Dancing Times Fine Art Collection

The oldest proof of the existence of dance comes from, a ‘lost in time’ 9000-year-old cave art painting which was found in India and included depictions of communal drinking and dancing. This is reminiscent of a right Cockney Knees-up.

In ancient rituals around a campfire and tribal gatherings, dance was a conduit of trance, spiritual force, pleasure, expression, performance and interaction.

Dancing, whatever its form – but particularly the formal ones we readily recognise today, such as the Waltz, Foxtrot, Turkey trot (twice around the dance floor then outside for a gobble), Tango, Flapper/Charleston, Jive, Twist, Disco fever, Punk, Electro swing, are they all perpendicular expressions of a horizontal desire?

This ‘Dancing times’ pop-art collection of paintings & prints, highlights dance as its own form of art. From the music to the culture and the history behind it, dance has been a way people could express themselves or connect for many decades and it has evolved and changed tremendously throughout the years, although often being controversial at the particular time.

Crash Madonna. Acrylic painting on canvas 127×115 cm

Tango v2. Acrylic painting on canvas 127×115 cm

Flying tonight. Features Bettie Page. Acrylic painting on canvas 127×115 cm

Good old Summer time. Acrylic painting on canvas 127×115 cm

Jump Jump. AKA Sweet C. Acrylic painting on canvas 127×115 cm

The Three Gracies. Homage to The Three Graces, Euphrosyne, Aglaia and Thalia: Three goddesses in Greek mythology in whom beauty was defined and were part of Aphrodite’s gang. – Acrylic painting on canvas 127×115 cm

Electro Swing. Acrylic paintings on Canvas 50 x 45 inches by Doug Kemp.

With thanks to Sven Otten & Grace Annette for the video references used in these paintings.

Dances from the 1920s are often described as wild and carefree, such as the Shimmy to the Charleston, performed with a passion at the Gatsby style parties. In this period after the Great War, new freedom was wrestled from the old convention with a general hope for things to come and a joy of life for those who could afford it. It was also a time of increasing freedom, particularly for women with some even given the vote.

Many women’s wages plummeted after the war and some had to give up their (relatively) lucrative roles when the men returned from the forces to take up their jobs again. However, this taste of freedom would not be given up lightly and the new place for women spurred on new changes in society’s attitude. Clothing, hairstyles and dance all became more relaxed – ask Cole Porter: “Anything goes”.

Chevy Dancing, v1. 127 × 115 cm (50 x 45 inches)

Chevy Dancing, v2. 127 × 115 cm (50 x 45 inches)

Dance To The Music, v1. Acrylic painting on canvas – 127×115 cm. (50 x 45 inches). Not to be confused with the painting Dancing to the Music.

Many of the new styles of dance from the 1920s originated in clubs, eventually making it to the dance halls and even church halls after a suitable period of quarantine.

In some nightclubs, mainly in the USA, they ran dance contests called Marathons, which was dancing until you can’t dance anymore, and the last couple dancing wins.

With one of the partners effectively asleep, each partner would have to take turns holding the other up. There were records beaten all around the USA from hours to days.

With characters posed in dance a position, Doug strives to keep a sense of motion in this series of works and the counter patterns in the clothing, creating an appearance of separate planes which belies the simplicity of otherwise what might be just considered a static pose.

War Chic. AKA Liberation of Paris 1944. Acrylic painting on canvas 127×115 cm

Running Woman. Acrylic painting on canvas 127×115 cm – Part of the two for one series.

Running Man. Acrylic painting on canvas 127×115 cm – Part of the two for one art series.

Diga Diga Doo version 1 & 2, paintings on canvas. The 1930s and 1940s were the years of Jazz and Swing dancing, like the Jitterbug to the Lindy hop. Dancing remained very popular throughout the chaos that happened in the 1930s and early 1940s.

Going out and dancing used to be many people’s escape from it all. Even though the Nazis banned “Decadent” dancing, it never stopped everyone, especially from the bouncy upbeat Swing dance.

Diga Diga Doo, v 1. Acrylic painting on canvas from Dancing times collection.

Diga Diga Doo, v 2. Featuring actress Anna Karina. Acrylic painting on canvas from Dancing times collection.

The 1920s saw the emergence of many female musicians and singers including African-American blues singer Bessie Smith who went on to inspire women singers from later eras and to this very day.

The video featured here from ‘Babylon Berlin’, a German TV series, encompases just about everything Doug loves about the late 1920s nightclub scene. The music, the vibe and the banana girls. Other fruits are also available.

Babylon Berlin is a German speaking neo-noir television series and is set in the latter years of the Weimar Republic (1929).

The story follows a police inspector on assignment to dismantle an extortion ring, and Charlotte Ritter, police clerk by day, flapper by night, who aspires to become a police inspector herself.

As a modern artist who likes to paint dancers, my view of the 1950s was as the years of growth and rebellion. Major dances from the late 1950s like the Bop, the Twist and other dances made popular from this Rock and Roll era influenced movies like “Grease” and “Hairspray”.

With their poodle skirts, Bobby socks and Penny loafers or Saddle shoes, this was the era of the Pink Ladies and Dirty Dancing. Especially with Elvis’s rocking pelvis, the dirty dancing seed was planted.

The majority of the dances in the 1960s didn’t include a dance partner, at least not in contact. They had dance’s like the Mashed Potato, the Fly, the Monkey and the Funky Chicken.

Over 400 new dances were introduced in the 1960s. Artists like Nat King Cole and The Beatles had a huge impact in this era for dance. Some films based on this era were “Cats” and “West Side Story.”

On the reference video from Club Des Belugas (Oh my girl) Look out for a very young Oliver Reed strutting his stuff…

Roof top Boogie. Acrylic painting on canvas 127×115 cm

Apache. Acrylic painting on canvas 2000s collection.

Soho Boogie Woogie. Acrylic painting on canvas 127×115 cm Dancing collection.

Dancing with the Invisible Man. Acrylic painting on canvas 127×115 cm from Dancing collection.

Ghost. Acrylic painting on canvas 127×115 cm from Dancing collection.

Angel 2010. Acrylic painting on canvas 127×115 cm from Dancing collection.

Quayside Tango Zurich. 66×72 inches Acrylic painting on canvas from 1990s collection.

Street walking music. Acrylic painting on paper from 1990s collection.

Dancing to the music. Acrylic painting on canvas from Dancing Times collection. Not to be confused with the painting Dance to the music.

The monuments art collection shows Doug’s love of Art Deco architecture. This architecture is still to be found in most cities and towns and particularly at the seaside. Not always noticed and often neglected, it was once the epitome of a brighter hope and confidence between the World wars.

Fashion (even in architecture) changed greatly post WW2, and many great examples were torn down with only a relatively recent revival and desire to preserve them. Now they are more than just monuments to times passed, and even if only the mere facade is kept and the rest has been disemboweled in modernising their utility, that remnant takes its place in the established cityscape. Some of the remaining structures formed reference to the 1950s and 1960s subculture, architecture and principles of modern-day design.

This series also pays homage to the form of the figures and structures in the Medici Chapels in Florence, designed by Michelangelo.

Monuments v1. AKA Trains, Boats, Planes. 115 x 127 cm Acrylic painting on canvas from the 2000s collection.

Monuments v2. AKA Paramount. Paramount Pictures was the force behind many glamourous Hollywood movies, although the central structure represented here actually resembles an Odeon. 115 x 127 cm Acrylic painting on canvas from the 2000s collection.

Monuments v3. AKA The Guardians. 115 x 127 cm acrylic painting on canvas from the 2000s collection.