In January 2008 we invited the Derek Williams Trust to exhibit a selection of their
Modern British art, the Modern British art which is the specialism of the gallery,
at our then Bruton Street gallery. All the chosen works related closely to what we
handled at the time. The Trust asked whether one contemporary artist could be
included, and we readily agreed. That artist was Brendan Stuart Burns, and the work
was a series of ten small paintings inspired by Debussy's La Cathédrale Engloutie.
The piece was installed directly in front of my desk for a month. When the
exhibition closed, everything returned to Cardiff.
In January 2013, however, I received an email from Brendan asking whether
he could show me a new book commissioned by the internationally renowned,
Hong Kong–based Welsh architect Keith Griffiths. Keith had acquired several of
Brendan's paintings from his exhibition at Oriel y Parc (an outpost of National
Museum Wales) in St David's, later hanging them in luxury hotels he owned
in Pembrokeshire.
The book—Glimpse—was a substantial volume, beautifully designed and illustrated,
charting the development of his work during a one-year artist in residency at
Oriel y Parc. Near the end were installation photographs of the exhibition. I was
particularly struck by one painting glimpsed through an arched doorway, which
I later discovered was one of the yellow lichen–inspired works. Then came the
spindrift paintings, capturing the ebb and flow of the Pembrokeshire coast.
Photo: Tim Collier Photography
I N T R O D U C T I O N
By Gordon Samuel
