This exhibition explores the idea of how a single view from a particular vantage point might be changing from one moment to the next in response to the time of day and the weather conditions. When working from a view the painter must consider how long might the actual moment last and can that moment ever be long enough to be depicted, caught, trapped and contained within the paint or is the final painting many moments joined together in the timeline of its making? If that is the case then what has the painting actually depicted?

The paintings focus the eye on St. Peter’s, a Grade II pre-Victorian Gothic Revival church that sits majestically across the road from studio 4S0 in the Phoenix Art Space building. Working on site directly in view of the motif Julian Vilarrubi responds to these questions by reacting to the shifting lights, grappling with the paint whilst conscious of the ticking of the clock and the moment slipping away in his attempts to record faithfully what is seen at any of the chosen moments.

The work in ‘Shifting Moments’ has its roots in paintings I made as a Fine Art student at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. We spent a week working at Swan Hunter Shipyard inside the freezing cavernous warehouses used to construct ship parts right on the banks of the River Tyne in November/December 1983.

My ex-tutor William Varley, a few years ago wrote some words about that trip that he, as Head of Foundation Studies had organised to those architectural spaces…

"November 1983 and Julian was a first-year student at Newcastle University. We were on a field trip, working inside the Swan Hunter's shipbuilding shed, a vast industrial cathedral (now alas abolished, obliterated). It was cruelly cold and the few Swan Hunter's staff there (kept on to keep thieves at bay) huddled around coke fires in braziers, every now and again they would wander across and exchange sceptical looks about the apparently random brush marks that he was making on cartridge paper. After about 45 minutes the doubter's expressions had softened as the marks began to form areas of light, a geometry of girders, patches of shadow. Half an hour later they were converts, marvelling as a complex space was conjured into being. He did about 40 of those keenly observed studies that week and I still have one of them.”

William Varley- art critic, broadcaster, writer, Director of Foundation Studies, Newcastle University Fine Art Department, 1970 – 2000.

The series of paintings in ‘Shifting Moments’ is a response to working from one’s immediate surroundings. With the Swan Hunter work my approach to painting and the materials used needed to be planned in advance to some extent. Working on-site means working with materials that are easily transportable, can be set-up rapidly and dry fairly quickly. Working out the practicalities of approaching a painting in advance means there’s more focus on the responses and less on potential distractions.

The recent work follows the same template. In addition, the composition was maintained throughout. The paintings move their focus from a view of the church to a space that is occupied and which moves away and out in layers through the glass window to the spire. The focus, as seen in the iPad drawings ‘Rain’ and ‘Midday’ thus becomes more about the room than it does about the building. The last painting ‘St. Peter’s VII’ tries to consider the space itself as the principal subject, between the two elements of glass and stone, by attempting to activate the gap with light and the movement of the birds.

Review of ‘Shifting Moments’ by Geoff Hands…

https://fineartruminations.com/2021/04/18/julian-vilarrubi-shifting-moments/