“There is great courage in the handling of figures seen as silhouette shapes in a way that implies form. The colour results in an emotional presence within the formal structure of the work; the division of qualities in the way they are handled have a strategy that is intuitive, not expressionist. There is a conflict between sensual surfaces and aggressive, physical manipulation; distorted forms create unexpected, incongruous combinations.
Tidman’s passion for painting has in part been ignited by the circus and the theatre. There is an underlying compassion for his people and a special connection with the maternal. Some figures have a dramatic sense of isolation. There are qualities of Modigliani, Klee, Picasso, Braque, Nolde, Chagall, Rouault and early Lautrec.”
Zacron
Brüer Tidman, a graduate from Great Yarmouth College of Art (1961) and the Royal Academy of Art (1964), who has worked as a lecturer at Lowestoft School of Art, is now a full time painter and long standing associate of the Royal Academy of Art.
Tidman’s energies are focused upon expressing dramatic and transfixing work of the human figure; portraying complex characters whose ambiguity pose endless questions and intrigue surrounding the narrative of emotional relationships.
His work is underpinned by his skill as a draughtsman, but is it his use of paint as a medium; his confidence and control in the application of a range of oil, acrylics, watercolour, wax and pigment and pastels, which Tidman builds up in layers to produce bight and luminous coloured surfaces with great textural qualities, that make the paintings captivating.
The artists works depicting current events from the cruel hours of war to refugees, from death to beauty have been exhibited extensively with the Royal College of Art, at the Norwich Castle Museum as well as across Europe in Switzerland and Finland.
As well as exhibiting in a vast array of solo and group shows, including the 2018 Tidman:Lamprell alongside Tom Lamprell with us at the Fairhurst Gallery, Brüer has also worked as the artist in residence at the Great Yarmouth Hippodrome Circus and has achieved a string of awards, including first prize in the East Anglian Artist Open (1986) and Drawings for All (2000).