John Pelling (artist)
| John Pelling | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1930 Hove, East Sussex, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Abstract and religious imagery |
| Patron(s) | Monegasque & Kuwaiti royal families |
John Pelling (born 1930) is a British artist and clergyman, and an Associate of the Royal College of Art, known for works on large canvases, abstract works, and paintings of religious imagery.
Pelling was born in Hove, East Sussex, in 1930, and educated at Brighton Grammar School. He went on to study at the Royal College of Art in London from 1951 to 1955, studying under John Minton and Francis Bacon amongst others. He is married to Zoe Pelling, who is also an artist. He is one of the judges of the annual International Firework Competition in Monte Carlo. He works from studios in west London and Monte Carlo.
Ordained in 1959 in the Diocese of Chichester, Pelling served in churches in Kensington and Hammersmith, before moving in 1979 to the south of France. His final ecclesiastical appointment before retirement was as Chaplain to the Anglican Church in Nice, France, and he established a family home in Monte Carlo. Pelling has stated that his art is part of his ministry, and that he was encouraged by his ordaining Bishop to pursue his art as part of his religious vocation. Nonetheless, in 1982 he retired from active ministry to devote himself to full-time work as an artist. The Sunday Mirror newspaper reported that Pelling could raise the same money by selling one painting, as working for three months as a clergyman. He was received into the Catholic Church and the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in 2011.
Pelling has become known for large scale works on massive canvases, many of his paintings being between 10 and 15 feet in length. His abstract style has left him open to broad interpretation, although religious imagery is always a strong element. For example, "Maternal Movement", which is displayed at the Chelsea Arts Club appears to show an embryo and an umbilical cord, and the angular designs below the central subject appear to represent the female reproductive organs (female genitalia feature in many of Pelling's works), but the non-abstract intrusion of a monstrance containing the sacramental host clearly points to the subject being the unborn Jesus Christ in his mother's womb.
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