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Alan Cotton Biography
Born in Redditch, Worcestershire, Alan Cotton trained at the Birmingham College of Art before becoming a Research Fellow at the University of Exeter. He has taught and lectured widely, both in this country and abroad, and has become well-known in the West Country through the numerous television films which have been produced about his work.
Alan’s own particular technique of knife-painting and his use of pure pigment brings a distinctive freshness to the work. Thick impasto slabs of colour are applied to the canvas or scraped back so thinly that the texture of the canvas is revealed. The side of the knife makes the finest of lines, whilst the tip can depict the tiniest seed-head. His never ending search for new and stimlating starting points for paintings has taken him to many parts of the world and his paintings of Provence, Venice, Tuscany, Cyprus, the West Coast of Ireland and more recently the Piedmont region of Italy, have been the subjects of regular exhibitions at Messum’s galleries since 1985. More recently, in 2005 Cotton travelled as tour artist with HRH The Prince of Wales on a trip to Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
He works tirelessly to support the arts generally and has been instrumental in forming the recently opened South West Academy of Fine and Applied Art in Exeter. He has been elected as its first President.
Alan Cotton is represented exclusively by Messum’s.
Messum’s Fine Art
Alan Cotton is represented internationally by Messum’s Fine Art and has had exhibitions with them in their London Galleries for the past 20 years.
In association with Messum’s he has exhibited with other galleries, including:
Walker Galleries, Honiton
John Davies Gallery, Stow-on-the Wold
Falle Fine Art, Jersey
Selective Eye Gallery, Jersey
Other One Man Exhibitions include:
City of Plymouth Art Gallery
Dorset County Museum, Dorchester
Exeter Royal Albert Memorial Museum
Nuffield Gallery, Southampton
The Bournemouth Gallery, Hampshire
Stroud Art Gallery, Gloucestershire
The Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton
Otterton Mill Gallery, Devon
Canada Arts Gallery, Victoria B.C., Canada
City Gallery, Dinan, Brittany, France
Hammer Galleries, New York
Mixed Exhibitions include:
Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions
Royal West of England Academy
Royal British Society of Artists
Royal Birmingham Society of Artists
South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts
20th Century British Painting Exhibitions, London
Waterman’s Fine Art
W.H. Patterson, London
West Country Painting, Austin Desmond Gallery, Devon
Charles Causley A Tribute From the Artists – Tour: West Country & London
Bath, Chichester, Sidmouth and Honiton Festivals
Jenny Pery, Alan Cotton: On a Knife Edge, Halsgrove
Jenny Pery, Alan Cotton: Giving Life a Shape, Halsgrove, 2010
His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales
Queen Mary II, commissioned by Cunard
City of Plymouth Art Gallery
Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
National Collection of Paintings in Hospitals
University of Southampton
University of Exeter (6 paintings)
Royal Marines
Kings Norton Conference Centre, Birmingham (13 paintings)
Carlton Westcountry Television
Alan also has work in private collections in the UK, Canada, United States, South Africa and many European countries.
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Giving life a shape
Audio
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Messum's Fine Art Presents Alan Cotton's Palette Knife Landscapes
Art Knowledge News
3rd September 2011
Alan Cotton - The Series Paintings
2011
Alan Cotton: Hartland, Ireland, Piemonte & Provence
Studio Publications 2010
Alan Cotton - Giving Life a Shape
Halstar in association with Messum's 2010
Alan Cotton - Giving Life a Shape - Limited Edition Print
Halstar in association with Messum's 2010
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From Donegal to the Southern Hemisphere
Studio Publications 2006
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‘As I see it’
Studio Publications 2004
Predominantly Piemonte
Studio Publications 1999
Paintings from Ireland and Elsewhere
Studio Publications 1998
New Paintings, 1997
Studio Publications 1997
Reflections: Venice, Provence, Cyprus
Studio Publications 1995
Cotton on Canvas
Studio Publications 1994
Provence
Studio Publications 1988
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Alan Cotton ‘On a Knife Edge’
Halsgrove
Alan Cotton elsewhere on the web
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