YOT Cafe: Boatyard Blues, Andrew Crothall
Date(s): 19.9.23 - 16.10.23
Time(s): 09:00 - 17:00
Boatyard Blues
An exhibition by Andrew Crothall LRPS
YOT Cafe & Shop
12 Banks Road
Heswall
Wirral
CH60 9JS
This exhibition is inspired by the rich photographic environment on the Heswall shore near the boatyard. Visual treasures await those who look closely; textures in the dried mud, rusted metal, sea-worn timbers, and my favourite – the cracked and peeling paint on the old boats.
The paint fascinates me – multiple layers in different colours built up over the lifetime of the boat and then battered by the elements and abraded by contact with ropes, anchors and other boats. This harsh treatment cracks it, peels it, scrapes it and blisters it, revealing the colours beneath and eventually the fabric of the boat itself.
With a bit of imagination the cracks and scrapes create their own images – spiders scuttling across the paint, a submarine or a snake in the grass.
Most of the images are from close-ups, covering an area just a few centimetres across.