Tim Sayer MBE discusses…

David Oates | Julie Leach
Oil on canvas | Screen print
2007 | 2020
David Oates | Julie Leach
Tim Sayer MBE, a London based, self-confessed ‘art-oholic’ and retired BBC Radio 4 newswriter has taken a tour of the NEWWAVEART.org. Tim has paired three works* from his own impressive and extensive collection with three from the NEWWAVE art exhibition.
“This is: David Oates “Kiss 9″ 2007 oil on canvas on board 35×32 cm. It goes rather well with the Leach. She says her work combines lightness, energy and movement; at first sight, the Oates is quite the opposite: very dense and no depth. But, the surface of the canvas — especially taught because it’s on board — provides some depth, light reflects off it beautifully,and the central motif has a dance-like movement. That’s how I see it, although as you know, I’m not keen to ascribe recognisable images to abstract works.”
David Oates says: “Very pleased to get your email regarding Kiss 9 . It does represent something, in several ways: The structure is that of a partial eclipse, where one series of discs passing through the picture plane is partially obscured by another on the same path but at a different interval . One or the other is the same colour as the ground colour. I’ve made very many of these, with variations, as you can see in the book I published for my show last year. The first few I made were horizontal sequences , but making them vertical seemed to me to humanise them in that they resemble spinal columns . That’s up to the viewer of course, and I’m very happy for them to be seen as purely abstract shapes . ‘Fifer’ in the book is based on Manet’s portrait of a boy soldier, the buttons on his jacket follow a regular path broken by his sleeve, which has a single button of the same size on the cuff. Maybe too much information, but you did ask, and we all have time on our hands!“.
See Julie Leach’s exhibiting work for NEWWAVE:
Further reading on David Oates:
http://www.aptstudios.org/artists/DO/index.html
* Tim decided to do 5 comparisons rather than 3, due to the opening of a 2nd bottle of Malbec.

"Kiss 9"
oil on canvas on board
2007
(Above) David Oates “Kiss 9” 2007 oil on canvas on board 35 x 32 cm as viewed in Tim’s home.
Tim together his wife Annemarie, a former ballet dancer, have pledged their entire collection of more than 700 artworks, including a significant library of books to The Hepworth Wakefield in their will.
Further reading on The Tim Sayer Bequest please visit: