Dan Baldwin: Love and Light

Between foul weather, winter floods and coronavirus, it’s easy to feel down these days. Modern life can be hard enough without these distractions to contend with.

That’s why it’s been such a joy to have Dan Baldwin’s latest series of silkscreen prints on display in the gallery. After making his name with dark, complex images that confront head-on the big questions of human existence, he has turned recently to a new approach. Hope and positivity are the new bywords of his work.

The seed was planted by a collaboration with CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) in 2018. Taking the motif of the swallow - a symbol for freedom in his paintings - Baldwin released a small three-way colour variation of the image, giving it the title “Love and Light” as a reminder to stay on the positive side of life. This was followed a year later by a patterned silk shirt produced in collaboration with designer Mercy Delta, again featuring the swallow.

“Love and Light - Yellow and Blue”, Dan Baldwin

“Love and Light - Pink and Yellow”, Dan Baldwin

These projects met with huge success, prompting Baldwin to return to a more concentrated style of composition. Monumental yet powerfully simple, his recent prints point the way to a bright and happy future. It’s been a delight to have them here.

Be sure to catch Baldwin’s work in the gallery over the last weekend of his retrospective show “Hope in Hell”.