Tom Titherington: Mention the War
Senate House Exhibition Hall,
University of Liverpool
17 January - 21 March 2003
The University of Liverpool presents for the first time Tom Titherington's 'War' series, a group of paintings and lino-cuts which explore human experiences during World War II. Tom Titherington grew up in Liverpool during the period, and the series draws extensively upon his own memories and on recollections sent to him by Liverpool people in response to a newspaper feature.
The work successfully captures the often conflicting emotions felt during wartime, and highlights the humanity of the situation with poignancy. The style also allows the artist some licence to develop a lightness of touch. As Tom states, '..what I'm presenting isn't 'real' history .. Everything I do is true, but I don't claim objectivity.' An example is 'A day at the sea-side', in which one sees an imaginary image of Neville Chamberlain and his wife Annie enjoying a walk on New Brighton promenade in the summer of 1930. All the fun of the seaside is shown, with the brilliant yellows of the sand adding to the vibrancy of the image. The very idea of Chamberlain spending an afternoon at New Brighton amongst the ordinary people is itself amusing. The image does not lose sight, however, of the coming war, and Chamberlain's controversial role in the years leading to 1939.
Much of the impact of the series stems from the style of the painting, which is highly original, and draws sensitively on the artist's extensive experiences teaching art to children. At a basic level the images are child-like, or naive, and make use of the immediacy of child art, as well as specific graphic devices, to convey associated emotions. For example, many of the works in the series are punctuated by zig-zag lines, used to denote explosions or shock waves. Tom also adheres printed, found images on to the picture surface, which are partially over-painted to integrate them into the work.
Tom Titherington is a practicing fine artist, with forty years experience of art education. He has shown his work in London and the North West of England. In he 2002 won first prize in the 'Liverpool 8' open exhibition for graduates of the Liverpool School of Art.
Senate House Exhibition Hall
University of Liverpool
Oxford Street, Liverpool L69 7WY
www.liv.ac.uk
