Bono, Ali Hewson, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Paul McGuinness and Gavin Friday attended the opening of an exhibition of work by the painter Derek ‘Guggi’ Rowan, at the Osborne Samuel Gallery in London tonight. Bono introduced his friend’s paintings to the guests, including Maurice Saatchi, brother of art mogul Charles.
Guggi befriended Bono at the age of 6 and was a member of Dublin band the Virgin Prunes until 1984. He started his career in painting at the age of 27. He has since exhibited at the Kerlin and Solomon galleries in Dublin and recently at the Tony Shafrazi gallery in New York.
The Osborne Samuel gallery is known world-wide as a dealer in modern and contemporary sculpture, in particular the work of Henry Moore and Lynn Chadwick.
The exhibit will be open for public viewing on Friday, December 3 until December 24th.
If you’re interested in the work of Bono’s lifelong friend, the gallery is located at 23a Bruton Street, London W1, just off Berkeley Square. (Nearest tube: Bond Street and Green Park.) And if you have £ 14000.00 to spare, you may become the lucky owner of ‘Vessels with numbers 2/04‘
You can preview Guggi’s work on Guggi’s website, and also on the Osborne Samuel website.
It’s more than just bowls! They’re VESSELS. They are a symbol of utility. A bowl can hold so many things…from the vulgar to the sublime…cornmeal mush to the most elegant chinese cuisine…the uses are endless. Archeologists discover entire civilizations in the discarded pieces of ancient broken bowls. How can we live WITHOUT bowls? The Bible illustrates the human as a humble “earthern vessel” hiding treasures of spiritual knowledge and wisdom. The artist begs the question…if you had a bowl or bowls…what would YOU put in it? What are in THOSE bowls?
Can I sell art or what?
It’s more than just bowls! They’re VESSELS. They are a symbol of utility. A bowl can hold so many things…from the vulgar to the sublime…cornmeal mush to the most elegant chinese cuisine…the uses are endless. Archeologists discover entire civilizations in the discarded pieces of ancient broken bowls. How can we live WITHOUT bowls? The Bible illustrates the human as a humble “earthern vessel” hiding treasures of spiritual knowledge and wisdom. The artist begs the question…if you had a bowl or bowls…what would YOU put in it? What are in THOSE bowls?
Can I sell art or what?
Guggi talked a bit about his paintings earlier this year in Brussels. He told the audience when he was still painting his huge portraits (remember those?), someone said one of the faces looked like a ‘bowl’. (Gavin added faces are either plates or bowls.)
Over breakfast the next day Guggi said he ‘wasn’t really good at anything’. We told him he was a ‘diplomat’ – because that was he does in company, but obviously he’s good at painting too 🙂
Guggi talked a bit about his paintings earlier this year in Brussels. He told the audience when he was still painting his huge portraits (remember those?), someone said one of the faces looked like a ‘bowl’. (Gavin added faces are either plates or bowls.)
Over breakfast the next day Guggi said he ‘wasn’t really good at anything’. We told him he was a ‘diplomat’ – because that was he does in company, but obviously he’s good at painting too 🙂
I like the paintings, they’re sort of mysterious and medieval, you know, like ‘the pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle, the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true’ 🙂 And that huge bowl, I’d love to have that! Wouldn’t fit in my house though.
I like the paintings, they’re sort of mysterious and medieval, you know, like ‘the pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle, the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true’ 🙂 And that huge bowl, I’d love to have that! Wouldn’t fit in my house though.
I like these too – I didn’t like the previous set, which were all in that light, earthy tone. I’m going to see them on Saturday in London 🙂
I like these too – I didn’t like the previous set, which were all in that light, earthy tone. I’m going to see them on Saturday in London 🙂