Sunday 14 June 2015

Sargy Mann: How a Blind Painter Sees

There's a really fascinating essay HERE about the painter Sargy Mann, who unfortunately died two months ago.  

Mann was a painter despite having limited vision, and for the last 25 years of his life was registered blind.


I won't use the word 'inspirational', which perhaps has certain patronising overtones.  But as an artist I am acutely aware of my eyesight and the need to see and observe clearly.  His essay therefore gives a very powerful and moving account of what it is to 'look' as a painter, and of the different ways of looking and perceiving a world which you have a innate burning desire to create and record visually, but cannot see. 

Painting, like life,  is a constant problem solving process, and there are many ways of seeing - such as through touch, sound, verbal description and memory.

Sargy Mann, Two Bathers

Sargy Mann, Frances in Hammock by the River No2

Read his essay and feel humble.


Look at the full essay and the catalogue for his final show (which opens at the Cadogan Contermporary Art Gallery on July 7th) HERE .

No comments:

Post a Comment