“Dial Africa” – Painting inspired by the music of John Coltrane

“Black and white are absolute.
They express the most delicate vibration,
the most profound tranquility, and unlimited profundity”.

When I paint badly, it’s my fault. When I paint well, it has nothing to do with me.

Black and White Works on Paper ….These abstract monochromatic works have a teeming, churning movement that at times suggests an urban congestion ready to suffocate everything, at times the explosive chaos of a primeval natural world. ….. In a few works, Garton uses an expressionist figurative style and a little color to show cityscapes in which building is piled on building, creating the claustrophobia of a Dickensian slum. In the abstract works [the great majority in the show] he tries out two styles. One is a mechanistic one in which a variety of pipe-like shapes are piled on top of each other, entirely in black and white. The other style, an angry scrawling build-up of forms, is more free flowing and includes the use of some gray and on one occasion, blue. It is in the largest works in this style, where he has abandoned any remnants of representational form, that Garton gets what he’s after. Here his use of paint is highly effective in creating not just movement across the paper but also an unsettling sense of impending chaos. Despite their dark tone, these works are visually engrossing. – Art critic Kate Taylor – The Hamilton Spectator. Canada

“Misterioso” -  Inspired by the piano playing of Thelonious Monk

THELONIOUS MONK – Blue Monk – Video

Thelonious Monk – piano. Charlie Rouse – tenor. Larry Gales – bass. Ben Riley – drums.