37 Gary Saunt – Dreamscapes

Gary Saunt is a son of Grimsby, where in his youth he worked in the family smoke house business. He spent some of his free time in amateur boxing, however, his abiding interest had always been drawing and painting and he started Art School in 1967. He subsequently went on to Art College in 1970.

Then in 1974, resisting a teaching career, he decided to join the Fire Brigade. He confesses that, at the time, it was only a temporary thing, however, thirty years later he retired as a senior commander and was suddenly free to make a more serious commitment to his painting.

His formal training and his oil-painting approach remain evident in his recent work, though, over the last twenty years, he became an exponent and champion of digital painting. This modern media seems conducive to his detailed compositions and yet clearly still preserves his traditional painting style.

Gary Saunt’s paintings have been described as theatres – each staging a vivid portrayal of our contemporary lives and culture. Local streets are haunted by intriguing objects and half remembered celebrities, perhaps figures are transcribed from historic artworks. Yet his (sometimes photographic) realism also evokes a compelling plausibility, a familiarity which invites you into his paintings.

He claims his work has no agenda or political message and that his real subject matter is complicated enough: composition, light/shadow, colour and perspective. But laced with a heady mix of cultural memory, his dreamscape paintings clearly represent something more conscious than an academic rendering of the appearance of things.

Gary has produced the first painting below especially for Hull’s River Bridges.

Stoneferry and Guests

Bankside

River Goddess

Bankside Saturday Tea Time

Crazy River

Miracle on the River Hull

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