Noel Betowski at the Penwith Gallery

"The paintings in this exhibition at the Penwith Gallery, St Ives, are the culmination of work spanning 40 years. The overriding theme consists of recurring images that are sometimes seen but more often semi hidden and can only be seen after very intense scrutiny on behalf of the viewer. 

The 53 feet long Offspring/In the Fold painting was  inspired by a diverse number of sometimes seemingly mundane influences. One example being the grid like structure which started life as a rather ramshackle suburban fence in Muswell Hill, North London.

Another influence which led to the repetitive boat/ship motif would be childhood memories of the shipping in The Tilbury docks and along the Thames Estuary, also the ships in and around Mounts Bay and Penzance. Childhood memories also brought with them the circular and disc like shapes, grids and geometric patterns. Much later in life I discovered that these images could be connected to a scientific theory, namely Entoptic Phenomena. This theory relates back tens of thousands of years to early cave art, and how we as humans think we perceive the world. 

The subject of camouflage in nature and the use of this during WW1 in the form of Dazzle ship painting also has a bearing on my work.  The Dazzle Ship camouflage was used on shipping to confuse the enemy guns. Though bright and vibrant, the op art like nature of the designs could hide the speed, direction and position of the vessels while at sea. With the beehives I have combined the concept of the Dazzle Ship with that of an old East European tradition of decorating the hives.  These designs do not affect the bees as they can see in the UV spectrum of light and in other ways to us humans.  The Bee hives in the exhibition have within them the old comb built by the bees last year. For various reasons the colonies died out but bees from our other 8 hives benefitted from the honey that was left."

Noel Betowski 2014