Cat on a Chair 1981

19 June - 19 Aug 2021

For six decades Charles Burton has been one of the major figures of art in Wales. Born in 1929, he grew up amid the poverty of the pre-war Rhondda Valley. While still a student at Cardiff School of Art he became a central figure in the influential Rhondda Group and his work was purchased for public collections. He won the Gold Medal of the National Eisteddfod aged just 24. At the Royal College, Carel Weight described him as one of the most lively in a generation of painters that included Peter Blake, Leon Kossoff and Bridget Riley. After heading the painting department at Liverpool College of Art in the era of the Beatles and the Liverpool Poets, he returned to South Wales in 1970.

 This retrospective at Oriel Myrddin Gallery draws out the constants in Charles Burton’s work from the 1940s to the present – his subject matter in the people, objects and places that surround him, his fascination with pictorial structure and representation, and above all the brilliant serenity and stillness of his paintings. The artist has chosen the works in collaboration with the gallery and Peter Wakelin, who wrote the book Charles Burton: Painting Still.

In partnership with Martin Tinney Gallery.

You can view our online tour of Charles Burton’s exhibition here.

Featured Maker: Rachel Eardley

Rachel Eardley is an artist and jeweller currently living in Somerset with her husband and two children. Having initially got a taste for silversmithing when she was 15, after attending an evening class with her Grandpa, she then went on to graduate in 3D Crafts at Brighton University in 1999.

With a strong illustrative style, Rachel’s work aims to bring life back to those day-to-day objects which have little purpose in the way we live our lives today. Her jewellery has captured everything from miniature kitchen utensils to the more intricate drawings on coins which can be seen in this collection of work currently on display here at Oriel Myrddin Gallery.