CUILLIN BANTOCK
"There is a quality of purity and sublimity that we rarely see in art today. And the sublime elicits nothing less than awe." Akbar Husain, Writer
Cuillin Bantock, b.1935 is a British Oxford graduate and professor of Zoology, expert in developmental cytogenetics and comes from a family of highly accomplished British composers.
He later became a 60’s graduate of Camberwell College of Art. He was born in the Midlands and spent his childhood on the wild desolate coastline of Northern Wales. Returning to full time painting in 1989 Cuillin applies his scientific knowledge to his painting juxtaposed with a natural flair for colour, texture, space and light. Working with what he calls a ‘catholic’ choice of media; oil, acrylic, watercolour, gouache,conte crayon and lino cuts, Cuillin pieces are figurative and non figurative heavily influenced by his childhood home. Cuillin first exhibited in 1956 with The Royal Society of Painters.
Since his return to full time painting he has exhibited in solo and mixed shows across the UK, predominantly in London. He has also exhibited in Canada and the US. Over the years Bantock’s paintings have become more abstract.
“ ‘more or less’ gives way to the old saw ‘less is more’, where in quite simple terms one looks for ‘something beyond’, quieter, emptier, but at the same time not in the least flaccid, indeed tougher. Put it all another way. Life is complicated enough already, so why add to that with yet more complexity?” Cuillin Bantock
