John Squire – Noise, SW1 Gallery, viewed on 09/10/2008

7 Feb

However much you might enjoy Squire’s art, he is still a long way from being known as an artist, as opposed to being known as a former member of The Stone Roses, and I couldn’t help but wonder if some of the phrases in the paintings were directed at, or about Ian Brown, and if that was the case, I wondered if this was to give the paintings a selling point to the inevitable Stone Roses fans among the admirers, and potential buyers of his artwork (nb. distinct lack of quotes to back up anything I’m saying about the words in the paintings!).

I have to say though, although all the words – the noise, if you like – in the paintings gave each piece interesting texture, they were not the feature of this exhibition which made it so successful. For me, it was the impressive, bold landscapes serving as background to the words. In same cases, like No Cattle, they were very Turner-esque, with similar colours being used, and the same, fabulously illuminating patches of light. But just as The Stone Roses’ influences were often said to be pretty blatant, and yet they still created amazing new music, so here, Squire is obviously paying homage to Turner, but still making his own mark in a refreshing way.

There were some more conventional skies, as in paintings like Equilibrium and Something Like Hatred, which I also liked. The sky in No Longer Did We Worship looks very effective, although was not on view, but in the Sales Sheet.

One of my favourite paintings was The Power To Destroy Governments. On the left side of it, there appears to be a giant fire blazing, as if burning up the canvas, or it could equally be viewed as something like a giant golden tap pouring fire into a raging ocean. The title of course really elevates the piece. I also liked the movement of High Speed Chase.

You could definitely see that a lot of time and thought had been put into these paintings, and this was respected by whoever had hung the paintings. They were, like my colleague Engleburt Bartfast, well hung. Ahem.

So anyway, after looking round and being suitably impressed, Faye and I turned our attentions to the artist himself, and managed to angle our way in as he wrapped up a conversation with a couple before us.

We each told him how much we liked the paintings, and Faye asked where all the words had come from. Apparently, they were from different sources, overheard conversations, etc. and John had kept a dictaphone on him to record it all. At the time, I thought this sounded very much like how David Gedge sourced his lyrics for The Wedding Present. I didn’t mention this however, partly because I seem to remember The Stone Roses weren’t fans of The Wedding Present (or it may have just been Ian Brown), but also, I thought any reference to a band from the same era as The Stone Roses was probably out of bounds too, given that all talk of The Stone Roses is apparently not allowed.

Personally, I think this is slightly absurd, given that it was of course such a massive part of John Squire’s life, and the part most people still know him for. I don’t know, perhaps moving on is the right thing. I think it was also mentioned that Faye’s band, Prince Edward Island, also use phrases from arguments, etc. in their lyrics.

Although I didn’t mention The Wedding Present, I did decide to show Mr. Squire a photo on my phone of me with Bobby Gillespie, who I’d bumped into in London by chance a couple of weeks before. This prompted a quick round of photos – one of me and John, taken by Faye, one of John and Faye, taken by me, but I didn’t get the one of Faye and me, taken by John.

Curiously, John Squire said he liked my jacket, which I think of as being relatively plain and ordinary. We wondered afterwards if perhaps we should’ve complimented him back. I wonder now if perhaps I should’ve let him have the jacket, just as I’d offered up my Cardiff City top to Ian Brown at a gig once…

Anyway, finally, we also got some invites signed. John used the crayon of one of his cute young daughters who were there, sitting on the floor, drawing. John joked that their art was a lot better than his. I suppose you could look at his paintings from a simple level and say that all the words covering them are like childish scribbles on top of the “real pictures”. You could look at them and wonder if they would look more effective without all the writing, but no, I’m pretty sure the words do enhance the paintings, give them more layers of texture and depth.

Along with 3 cool-looking kids, John also has a stunning wife, and a decidedly attractive agent, so it would seem he is lucky enough to be constantly surrounded by beautiful women. Still, I did detect a hint of sadness about him though, although I could be completely wrong about this.

 I do wonder exactly why John Squire is doing this (continuing to exhibit new paintings). Most one-time successful rock stars would be happy to hang up their guitars and just collect the royalty cheques for the rest of their lives, save for the odd comeback tour to top up their accumulated wealth. Ok, The Stone Roses only did 2 albums, but even without recording his solo work, perhaps Squire needed to be told then, “John, your work is done.” Perhaps it is his work mentality, or perhaps his creative energy that keeps him going, but whatever it is, John Squire is clearly still very productive, and is currently showing off some of the best work of his career.

This article first appeared in Issue 4 of Square Magazine, aka ‘Cool’

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