Industrial Beauty

Ok I'm back again. It has, once again been a while since I wrote anything. I thought I would share my thoughts on "Awesome Beauty", a TV programme with artist Lachlan Goudie. Lachlan talks paintings of the industrial landscape from the industrial revolution to the present. He produces beautiful sketches while at sites which were gorgeous. Many of the paintings were incredible. I think the painting I liked most was Turner's "Dudley" during the industrial revolution, a magical image of smoke and light. The pride of workers that build aircraft and ships on a colossal scale was inspiring and Lachlan sat by a large wind turbine sketching with breathless accuracy. I grew up in the Midlands of Britain and have worked in factories so I have a bit of a love hate relationship with industry. Some of the old buildings do have a beauty but many are grubby and certainly in the past smelly. I remember the smell of the Courtaulds factory at Grimsby in the 80's mingling with the odour of the Birds Eye fish factory and then there's the noise of industrial spinning. The cleanness and silence of a painting does not convey the stink and noise that is usually found in industry. I think would still rather be off in the countryside.

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