Neil Pittaway - Large Scale works

Large Scale Works: 'Longitude' Original 9 plate etching printed from copper plates

The ideas and context behind Neil’s Longitude etching: The starting point for this work stemmed from Neil's interest in the visual world; it’s history and development through creative and inventive processes, and how these have in turn shaped the modern planet we live in. Neil was and is fascinated by the history of Longitude and how it was solved by the Yorkshire 18^th Century clock maker and inventor John Harrison (1693 -1776); this became the focal point for his etching 'Longitude'.

Longitude, 189 x 256 cm, Etching and Drypoint (Edition of 20)

Key to Longitude Etching	15 Image of Greenwich, London in the time of Charles II
1 Admiral Nelson’s Funeral procession on the River Thames	16 John Harrison's H4 Time Piece which won the Longitude prize
2 South American Globe Symbolising the stable world	17 John Harrison’s Prototype for solving the Longitude problem
3 Admiral Nelson being brought back on the damage HMS Victory from the Battle of Trafalgar at Gibraltar	19 HMS Bounty, Captain Cook’s Ship
4 Shipwreck caricatures from the James Gillray shipwreck scenes	20 The 5 Continents of the world – symbolising that Longitude was used to map the worlds ocean
5 Ship mast structure and 18^th century lamp	21 Satellite image of central Paris. (These satellite images symbolise the modern ideas of exploration now).
6. The Manhattan skyline, New York City	22 Mechanical automata guiding ships safely, this represents what happened after the Longitude problem was solved by John Harrison
7. JMW Turner Steam ship painting symbolising the modern world and industrial power in the 19^th Century	23 The Louvre museum, Paris
8. 18^th century clipper ship – ship of discovery	24 Satellite image of central London. (These satellite images symbolise the modern ideas of exploration now)
9 Statue of Liberty – in a beacon of light chandelier	25 Big Ben (Elizabeth Tower) representing world time
10 The Brooklyn Bridge, New York City	26 Shipwreck caricatures from the James Gillray shipwreck scenes
11 H4 – John Harrison’s chronometer that solved and won the prize for Longitude	27 Royal Hospital Greenwich by Sir Christopher Wren
12 Industrial revolution – coal train and Lions representing strength and imperial power	28 Admiral Nelson’s Battle Victories
13 Sir Walter Raleigh	29 Satellite image of the Millennium Dome and the East end of London
14 Portrait of Admiral Lord Nelson	30 Captain Scott’s expedition to the Antarctic

The Beauty of our World is being Broken, Large Scale Pen and ink drawing

This large ambitious work take's it's inspiration from climate change and the impact that human kind as

had on our planet, reflecting what geoligists and Academics call our current age, the 'age of Anthroposcene'.

This drawing is a mixture of complex images and messages and is aimed to show the imapact that us humans

have had on the natural world and it's reources, this can be seen throughout the compositon from closed

off Himalayas to visitors because of damage caused by climate change to Animals being driven to almost

exstinction and the melting ice caps. To over production and mass globalisation of consumer apetite

at the expence of the Natural environment and it's resources.

Clocks are featured prominanently in this work, at the drawings centre sits a medeival like doomsday clock

an ominous reminder that time is running out for the World.

This complex drawing was executed by building up sequences of images based on engineering, science

and exploration using traditional dip pen and ink on 6 sheets of handmade Amalfi paper conservationally

joined together to form the overall picture.

Such Stuff of Dreams, Large Scale drawing, 222 x 153cm

This large ambitious work take's it's inspiration from many historical sources, these include the great

engineering projects of the 19th and early 20th centuries from the Eiffel tower to the fourth bridge.

These are interwined in a labyrinth of other historical debris from the Renaisance and Enlightment

periods and include the Tower of Pisa, Galileo's first studies of the moonand his telescope, to other

voyages of discovery and beyond from Antarctica to outer space.

This complex drawing was executed by building up sequences of images based on engineering, science

and exploration using traditional dip pen and ink on 9 sheets of handmade Amalfi paper conservationally

joined together to form the overall picture.

'The London Connection ' Original 3 plate etching printed from copper plate based on London

The London Connection, 77 x 256 cm, Etching (Ed.A of 30) This London Connection etching portrays the development

of the modern metropolis. Split into three sections, the left-handpanel represents the early 20th century, travel and links to

North America. The middle section concentrates on thelifeblood, the heartbeat of the metropolis based on Britain's imperial past.

Everything in this section is for display - a falseparadise where the past is brought to life as a theme park. The right-hand panel

represents the modern vision of the metropolis and Britain's wider role in the contemporary world, now symbolised by it's links to Europe.

	The London Connection, Etching (An edition of which is held in the Guildhall Art Library, Collection in London Images below show details of each section part of Neil's London Connection Etching