Biography
British artist. Has exhibited in solo and group shows, in museums and galleries nationally and internationally. Now living in Romanshorn, Switzerland. Initially, because both my parents painted, I wanted to do something else. I decided to be a writer and at 17 won second prize in the Stroud Festival of Literature poetry competition. This led me to study English and American Literature at Bristol University. But the visual arts were in my blood and in my early 20's I started making sculptural objects, mostly at that time using 3-4mm thick saddlery and harness leather which I used to get from Conolly's warehouse in London.
I would mould form stitch and colour it. I spent
1983/84 at Corwainers College in London
experimenting and developing techniques. While there I spent many
free hours drawing and being inspired by the objects in The Museum
of Mankind (now sadly gone) and have since continued my love of
"tribal art" and indiginous "World Art".
Soon, these turned into paintings, where in many of them the
dominant themes turned out to be an attempt to express tensions and
relationships between nature and technology and between our material
and spiritual dimensions. I developed a method of using bookbinders
board, which I could cut to the required dimensions, building the
painting out of pieces so that I could alter the size and format of
the painting as I worked.
It was a way of stirring things up in the work as I could move parts
of the painting around, adding and discarding images, and finding
interesting chance encounters. When the work felt right, then the
pieces were glued to thin ply, finished and braced. Many of the
paintings ended up with the piece of board I'd used as a palette
inlayed into the painting.
In 1987/88 I was awarded a major bursary by South
West Arts, and in 1989 was invited to give a solo
show at Fremantle Arts Centre as part of the Perth International
Festival of the Arts in Western Australia. From this I was offered
teaching and residencies, first in Western Australia, and then in
the east in Canberra where I was artist-in-residence at Canberra
School of Art where I also had a solo show. Altogether my wife Romy
and I spent a couple of years in the country before travelling on to
New Zealand where we spent nearly three years. While there I had a
couple of solo shows in galleries in Auckland, and a residency at
Waikato Polytechnic in Hamilton.
In 1998 I was invited to give a solo exhibition at
the Schloss Arbon in northern Swizerland, and have continued living,
working and exhibiting in Switzerland since. In
2007 I had a solo show in Cheltenham Art Gallery
and Museum in the U.K. titled "Undersong", and a calalogue of the
same name, was published in English and German to accompany it.
This exhibition was a kind of watershed for me and I needed a fresh
start so I went back to my roots, painting portraits, mostly of
friends, musicians, scenes, objects. This has led me to a deeper
appraisal of painters like Velasquez, Rembrandt and Frans Hals,
among many others, where the magic lies primarily in the mysterious
relationships and differences between the painted image, which takes
on its own reality, and that of the subject depicted; not an
illustration, but a distilled essence being sought ultimately
through intuition and imagination. Francis Bacon called it "the
mystery of appearance". Throughout this time I have continued making
objects, using combinations of various techniques and materials. The
"Thiepval Wood" paintings are an ongoing series inspired by reading
Martin Middlebrook's "The First Day on the Somme". The nearby
soldiers used this wood for "relaxation", a smoke and a brew of tea
before taking part in one of the most disastrous and bloody battles
in British history.
In 2014/15, 12 of these paintings were exhibited at
the Stadarchiv Museum in Friedrichshafen Germany in commemoration
and to mark the centenary of the First World War. Recently I have
begun to set my poetry into the paintings. To me the physical act of
writing is like drawing, so the words become an integral part of the
wo Less.
Education
Studied English and American Literature and Art at St Matthias
College, University of Bristol, 1968-71
Qualified as teacher
1983-84 studied at Cordwainers College, London,
researching sculptural techniques
Music
Songs which are original, personal and sometimes humorous on life,
love and loss, which often include comment on contemporary issues
such as feelings of alienation, global warming and social
injustice. Styles influenced by Bluesy Rock/ Acoustic/
Contemporary Country/ and World Music but with an individual take.
All songs written and performed by Tim Frederick Meagher.
Music on Youtube
Exhibitions
2016:
Publication of "Friedrichshafener Jahrbuch" with
chapter on "The Thiepval Wood Paintings" shown at
the Stadarchiv Museum, Friedrichshafen in 2014/15.
2015:
3 Artists, Kunstraum Romanshorn, Opening 7pm October 23
2014 / 2015:
(Solo) "The Thiepval Wood Paintings", Stadarchiv
Museum, Friedrichshafen, Germany (As part of the centenary of
W.W.1)
2014:
(Solo) Galerie Botanica, Romanshorn
2013:
(Solo) "Journey through Spain", Meyers altem
Hallenbad, Romanshorn, Switzerland
2010:
(Solo)Locorama, Romanshorn, Switzerland
2007:
(Solo) "Undersong", Cheltenham Art Gallery &
Museum, England. Catalogue with English and German text.
2005 & 2006:
(Group) Castellucio di Pienza,Sienna, Italy
2005:
(Group): The Last Gallery, Zürich, Switzerland
2003 & 2004:
(Group): Gallery Bollag, Zürich, Switzerland
2003:
(Group): "Brainworks", Memory Klinik,
Munsterlingen, Switzerland
2001:
(Solo): Galerie vor der Klostermauer, St Gallen, Switzerland
2001:
(Group): RW Fine Arts Collection Winterthur, Switzerland
1999:
(Solo): Galerie Schloss; Arbon, Switzerland
1999:
(Group): Kunst-Kontakt 99, St Gallen, Switzerland
1997:
(Solo): Oxford Artweeks, Oxxford, England
1996:
(Group): Axiom Gallery, Cheltenham, England
1995:
(Group): Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
1993:
(Solo): Oedipus Rex Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1992:
(Solo): Waikato Polytechnic Gallery, Hamilton, New Zealand
1990:
(Solo): Canberra Institute for the Arts, Canberra, Australia
1990:
(Solo): Southern Arts Touring Exhibition,Winchester Gallery,
England
1989:
(Solo): Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth, Australia
1988:
(Solo): Riverside Mill Gallery, Bovey Tracey, England
1988
(Solo): Artsite Gallery, Bath ( Bath Arts Festival), England
1987:
(Solo): Prema Art Centre, Uley, England