THE SHY ROBOT
30cms x 15cms / 12 ” x 6″
acrylics on canvas
This small work from the LEGION series took eleven years to complete. Like many of Yates’s paintings it was visited from time to time for tiny enhancements or to be left alone for a further period until just the right mark making could be executed.
Lord Glentoran
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THE INK MONITOR
31cms x 24 cms / 12″ X 9″
blotting paper collage and vintage inks on 1950’s trade desk blotter
A pen and drip ink portrait of the pupil from the artist’s primary school entrusted with the alchemical process of mixing a tiny tin of Stephens’s blue black ink powder in a pint jug of water, stirring it thoroughly with a wooden knitting needle for sixty seconds, then leaving it to set for five minutes before passing solemnly around the classroom to fill the ink well on each desk.
Lord Glentoran
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PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN ARTIST
30cms x 30 cms / 12″ x 12″
painted assemblage
This rag doll somehow found its way into Yates’s studio and took up residence as a curiosity before being employed by the artist to occasionally smudge and blend colours. Over time it became more and more proficient in its duties until one day, discovered lying on the studio floor next to a piece of hardboard and scrap paper, it compelled the resulting composition.
Lord Glentoran
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THOREL THRASHER THROPP
127cms x 102cms / 50″ x 40″
acrylics on canvas
The title of this work is the rumoured alias the artist L.S.Lowry would adopt when approached by autograph seekers or asked to sign some casual sketch he may have dashed off. One source claims Lowry went as far as having calling cards printed in this name.
Lord Glentoran
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REAR WINDOW
46cms x 63.5cms / 18″ x 25″.
acrylics on canvas
Alec Leamas, the main protagonist of the novel, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, by John Le Carre, recalls observing two juggernaut trucks pull out and converge on a station wagon driving down the middle of a road. As Leamas passed beyond the event his last sight of the station wagon was that of children laughing and waving from the rear window before the moment of impact. For Leamas the juggernauts represented communism and capitalism, the children the innocents caught in between. Yates has sought to capture this moment of innocence before the fatal impact with simple shapes and tones frozen behind a misted rear windscreen.
Lord Glentoran
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BILLIARDS AT BOODLES
35.5cms x 45.5cms / 14″ x 18″
painted assemblage
A superbly compact recollection of the artist playing billiards at my London club, Boodles in St. James, the oldest club in London. Paul Yates introduced members to the wonders of full and half-ball reverse banana screw and other trick shots. The subtle abstractions of this assemblage perfectly capture the spirit of that wonderful evening.
Lord Glentoran
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SEEING IN THE DARK
52cms x 52cms / 20″ X 20″
acrylics on canvas
Observed by the artist in a church in Donegal many years ago, an imprint in dust of a dove that had collided with a window pane then fallen to its death outside. The curious aspect was that when viewed from the church interior during strong sunlight the image of the dove could not be discerned, it was only when a cloud passed over or the day grew darker that the ‘dust dove’ could be discerned.
Lord Glentoran
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CHILDREN CROSSING
63.5cms x 46cms / 24′ X 18″
acrylics on canvas
An image from ROAD MARKINGS, a new series in development by Yates exploring faded highway and car park iconography.
Lord Glentoran
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YELLOW MEN WALKING IN RAIN
46cms x 63cms / 24″ x 18″
acrylics on canvas
An image from ROAD MARKINGS, a new series in development by Yates exploring faded highway and car park iconography. Night time rain and neon flare illuminated these two walking men figures, their crumbling paint imbuing them with a sense of drama, as if they were strolling out onto a stage.
Lord Glentoran
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MONSIEUR BRASSAU
63.5cmz x 46cms / 25″ x 18″
acrylics on canvas
Pierre Brassau was a chimpanzee and the subject of a 1964 hoax when paintings made by him were exhibited as the work of an unknown French artist named, Pierre Brassau. Many critics praised the delicacy of Pierre’s strokes and colour orchestrations until his true identity was revealed, despite this some still found his work of merit. In 1969 Pierre retired to Chester Zoo in England.
Lord Glentoran
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GHOSTS OF DEAD POETS STARTLED BY THEIR REFLECTION IN A MIRROR
46.5cms x 63.5 / 18″ x 24″
acrylics on canvas
It is interesting to speculate who these poets may be. Several faces can be discerned intertwined with each other and study yields visualisations which offer us insights into how the artist developed this painting.
Lord Glentoran
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MUTT’S GRACES
46cms x 63.5cms / 18″ x 25″
acrylics on canvas, mixed media assemblage
Employing an almost architectural drawing style and placing the words MUTT WAS HERE on plain utilitarian bathroom tiles Yates has echoed Canova’s classical rendering of the Three Graces with a chorus line of urinals after the artist Marcel Duchamp’s infamous MUTT exhibit. Yates is never afraid to allow his viewer to join up the dots on his thinking, this work is daringly understated.
Lord Glentoran
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