Hit 'n' Miss Painting

Goff Danter was born in 1949 in a small South Wales town. He won national art prizes and exhibited in places such as Carnaby Street in the "˜swinging sixties' and Geneva, Switzerland. He also won a number of awards in his late teens. On leaving school, he trained at the West of England college of Art, Bristol, Cardiff College of Art and Cardiff University. He then taught at St Illtyd's College, Cardiff until moving into the management of adult education as his full time occupation for many years. Since then he has acquired a confidence in his own understanding of art to paint for his own purpose, in his own way, regardless of trends or prejudices. Fortunately, this has proven to be very successful and enabled him to explore a completely new career as a full time professional artist. Working from a studio in his home town he continues to appreciate the direct links with his "˜origins' which provide the stimulation for the majority of paintings. These combine elements of the everyday landscape with complex emotional values, giving each painting a unique quality. This is enhanced by a particular style of painting on heavily textured canvas using hand mixed natural colours from a limited pallet. The expressive forms are distinctive, yet allow a degree of personal interpretation. The atmospheric qualities created often serve to stimulate the imagination and memory of others. The paintings tend to reflect the mood or atmosphere of events, thoughts and memories, illustrated with references to the places he knows so well. Although most of the paintings have personal recollection and experience as their foundation, they are "˜generalised' in a way which makes their appeal extremely wide -ranging. He often finds himself linking past events with the development of paintings, using familiar imagery to reinforce the connection. One of the reasons often mentioned to explain their appeal, is their apparent 'honesty' as images and their total lack of pretence. These qualities often seem to be lacking in many contemporary offerings. Often people consider his work represents some elements of the style of the American artist Edward Hopper combined with some of the sentiments of Dylan Thomas. ''THE MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD HAVE NO ORDER....AND NO END'' : Dylan Thomas. Like most people he has come to appreciate what he prefers and considers that the images created adequately represent his taste.