The School House Gallery

The School House Gallery

Bruer Tidman is concerned with the human figure. This is expressed with an assurance that produces dramativ and transfixing work. In his paintings, he frequently explores the complexities of relationships. In those of artists and model, one of the characters is often defined while the other is more abstract. The figures are placed on either side of a room or on either side of a table. The relationship of these characters is ambiguous and poses endless questions. The apparent facility of the handing of paint masks the great care he takes with the impressive range of oil, acrylics, watercolours, wax mixed with pigments, and pastels that he uses. These materials are applied in layers building up a textured surface of luminous and brilliant colour. His work is always underpinned by his skill as a draughtsman which is apparent in everything he produces. It was evident in the early Night Shelter series and the Circus Ring paintings, and also in the poetic Figures in Interiors. There now seems to be more. As Matisse would have it, 'Condensation of essentials' makes Bruer's work more powerfull and direct. Bruer Tidman is certainly one of the most talented and interesting painters in East Anglia and his reputation is spreading afar.