The ‘Neil Stokoe’ exhibition, at Saatchi Yates.
Learning about the latest Saatchi Yates exhibition was an emotional rollercoaster. There is an excitement in discovering an artist you have never heard of but immediately knowing that you enjoy their work. Then you find out that this is a posthumous showing and the artist had passed away fairly recently in 2019. But many of these works on display have never been seen by the public before, and so you are one of the first to truly appreciate this British painter who, in fact, studied alongside the likes of David Hockney and Frank Bowling at the Royal Academy of Arts. So why is this the first time we have heard of him?
Neil Stokoe (1935-2019) lived a solitary, anti-careerist life, despite encouragement from close friend Francis Bacon to exhibit his paintings. With no intention to exhibit his work until only after his retirement, there developed a refined sophistication in his style. Uninfluenced by public opinion or pressure to follow trends, Stokoe’s paintings come across both timeless yet experimental. From the 60s and 70s, his paintings are characterised by mid-century modern interior. In the 80s and 90s, he explores his use of colour more and more, possibly inspired by the coinciding Pop Art movement.
His very evident interest in interior and architecture reflects not only in subject but in his rigid, geometric approach to painting. What remains consistent are his dissociated figures who embody pensiveness or fleeting moments, often in the company of others. I see these paintings as a glimpse behind Stokoe’s personal psychology.
But make no mistake, the artist only shied away from a public life. Elements of Hockney and Bacon are unmistakable in his paintings. And it is perhaps a life lived like his which produced a refreshing, unique body of work. Removed from limitations of public taste and surrounded by celebrated British artists, Stokoe’s output was pure and subconscious, controlled and explored. It is masked in a great irony that the art world is retrospectively exposed to his work - appreciative of a quality that resulted only by hiding away from this very audience.
The next three reviews:
‘Barbara Kruger: Thinking of
You. I MeanMe. I Mean You.’ exhibition, Serpentine South GalleryPrado, Reina Sofia, Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
The Wallace Collection, London
Yaunt - an abbreviation of my Chinese name
Yaunt Gallery - the end goal