Gary Sargeant was born in Abergele, North Wales, in 1939. The son of a decorative plasterer, Sargeant described his attraction to painting as genetic and instinctive: ‘I have always had this need to paint, I drew as soon as I could walk. It was inherent, born in me, not taught’.
He was born with a squint that could not be corrected, and when he was four, some lime juice squirted in his eyes, further damaging them. His sight deteriorated again later in life, leading the artist to register as blind in 1995. But, as history shows, vision issues never stopped Sargeant.
His career began in theatres as a scene painter at Sadler’s Wells, Covent Garden and the London Palladium. From there, he transitioned to the world of television, first with ABC in London, then with Tyne Tees in the 1950s. He continued to consistently paint on the side.
He had initially envisaged his work in TV as a short-term gig, but his plans changed considerably when he met Val, who would become his wife. He held his first ever solo exhibition at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, Val’s hometown. There his artworks depicted abandoned miners’ cottages, dead pits and disused factories – resonant themes for the region.
Unfortunately, in 1974, the artist’s sight would further deteriorate following a bad fall induced by a burst ulcer. Although sight partially returned in his left eye, his vision never returned to his right eye. The diagnosis brought on a period of severe depression, culminating in 1983 when the artist’s sight ‘went altogether … out like a fuse’. He was subsequently admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Two people would help him emerge from the depths of his despair, and save his life: therapist Brian Tiffney and his wife, Val.
His therapy included exposing him to the smell of pigment, with Tiffney encouraging him to relearn to draw and paint, reassuring Sargeant of his talent and potential. Val assisted throughout the process, namely by measuring and transferring measures onto the canvas. The technique involves using a white wooden stick, marked with notches a finger-length apart to measure elements in the landscape. The length of the stick is then scaled down on canvas to the length of his finger and then painstakingly mapped out with masking tape and blobs of Blu-Tack, handed to him by his wife. Sargeant then begins to paint, using his chromatic memory and his other senses, such as touch and smell. ‘I work very slowly because I can’t see what I am doing. I work off the knowledge of having been in paint all my life and the perception of knowing my way round the canvas’.
The resulting paintings are very textural and material. Visitors to his exhibitions are even invited to touch the paintings, a break from the usual behaviours expected at an exhibition.
He has previously sold works to Dame Judi Dench and the late violinist Sir Yehudi Menuhin.
Sargeant lives and works in Beverley, near Hull.
