Bruce McLean: Black Garden Paintings

A sculptor, performance artist, filmmaker and painter, Bruce McLean is one of the most important figures in British contemporary art. This summer, Attenborough Arts Centre will present the most comprehensive exhibition of McLean's Black Garden paintings.

Bruce McLean's garden paintings are inspired by the beautiful, vibrant garden his wife Rosy has created at the couple's home on the Spanish island of Menorca. The works showcase McLean's virtuoso technique and dazzling use of colour – hot pinks, cobalt blues, and deep oranges vivid against a dark background. Monumental in scale the paintings hover somewhere between reality and abstraction with hints of pathways, ponds, flowers, and shrubs.

As his inspiration, McLean considers the garden as a 'moving sculpture'. Bursting with foliage and flowers, the outdoor space is constantly transforming. He has been investigating the condition of sculpture since the late 1960s, creatively interrogating the possibilities and meaning of sculpture in an extraordinary range of media including performance, installation, public art, printmaking, photography, film, ceramics, printmaking, and painting.

For McLean the Black Garden paintings are a response to the garden as a physical space, exploring aspects of light and shadow; they are paintings made by a sculptor. Black Garden Paintings has been curated by Jeremy Webster, Deputy Director of the Attenborough Arts Centre, and will be on exhibition throughout Gallery 1 & 2 from 25 June – 25 September.