Recently checked out the “I woz ere” exhibition of George Shaw at the Herbert gallery, Coventry. Once a local lad, Shaw was a 2011 Turner Prize nominee. No pretentious nonsense here though as he does actually paint, in enamel, scenes from the council estate of his childhood.

At first I thought it would be the technique that would be intriguing. Painting in enamel does indeed give a very distinctive vibrancy to the work, but it’s the subject matter and it’s presentation that really involves you. Tired and faded buildings from a council estate, broken garage doors, grey concrete and closed pubs all wait patiently without menace or threat. Waiting for you to remember the comparable scenes from your own childhood and start a strange dialogue. It helps to have a good friend with you to share that discussion (thanks Sue!)

Somehow the artist has created scenes that evoke nostalgia as a sort of modern urban Constable. The collection works not as ‘aesthetic art’ but as a kind of cooperative storytelling and I wonder if the painting will only resonate with a certain generation. Will kids of today have memories of wandering off to derelict land and building dens from discarded sofas? The striking lack of people in the paintings is fascinating and could be seen as sad as could the focus on buildings before their inevitable demise. Is it all about death and the passing of things? Or has he drawn a specific attention (as artists are wont) to the effects of our environment and the life-giving power of memories?