John Craxton review – why paint when there’s ouzo, dancing and drunken sailors?

Pallant House Gallery, Chichester
An expat in Crete, Craxton put the pleasures of Mediterranean life first, but still managed to paint graphic works full of vitality. These are joined here by Crackers, a biopic by Tacita Dean

Swallows on the nest, a black cat at the gate, swifts hunting in a bright sky over the island of Crete. Ancient sculptures of gods, bulls and men, and a pair of sculpted breasts, their shape echoed in the hilltops. Tacita Dean’s new film, Crackers, takes as its title both the nickname of the artist John Craxton, whose memory inspired it, and the improvised circumstances of the film’s making, with its happy accidents and unexpected detours.

The filming of Crackers was a sentimental journey. In 1982, when she was 16, Dean’s family took a holiday to the island, finding themselves staying opposite John Craxton’s home in the city of Chania. Craxton was the first artist Dean had ever met, and visiting his studio affirmed her ambition, much against the wishes of her parents, to become an artist. It was the life Craxton had, as much as his work, that inspired her.

Continue reading...