22
Aug
The Specials bass player exhibits art at Harrogate gallery
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Horace Panter, bass player of The Specials, unveiled his new exhibition at the RedHouse Originals Gallery this month.
The exhibition, titled Blue Sky Paintings: Journeys Across America, is open until September 18 from Monday to Saturday between 10am and 5pm.
It is Mr Panter's second exhibition at Redhouse Originals. His first one, titled Myth Americana, was in 2015.
Much of his work is based on traditional forms of iconography infused with a Pop Art style.
This latest exhibition includes a wide range of bright acrylic pieces influenced by American cityscapes.
Mr Panter said:
As a musician, touring America means basically playing where the water is.
The 'flyover states', that enormous bit in the middle, are the bits that fascinate me these days.
In recent years, I've been fortunate enough to spend time in both Texas and South Dakota. Photos from these visits consitute the subject of many of the pieces in this exhibition.
Of course, the commonality across the collection is the blue sky. I'm drawn to the intensity of the colour, the light, and shade and always aim to represent its fullness.
Horace Panter, Dawn Texas, Currently on display at Redhouse Originals Gallery in Harrogate.
Mr Panter's first solo exhibition was in 2009 at London's Strand Gallery. It came after a stint working in a school's art department and playing in The Specials' reunion in 2008.
He has since exhibited at the Affordable Art Fair London, The London Art Fair and The London Print Fair at the Royal Academy.
Mr Panter said:
Coming of age in the 1960s meant that, artistically, I was attracted to the Pop Art movement, both in the UK and USa and was influenced by artists such as Peter Blake, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Robert Indiana, Derek Boshier and Allen Jones.
It was art I could relate to, alongside my other predilection for the 12" vinyl record ... for an impressionable youth this collision of art and music was magical.
Mr Panter was a founding member of the ska band, whih formed in 1977.
Their EP The Special AKA Live! was released in 1980, with its lead track Too Much Too Young reaching number one in the UK singles charts.
The band hit number one again a year later with Ghost Town and stayed there for three weeks.
The band re-united in 2008, without songwriter Jerry Dammers, and began touring in the autumn of that year.
They continued to release music and perform until 2022 — the year in which lead singer Terry Hall died.
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