John Selway was born in Askern, Yorkshire in 1938. He lived in Abertillery, Blaenau Gwent from 1941 until his death in 2017. He did his National Service from 1957 – 59, on his return he attended The Royal College of Art from 1959-62. John Selway was awarded the University of London, Boise Travelling Scholarship from 1962 – 63.
He taught at Newport College of Art from 1964 – 91.
He exhibited widely, and his work is in numerous national and international collections.
Member Since 1964Sometime ago I wrote: Art for me is the coming together of the imaginary and the factual ‘Fantasy and Fact’ – ‘Reality and Fiction’, this still holds. I think that throughout my artistic life this has been my guiding mantra. Occasionally the convergence has been through someone else’s input, as seen in my Gene Genet series, other times through observations I have made myself as in the ‘Beach’ series. Sometimes ideas merge as if I am creating a new reality as in the painting ‘The Conformist’. The realty triggers the memory of a film based on a book. This kind of reality is a constant in my work, even in my more recent landscapes where I have taken the factual reality of a mountain in the French Basque Country and produced a series of transformations based on the weather and the time of day. Changes in the work actually occurred during their making, others were transposed as they were happening, but in fact came from different times and were only partly attributed to the place. I feel in this respect I have some affinity to Dylan Thomas and Gene Genet, as both mix fact and fiction in their work, conjuring a ‘new reality’. An influence and obsession for me over a long period of time. I am currently working with a Samsung Tablet developing a series of works on the story of Peter Pan and on collaborations with a young Argentinian Photographer on a series related to Cervantes Don Quixote.
John Selway and the 56 Group Wales
The visionary painter John Selway, who died at the end of October 2017, had a significant association with 56 Group Wales and will be greatly missed by its members. As a young art lecturer in 1964 he was, initially, a guest of the 56 Group, becoming a full member later that year. Following a 1970 meeting at his house with Eric Malthouse and Ernest Zobole, the three artists resigned in protest against the desire of some of the Group’s constructivists to exhibit together. Thirty-four years later, with the Group’s 2004 revival and the wide acceptance of figurative art, John rejoined and would remain a member, recently serving as its chair.
Born in 1938 to Welsh parents near Doncaster, John Selway arrived in Abertillery at the age of two. He would live there for most of his life. He attended Newport College of Art followed by London’s Royal College of Art where he was a contemporary of David Hockney who admired his work. ‘Pop Art was just coming into fashion,’ wrote Osi Rhys Osmond in a 2001 issue of Planet, ‘and although John Selway could never be said to have been a disciple, his work at this time often referred to everyday incidents and the world of consumption.’ He returned to Wales, which was so important to him, becoming an art lecturer at Newport from 1964 until 1991.
Selway did produce more purely abstract work, notably in the 1960s, but figurative painting and a combination of imagination with reality were major preoccupations. His subjects were often disturbing and included memories of places, circuses, beach life or landscapes. He also drew upon history, literature and religion as in the liberation of Auschwitz or the poetry of Dylan Thomas. His dramatic cycle of paintings in St Michael’s Church, Abertillery, structured around Christ’s Passion, were inspired as much by political conviction as a culture of Christianity. All were characterised by exceptional composition and mastery of colour and tone.
David Moore, Brecon
A Taste of the Avant-Garde: 56 Group Wales, 56 Years, David Moore’s fully-illustrated 2012 exploration of the Group’s fascinating history, may be obtained from www.crooked window.co.uk
Obituaries