The Art Studio in Newcastle-under-Lyme is pleased to present a solo exhibition of celebrated Stoke-on-Trent artist Arthur Berry. This exquisitely curated survey of work comprises twenty large scale paintings, spanning The Potteries’ artist’s later years from the 1970s until his death in 1994, and features portraits, figurative works, urban landscapes and still lifes.
Arthur Berry is one of the most famous 20th Century artists of the area, often dubbed the ‘Lowry of The Potteries.’ He is renowned for his distinct observational approach, looking at direct surroundings for his subject matter.
Born in Smallthorne, Stoke-on-Trent, his creative work – not only in painting, but also poetry and playwriting – was deeply rooted in the culture, people and landscape of the industrial pottery town of Burslem. While he lived for some time in bohemian London as a student at the prestigious Royal College of Art, and latterly, during the Second World War, in rural Ambleside, it was to his beloved North Staffordshire that he ultimately returned and spent the majority of his life.
“My Parthenon is an allotment hut knocked together out of bits of rubbish. It is the richness of poor things that I am drawn to.” Arthur Berry
Berry’s dark realist paintings confront you with their rough, scratched and vigorously worked surfaces, appearing dense and intensely atmospheric. They are dominated by metallic greys, browns and rusty brick reds, seeming to precisely absorb the dust, smoke and soot of the physical surroundings of Stoke-on-Trent at its industrial height. And yet so often, beneath these first impressions, is a shot of dark humour that peels back the ragged shell to reveal a core of deep authenticity. Berry was drawn to the overlooked, the alienated, the worn out, the grotesque and the hopeless. His wry, gently satirical and yet undoubtedly affectionate observations find a raw beauty in unexpected places.
“My paintings are dark and ugly but they are not views of characters. They are a smelling reality.” Arthur Berry, 1981
Arthur Berry – ‘Lowry of The Potteries’ solo show
7 March – 6 April 2024 The Art Studio
7 The Barracks Workshops, Barracks Road Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, ST5 1LG
