Grundy Art Gallery presents new and recent paintings by Manchester based artist James Duncan. Duncan is multiply disabled. As well as the physical effects of cerebral palsy, he is both visually and hearing impaired.
His paintings depict objects, chance encounters and natural environments. Informed rather than restricted by his disabilities, his works include only the essential elements of their subjects. They are considered and simple; there is no hidden complexity. Disregarded is the detritus that surrounds our focus of a form or object.
Landscapes become bands of solid colours and forms; a flower in a vase is ordered into five colour elements; a boulder becomes a monumental blue shape.
The painting surface, applied with controlled gestures, becomes a construction of flat patterns, free floating objects and interlocking shapes. It is a simplicity that heightens our visual appreciation for how we experience our environments. Duncan invites us to uncomplicate things and share in an unabated enthusiasm and mystery towards nature.