It was in November of 2021 that I first received contact from Megan Thompson regarding the possibility of exhibiting within the gallery. I was painting in York at the time and the call took me totally by surprise. I drove down to their Mayfair gallery the following week with the best paintings I had available and practically hung them myself. The response to my work was hugely positive prompting the offer of a solo show. That was in May 2022 and I’ve spent the succeeding months creating a collection of new work for the exhibition from locations across the UK including Oxford, Cambridge, and of course London. Venice was the surprise inclusion after a successful trip abroad this summer. There is a good range of painting sizes too starting with ‘Midday, Church of San Giorgio Maggiore’ which depicts the height of the day and heat of Venice and is just 10x8in, up to ‘The Lions of Trafalgar Square’ which is an impressive 40x64in and painted on canvas within my studio.
‘Midday, Church of San Giorgio Maggiore’, 10x8in, oil on board.
‘The Lions of Trafalgar Square’ , 40x64in, oil on canvas.
To accompany the exhibition Thompson’s have created a wonderful catalogue containing a section of the artworks and after visiting me in my studio to find out more haver written a rather complimentary write up to head up the catalogue. Here’s what Thompson have had to say about the collection-
We are delighted to present An Artist’s Journey, our debut exhibition of Nick Grove’s solo exhibition here at Thompson’s Gallery.
A highly accomplished en-plein air painter and active member of The Royal Society of Marine Artists, Grove caught our attention in December 2021, when we featured some of his paintings in our monthly updates. The overwhelmingly positive reaction that ensued came as no surprise.
Grove, largely self-taught, quickly found success at the London Art Fair, Affordable Art Fair, and other mixed exhibitions across our galleries. His skillful passion for painting iconic British towns and landscapes alongside stunning Venetian scenes has captivated our audience. Nick’s commitment to en plein air painting and constant pursuit of ways to evolve and perfect his craft have resulted in pictures filled with honesty and supreme command of tonal values.
Among today’s exceptional plein air painters, there exists a fundamental tension between “verisimilitude” and “honesty” — that is, those who seek to document life with photographic precision, and those who seek to distill sensations within a lived context. Nick Grove clearly operates in the latter camp, emphasising the humanity and personality of a given view. “I am painting from my heart,” he told us during a recent studio visit, and we are thus treated to poignant and swelling views of the Strand during Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee: a skateboarder meanders down the legendary thoroughfare, whilst the prominent bunting and crash barriers indicate the imminent arrival of a major procession. Be it in his rendering of a tentative, post-lockdown Piccadilly Circus, wherein pedestrians variously donned masks or charged into the terrain, or his tender interpretation of Marylebone High Street on a quiet summer’s day, Grove sensitively distills the integrity and wonder of everyday life.
I do hope you can visit the gallery and appreciate the works in full. And that in some small way I can connect with you through my work.
You can view the exhibition catalogue here.
