About
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Malcolm Tait is an artist based in Addlethorpe, Lincolnshire in the UK.
His work is a versatile and eclectic mix of painting, installation and assemblage. This variety stems from his life experience in many occupations which include, publican, mini cab driver, lobster fisherman, factory worker, picture framer, chef.
People have always fascinated him, the choices they make, how they come to hold the views they do, what makes them who they are; in this drive to understand others he found he could only honestly know himself, so all his work is in some larger or smaller way autobiographical reflecting his own experience of life.
His early paintings are primarily in oils but he now paints primarily in acrylics since resuming his practice after a serious illness (IPF), a lung transplant and recuperation from early 2019 - mid 2020. This episode has led to a sharpening of his focus on what he now creates.
Having drawn since he could hold a pencil at the age of four, drawing is an essential element in his practice, the assemblage and making stems from an equally early pleasure of making small clay objects out of mud by a “wee burn” at the age of six in the village of Newcastleton.
As well as drawing the other elements central to his practice today are colour and figurative work.
As Goethe said colour reveals all of the physical world to us, colour also informs emotional responses garnered from experiences throughout life and how it does those things is a primary concern of his practice. Artists that inform his work in this field are Gerhard Richter, Bridget Reilly, Jackson Pollock and Jasper Johns to name but a few.
His figurative and more traditional landscape work stems from a simple love of recreating what he sees in the world on a two dimensional surface something he has relished all his life and continues to appreciate more and more, now exploring gestural marks and brushstrokes adding emotion and angst to the work. Early inspirations were Rubens, Titian and Goya now a primary driver of this style are the portraits of Alberto Giacometti and the later works of John Bellany.
In assemblage and making he explores the meaning that can be located in objects, this meaning gained from narrative, history and learned experience and how the combination of various objects can lead to an expression of something completely unrelated but still relevant to the human experience. Two of the major artistic influences in this field come from Naam Gabo and Barry Flanagan.
Curriculum Vitae
Note: In 2014 I was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis a deteriorating lung disease and as the disease progressed my practice shrank in its engagement in public space, between mid 2017 and late 2018 work was not possible because of the condition but I was extremely fortunate in 2019 in receiving a single lung transplant and after recuperation began work in earnest again early in 2021.
*** Denotes Solo Exhibitions.
Recent Exhibitions
July 2023 Ferens Open Exhibition (selected) Ferens Art Gallery, Hull
Jan.29-23Apr. 2022 Annual Open Exhibition (selected) 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe
November 2021 "What is Art", Boomer Gallery, Tooley Road, London (Group Exhibition).
June 2021 *** “In Search of the Purple Fish” North Sea Observatory Gallery, Chapel St.
Leonards.
Selected Exhibitions
May 2012 : Inugural Exhibition The Embassy Theatre Café Gallery, Skegness
December 2008 : Temptations, Cuppola Gallery, Sheffield.
May 2008 : Waterside Open Art Exhibition, Lauriston Gallery, Waterside Arts
Centre, Sale, Manchester.
April 2008: Minor works, The Chapel Gallery, Ormskirk, Lancashire
February 2008 : South Holland Open, South Holland centre, Spalding Lincolnshire.
August 2005 : Burden Award Exhibition, Arts Coranti, Swineshead, Lincolnshire.
May 2005 : Mercury Music Prize Final. Air Gallery, 32 Dover Street, London.
Exhibition Record
November 2016 : *** Retrospective, The Café Gallery, Skegness., Embassy Theatre Gallery,
November 2012 : *** A Rural Perspective, Sam Scorer Gallery, Lincoln.
July 2010 : Mansion House Art Exhibition, Mansion House, Upgate, Louth, Lincolnshire.
Sept 2009 : *** “In the beginning was the word and the word was...” Studio exhibition
part of The international SEAS Festival.
February 2009: 'Found’, Work created with found objects, Skegness Library, Skegness, Lincs.
January 2009: Under the bed sale. Cupolas Gallery, Sheffield
May 2008: *** Fairy Tales and Language. The Artists Studio, Addlethorpe, Lincolnshire.
November 2007 : Time, perspectives and Horizons. The artists Studio, Addlethorpe,
Lincolnshire
February 2007 : *** In the window, Exhibition and installation piece in Public Library,Skegness.
November 2006 : The Great Art Fair, Alexandra Palace , London.
November 2006 : Tempus Fugit, Recent work Artists Studio/Gallery, Addlethorpe.
May 2006 : Degree Show Exhibition, Greestone Gallery, Lindum Hill, Lincoln
January 2006 : Identity, Group Exhibition, City Centre Shopping Arena, Lincoln.
November 2004 : All in the Mind, Sam Scorer Gallery, Lincoln (Solo)
October 2003 : Tidal Variations, Group Exhibition, Greestone Gallery, University of Lincoln.
July 2003 : Development, Amour d'Art Prince George St. Skegness. (Solo)
Exhibitions Curated
October 2002 : Coastal Visions, by Ian Passam, Amour d'Art, Prince George St.,
Skegness,, Lincs.
September 2001 : Recognition, by Johnathan Wilkinson, Amour d'Art, Prince George St.,
Skegness, Lincolnshire
May 2001 : Beach Chalets. photographer Michael Kelly, Amour d'Art, Prince
George St., Skegness, Lincolnshire.
July 2000 : Sixth-Form, co-curated with David Wise, Amour d'Art, Prince George
St., Skegness, Lincolnshire.
May 2000: Botanical Watercolours, artist Jennifer Goodwin, Amour d'Art, Prince
St., Skegness, Lincolnshire.
September 1999: Manipulated, photographer Michael Cooper, Amour d'Art, Prince
George St., Skegness, Lincolnshire.
Grant Awards
May 2016: Arts Council England Grant for project on Disability “This is My Life”
June 2009 : Arts Council England Grant for installation “The Quest of Alonso Quijano….”
May 2007 : Arts Council England Grant for project "In search of Albion"
Competitions
August 2007 : Winner of the South Holland Open, Sponsored by South Holland District
Council. Lincolnshire.
August 2005 : Winner of the Burden Open. The award sponsored by Burdens
Agricultural for professional artists.
Artworks in public spaces
June 2014 : SO Festival Celebration, ELDC Head Office, Tedder Hall, Louth.
June 2014 : "Skegness Skegness" The Embassy Theatre, Skegness
August 2010 : Patchwork, Seathorne Primary School, Skegness, Lincolnshire.
June 2008 : “Mondrian’s Lobster Pot” Birkbeck Primary School, Boston, Lincolnshire
July 2007 : “Curriculum” Collaborative project, North Somercotes & Birkbeck Arts
And Community College, North Somercotes, Lincolnshire.
June 2006 : “Fibonacci’s Arc” Collaborative sculpture project, Burgh Le Marsh Primary
Lincolnshire
Public Art Projects
June 2017 : “This is My Life, 2017 ”Projections”
June 2016 : “This is My Life”
June 2011 : GamesTime, Skegness SO Ferstival, Dry Lagoon Skegness
August 2007 : "In search of Albion". Outdoor art installation, various locations on
Coast. Sponsor; Arts Council England.
October 2005 : Beacon Project, (Time, Site, Art), site specific art at seven sites around
Lincolnshire.
October2003 : Beacon Project, (Time, Site, Art), site specific art at seven sites around
Lincolnshire.
Partnership Projects
May 2012 : "In Search of Albion", Festival of Bathing Beauties, Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire.
October 2008 : X-Church, Gainsborough. One day collaborative event with three artists,
a project exploring temporary dwellings.
August 2006 : Production of the play "Extremities" at the Edinburgh Fringe. (including
Set design and visual artwork).