New Year that will provide inspiration. The official launch of Drift for a While is on Saturday 16th January at 12.00 noon.

For the artist, the first painting in the series was inspired by an icon on a computer. The journey to a finished piece is a voyage of discovery. It is a process of mark making allowing the completed work to reveal itself. Lear lives and works in Solva in Wales. From observing his abstract works it is possible to see how the light of that region is reflected in his work.

As an artist, Lear is interested in exploring the effects of space and pattern, in particular the relationship between what we see and our inner thoughts. For him it can feel like a stripping back of what is being seen and working out what is important.

He starts a painting with no fixed plan of where he wishes the artwork to go. This could be from an idea similar to the icon, a discovery from a previous painting, or from a sketch or photograph. Often the direction changes in the process of painting and the outcome is always unknown. Slowly, through the building up of layers of paint, something specific materialises and often borders between the abstract and the figurative. For Lear, he knows when the painting is finished because it starts to live and breathe for itself and by then has formed its own character.

Jay Lear’s paintings evoke peaceful spaces where the eye and the mind are drawn to wander. Through layers of paint, traces of memory and history emerge, leading us to see something beyond what we first see, behind what is there.

Hereford based artist Miranda Harris has written about Lear’s work saying it: “has a sort of quiet chaos, a dizzying calmness. His paintings are alive with emotion beneath the surface; they are full of possibilities, which tug at the imagination, pulling us deep into the endless landscapes of the mind”.

Drift for a While runs at Garter Lane Gallery until the 27th February. Why not take time out to explore the terrain of Lear’s works. The gallery is open daily from Tuesday to Saturday from 11.00am – 5.30pm. It opens on Saturdays from 11.00am – 3.00pm. Admission is free.