‘Pain, suffering, & injury’ await those who visit the Master Piper gallery. Don’t worry; it’s not a visit to your dentist, but the latest instalment of major new works by Justin Mortimer. A ‘master of figurative painting’, Justin is renown for his ability to bring the shocking and often ‘overlooked’ suffering that humans can inflict on one another, to the forefront of his equally-striking landscapes.

 

A London-based artist, Justin graduated from the ‘Slade School of Art’ in the early 1990s, where he has since blossomed into a somewhat ‘influential’ name, having won numerous art prizes, including: the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery, and the EAST Award at EAST International in 2004, selected by Neo Rauch and Gerd Harry Lybke.

 

Often in the backdrop of war or armed conflict, Justin attempts to challenge ideas/stereotypes we all envisage when considering these themes. ‘Topical’, especially at this moment in time, Justin’s work forces us to witness the suffering that is so often hidden from public view.

 

This is ‘one of Justin’s biggest nightmares’, proclaims his curator, Matt Price – ‘imagine what it would be like if war came to our own home towns, and these piles of bodies were our own friends and families. I’m glad to say that in my own life I’ve never experienced anything like this, but there must be hundreds of thousands of people alive whose lives have been affected in these ways. ‘

Instilled with a sense of ‘ambiguity’ as to ‘what’ has happened, ‘who’ the victims are, and indeed ‘where’ they are, Justin leaves his audience with an undeniable sense of unsettling uncertainty. A view shared by critic Matt Price, who describes the exhibition as: ‘powerful, challenging and disturbing’.

 

It terms of Justin’s plans for the future, Matt offers a little insight: ‘since the exhibition opened he’s been getting so much interest and lots of exciting offers to exhibit elsewhere. The response has been overwhelming really. But then, knowing how powerful and exquisitely painted the new works are, I’m not really surprised!’.