EXHIBITION: Artist Richard Meaghan’s dream show in his home town

Apr 21 2008 by Philip Key, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL artist Richard Meaghan is a busy man, with four exhibitions all opening at around the same time.

There are shows in Berlin, Hamburg and Copenhagen and his latest in Liverpool.

"It’s just happened that way," he tells me. "I have still got work to do to complete them all."

At 34, the painter is having a golden period and beavering away to complete all his work at his studio in Bootle.

He studied Fine Art at Staffordshire University, and for some time was based in London.

He has returned to the city of his birth not only because of a failed relationship but because he can get decent studio space at a reasonable price.

Enjoying working on a fairly large scale – one recent piece is 14ft x 7ft – he also produces some slightly smaller works and his new exhibition at the View Two Gallery offers a variety.

The show is titled No Current Bun – a phrase his brother-in-law used when Meaghan was staying in the shade – but it is also about dreams.

He creates narrative scenes usually involving one or more figures which have the atmosphere of dreams – the world in them is always a little quirky. At least one It’s Showtime was based on one of his genuine repeated dream involving a monkey outfit and a clown.

In fact, it is more in the nature of a nightmare with the clown wearing similar make-up to that of American serial killer John Wayne Gacy (who did perform as a clown between killings) and sporting wolf-like fangs. He stands among tree branches in a garish background with another character wearing the monkey costume.

The Frog Adventure, with three young people prodding away in the undergrowth with a stick, was based on a real experience in which a frog ornament was dropped by a cliff top and had to be retrieved with a stick.

Runaway Bride was based on a photograph of his own wedding, with the couple almost obliterated by paper confetti dropped randomly on the oil painting.

Meaghan’s art is bright and colourful, his imagery offbeat, meanings not always clear but generally arresting. It is easy to understand his popularity.

* NO CURRENT Bun runs at the View Two Gallery, Mathew Street, until May 10. Gallery open Thurs, Fri noon-4pm, Sat, noon-5pm. Also by appointment. 0151 236 9444.

philkey@dailypost.co.uk