OVERVIEW
My artistic journey started when I was a child in the early 1970s "I remember wanting to be an artist – picking up a pen and drawing the world around me." As well as ideas from my imagination. subjects from these very early days included castles, people, flowers, and architecture and some of these subjects have stayed with me to this day.
Exhibiting and winning competitions started at a very young age when I won a BBC Blue Peter badge dinosaur competition in 1979.
MY ARTIST STATEMENT
My works reflect ideas from East and Western sources and perspectives such as Anglo-European heritage, transatlantic connections, Asian landscapes, gothic revival architecture, urban-ness, satire, illustration, and narrative. My work incorporates and explores these identities through direct and indirect observation creating complex and seemingly agoraphobic, perspective spaces; a labyrinth, which reflects the built and natural environments and echoes the monumental histories that make up our collective European and International identities, our heritage.
MY METHOD OF WORKING
My drawings, paintings and prints are developed from extensive research and sketches produced from direct and indirect observation. where I use many different skills, methods, techniques and processes to create richly layered tapestries on the pictures’ surfaces. my drawings and etchings employ a detailed network of line, bitten deep into copper plate or drawn using traditional dip pen and ink whilst my paintings employ more spontaneous yet complex layered marks drawing on the luminous qualities of the paint’s pigments. Everywhere I have travelled I work directly from the subject using sketchbooks to record a journey; in recent years this has included journeys in the middle East, Africa, the India and Nepal Himalayas. (See my Art works page on this site for more details and images of these) The records of my travels are then used directly and indirectly to create finished works that capture the essences of time and place.
MY SELECTED BIOGRAPHY
I am a British Artist, born in Yorkshire in 1973, I studied at the Royal Academy Schools, London, Bradford University, Huddersfield University, Seville University Spain and Cheltenham School of Art. I am a Member of the NEW English Art Club (NEAC), Royal Watercolour Society (RWS), Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), Leeds Fine Artists (LFA), an Associate Member of The Alpine Club in London and an Alumni Graduate Member of the Royal Academy Schools, London.
I am an award winning Artist and I have won many Art prizes for my work; including The British Institution Prizes for both drawing and Printmaking Awarded by the Royal Academy of Arts in London, (which led to my first works being purchased by the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford), The Ashmolean Museum went on to award me their Vivien Leigh Bequest Printmaking Prize. I was also the first recipient of The Dover Street Arts Club Excellence in drawing Award, (Mayfair, London). This is to name but a few of the many other Awards i have won for my Art works. (Please download the CV on the link at the end of this page).
MY SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS, (PLACES I HAVE EXHIBITED AT)
I have exhibited in numerous exhibitions throughout the United Kingdom and internationally, venues have included The Royal Albert Hall, London (Where my work was used to illustrate the first ever calendar produced and sold by The Royal Albert Hall in their shop), Waterstones, Piccadilly, London, Royal Academy of Arts, London, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, Christies, Mayfair, London, Chris Beetles Gallery, St. James's, Pall Mall, London, Barber Institute of Art, Birmingham, Leeds City Art Gallery, York City Art Gallery, UK , Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, UK, Scarborough Art Gallery, UK, Chatsworth House, UK, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath Spa, UK, British Council Gallery, New Delhi, National Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, Heritage Malta, Valletta, Malta, Fabiano Museum, Italy, Centro Modigliani, Florence, Italy Museum of Modern Art, Nairobi, Kenya, The Penn State University, U.S.A. and Carrolton Cultural Arts Centre, Georgia, U.S.A. Besides this I exhibit annually at the Mall Galleries on The Mall in central London and throughout the Year at the Bankside Gallery, (next to Tate Modern in central London), Pannett Gallery, (Whitby Museum and Art Gallery), Pannett Park, Whitby, Yorkshire, UK. Please visit the exhibitions /News page on this site for details of where you can see exhibitions, I have work in.
MY SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
I have exhibited in many solo-Exhibitions these have included The Alpine Club, in central London, Arts Mill, Hebden Bridge, UK, Burlington Fine Art Piccadilly, London, The Cooper Art Gallery, Barnsley, UK, King's Lynn Arts Centre, UK, Dean Clough Galleries, Halifax, UK, Shine Arts, Leeds, UK and The Mansion House Galleries, South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell, UK.
COLLECTIONS I HAVE WORKS IN
Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford
Alpine Club, London
Arts Club, Mayfair, London
Art House, Wakefield, Yorkshire, UK
Bradford School of Art, Bradford College, Yorkshire, UK
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Guildhall Art Library, Corporation of London, City of London
Guy’s Hospital, London
D.H. Lawrence Museum, Nottinghamshire, UK
Heritage Malta Collection, Valletta, Malta
Indian Institute of Contemporary Art, Mumbai, India
St. Paul’s Cathedral Library, London
Royal Collection, London
Royal Air Force, UK
Royal Watercolour Society Diploma Collection, Bankside Gallery, London
University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
WORKS IN PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
I also have work in Many private collections including; HRH Prince Michael of Kent, The Actor Brendan Coyle and Antiques Expert and TV Presenter Mark Hill. My works are also in other private collections throughout the UK, France, Germany, Spain, U.S.A, Canada and Australia.
FILM TELEVISION AND ONLINE
2020 Online Interview with New English Art Club Published by the NEAC online.
2016 The Art of Travel the Tour Du Mont Blanc In Paintings, Published online by Exodus Travels
2015 Eastern Daily Press, Norfolk, UK, Article for King’s Lynn Arts Centre Solo Exhibition
2011 Artists at Eden, D.V.D, Artist and Film, London
2011 Neil Pittaway BBC Interview for 'European Journeys and other Worlds', Exhibition, BBC Radio Norfolk, Broadcast January 2011
2005 The Artist and BBC Radio 4, Sound and Vision, Listed online on BBC Radio 4
2002 Contributor to 'Serious Pleasure', Centro Modigliani Exhibition Film, Florence, Italy, Broadcast by Italian Regional Television, Tuscany, Italy
2001 Contributor to the Great Artists series, Tim Marlow, Channel 5 Television, U.K.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
I have also been commissioned to create works for many individuals and organisations including illustrations for an Anthology of London in Poetry and Prose, edited by the poet and writer Anna Adams for Enitharmon Press, London. Drawings for London in poetry and Prose, 21.5 cm x 14 cm x 1cm in depth, Edited by Anna Adams, First published in 2002 by Enitharmon Press, London
Pathways in Time, Paintings Drawings and Prints Published by Neil Pittaway through Blurb.co.uk
First Published in 2019 by Neil Pittaway through blurb.co.uk for the occasion of his Solo Exhibition (12th January to 6th April 2019 at The Cooper Gallery, Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire S07 2AH, UK
A Journey in Line Published by Neil Pittaway through Blurb.co.uk
Visual Histories, Published by Neil Pittaway through Blurb.co.uk
Print Rebels, Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers
Published by Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, 2018
Watercolour Secrets Royal Watercolour Society, Published by A & C Black Visual, 2018
The Watercolour Expert Royal Watercolour Society, Published Internationally in 2004 by Cassell Illustrated.
Royal Watercolour Society, The Watercolour Masters Then and Now
Published in 2006 Internationally by Cassell Illustrated.
Printmakers the directory Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, Published internationally by A & C Black Visual, 2006.
Spanning the Thames, Published in London, 2008.
A Year in the Life of the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Watercolour Society, published in 2011 to accompany the exhibition, which was held at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
SELECTED PUBLISHED ARTICLES
2001 Ambit 164, Longitude Etching, Published by Ambit 164, UK
2001 The London Connection, Printmaking Today Magazine, Cello Press, Oxfordshire, UK
2005 Artists notebook, Trafalgar Anniversary Article, Illustration Magazine, UK
2010 The Poetry Magazine, image published with an article on the Poet Louis McNeice, The Poetry Magazine, UK
2010 An Eye to the Past, Exhibition review article, Printmaking Today Magazine, Cello Press, Oxfordshire, UK
LINKS
Links to Neil's works in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London:
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O86750/italy-in-britain-print-pittaway-neil/
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O87173/britannia-square-print-pittaway-neil/
The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, department of Western Art hold several pieces of Neil's work you can view these by appointment by contacting the department by visiting the link: https://www.ashmolean.org/western-art-print-room
View Neil's work by appointment at the Guildhall Art Library, Corporation of London, City of London: https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/history-and-heritage/guildhall-library
LINKS TO OTHER PLACES WHERE YOU CAN VIEW MY WORKS
Bankside Gallery, London: https://www.banksidegallery.com/artists/139-neil-pittaway-rws-re/works/
Mall Galleries, London: https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/artist/neil-pittaway-neac-re-rws
New English Art Club (NEAC): https://www.newenglishartclub.co.uk/artists/92-neil-pittaway/works/
Royal Watercolour Society (RWS) https://www.royalwatercoloursociety.co.uk/artists/94-neil-pittaway/works/
Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE) https://www.re-printmakers.com/artists/111-neil-pittaway-rws-re/works/
Leeds Fine Artists (LFA) https://leedsfineartists.co.uk/yorkshire/category/neil-pittaway/
Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Academy Schools, London https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/neil-pittaway
Visit about me page on my new website by opening this link:https://neilpittawayartist.com/biography