Loose Ends

Location

Country: Belgium
City: Brussels
Place: British Embassy, UK representation to the EU & UK delegation to NATO

Basil Beattie’s painting hovers between abstraction and representation. The composition suggests a series of tunnels and corridors which appear to lead nowhere, resulting in an image which focuses our attention on the surface of the painting itself. In his work, Beattie often depicts forms such as doorways, corridors and archways – motifs which are intentionally  ambiguous, and which allow the artist  to explore the theme of escape. The title, ‘Loose Ends’, similarly reiterates the theme of tunnels and corridors, inviting us into an imaginary, undefinable space.

Born in West Hartlepool, Basil Beattie graduated from the Royal Academy schools in 1961, and was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Arts in 2006. Beattie was a pioneer of a new approach to painting in post-war Britain, having been significantly influenced by ‘The New American Painting’ show at the Tate in 1959, in particular the works of Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman. Over a sixty-year career, Beattie has remained part of a set of British artists whose works continue the legacy of Abstract Expressionism. He has exhibited widely in the UK since the 1960s and taught at Goldsmiths College in London in the 1980s and ‘90s. Beattie lives and works in Mitcham, Surrey.

Places

Subjects

triangle (abstract shape), grid, abstract

Materials & Techniques

cotton duck, oil, wax, mixed media (art object), oil painting

Artist

Basil Beattie (1935 - )

Title

Loose Ends

Date

1998

Medium

Oil and wax on cotton duck

Dimensions

height: 213.50 cm, width: 198.20 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from the artist, November 2000

Inscription

verso, on canvas: Basil Beattie / Loose Ends - 1998 - 7 x 6'6" / Oil & Wax; verso, on stretcher: LOOSE ENDS / 1998 / BASIL BEATTIE / LOOSE ENDS / OIL & WAX

Provenance

the artist

GAC number

17516