Ian Friend, Ghost Milk III, 2011, Casein, pigment, gouache, graphite and crayon on Hahnemühle paper, 75x165cm

Ghost Milk | Ian Friend

MARCH 21, 2013 - APRIL 27, 2013

Ian Friend‘s initial encounter with quality fine art paper was courtesy of his first art teacher, Miss Phyllis Johnstone (a fellow student of Henry Moore) when the young student was ten years old. Johnstone introduced Friend to Whatman paper, which was commonly acknowledged as the best paper available and was used by artists such as Gainsborough and JMW Turner.
In the decades since, Ian Friend has maintained his love affair with art materials, always seeking the finest grade papers and the highest quality pigments with which to work. This exhibition includes among others, a work on beautifully preserved 1936 Whatman.
The paintings which give the show their namesake were inspired by a book written by British writer and filmmaker Iain Sinclair, which details the community land that was deconstructed and reconstructed in preparation for the 2012 London Olympic Games. ‘Ghost Milk’ is a term used by Sinclair to describe the discharge from the Olympic building sites falling freely into the Lea River, discharge that carries years of embedded toxic waste.
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