Abstract Art & Contemporary Painting – Summer Rain – 1st October – 12th October 2020

Summer Rain

Opening on Instagram Live @bricklanegallery
6pm, Wednesday 30
th September 

Exhibition continues 1st October – 12th October

 

 

The Brick Lane Gallery Is pleased to present our newest exhibition ‘Summer Rain’. As we turn the corner on what will be remembered as a lost summer, the work in this exhibition offers introspective reflections from a diverse group of contemporary painters. United by a common endeavour to replicate and preserve the momentary, the artists in this exhibition investigate the nature of existence and seek solace in the natural landscape. The incredible resin seascapes of Azka Marzec strive to recreate a sense of synthesis between the artist and the landscape of her Scottish home. J. Aurelia Sing is similarly invested in the intersection between man and Mother Nature, whilst the semi-abstract work of Jane Kell, whose standout piece provides the title of this exhibition, pushes the boundary between colour and form to perfectly capture the feeling that comes with the change of seasons. The exhibition’s overarching theme of optimism grown from contemplation is perhaps best expressed in the recycled A5 prints of Antonis, whose organic graphic prints are designed with the intent of spreading positivity and a hope for the future. 

Participating Artists:

Antonis | Aska Marzec | Aurelia Sing | Jane Kell | Jude Caisley | Leon Arendtsz

 Matthew Rutherford | Yavora Petrova | Gaia Strace

 

Antonis 

Having previously exhibited his layered and expressive paintings in our Abstract Art Exhibition in March, Antonis returns to the Brick Lane Gallery with his latest body of work, ‘Coral Reef.’ Working on a smaller and more intimate scale than his previous collection, the organic forms are painted on recycled cardboard. The size and material democratize the work. The paintings are designed with the intent of spreading inspiration, courage and a hope for the future. In exhibiting the work collectively in this way, Antonis creates an ecology between the disparate works, focusing on the relationship between them. In doing so he motivates the viewer to consider the relationship between themselves and their environment, their affinity with others, and their connection to the world around them.

 

 

Aska Marzec

Aska Marzec takes the landscape of her home on the Island of Mull, as the inspiration for her unique resin works. Since moving from Poland to the island twelve years ago, Marzec has sought to replicate the sense of unity and harmony she feels when at home in the Scottish landscape. Her work endeavours to capture the transient, the fleeting moments of beauty that occur at the instant the sun disappears behind the horizon, or peeks through a burning red sky. The materials themselves help to facilitate this. Within the build up of layers of resin, and directly onto her canvasses, Marzec includes natural materials – grass, shells, and flower petals. In this way the ephemeral is preserved. 

 

 J. Aurelia Sing

The dynamic paintings of J. Aurelia Sing aim to explore the intersection between man and ‘Mother Nature.’ Working mostly in acrylic and applying the paint with a putty knife Aurelia uses a variety of motifs, patterns and colours to convey an intensity of sensation and emotion. Her energised figures are installed with a power. They unleash and emit an explosion of colour onto the canvas surface. Working to express what she describes as ‘the poetry of life, interspersed with reflective feelings’, Aurelia’s paintings offer us an inspiring and unique combination of rotating colours and textures that speak of the artist’s expansive imagination.

 

 

Jane Kell 

The semi-abstract ethereal work of Jane Kell included in this shows lends the exhibition its title. In ‘Summer Rain’ the boundary between colour and form, subject and shape is obscured. Instead the effect cultivated by her rich and sensual colour palette is an atmosphere of reflection and contemplation. Larger in scale and more abstracted than much of her earlier work, Kell’s intuitive application of paint recalls the rain in her title and offers the viewer a washed view softened by water. Painting directly onto the canvas, Kell works initially with thinned down paint, before adding subsequent impasto layers. Her practice is physical and reactionary; working with the aim of reducing the painting to its essential elements, she will often remove and alter the paint surface with rags.

 

 

Jude Caisley 

Born and raised in Northumberland, Jude Caisley worked in the fashion and textile industry for two decades before rediscovering her talent for painting. Her abstract paintings are spontaneous. Comprised of sweeping and impassioned brushstrokes, she works the surface of the canvas in response to music. In this way Caisley follows in the tradition of the pioneers of modern abstraction, generating harmony and rhythm within her efficacious paintings. The vibrant colour palette, varied application of paint, and the sense of motion in the abstract and fluid motifs all serve to reflect the internal experience of the artist.

 

 

Leon Matthews 

Born in Sri-lanka, Leon Matthews’ accomplished acrylic paintings are inspired by a life of travel. Drawing on his experiences in Asia and the Middle East, Matthews’ subject matter concerns idyllic landscapes and social observations. Offering to Pattini … the deity Pattini, Buddhist goddess of food, for example, captures the ritual whereby the fishermen pay tribute to the goddess Pattini in the hope of securing a fruitful bounty. Facing towards the glimmer of the sun on the horizon, the fishermen are rendered in rich earthy hues silhouetted against the hot umber palette of the early morning sky. The froth of the waves as they break rolls towards them and functions compositionally to group the fishermen together as they offer their thanks.

  

Matthew Rutherford

Summer Rain will be the second instalment of Matthew Rutherford’s work at The Brick Lane Gallery, which will follow the previous showcase of his work in our last group show and Matthew’s debut, Enigma. Since suffering a traumatic head injury in a car accident in 2010, which dramatically impaired his speech and forever altered his life, Matthew Rutherford has poured all his energy into painting. Often sleeping for just a few hours a night, Matthew is a prolific artist who uses his art to communicate his frustrations and experience of the world. He describes his art as from a ‘locked in mind’, and for this reason it is central to his self-expression. His painting style is direct and commands attention. The colours are bright and bold. The application of paint is energized. There is an urgency and importance in his work that comes from the desire and necessity to communicate.

  

Gaia Starace

 Gaia Starace is a multidisciplinary artist who also works professionally as an Architect and Concept Designer. Her visual artistic practice combines traditional and contemporary techniques in painting, sculpture anddrawing. Inspired by her interest in Eastern philosophies, Starace’s experimental approach of “adding & removing” combines layering of oil paint with single hand brushstrokes, creating smooth & clean surfaces. The works included in this exhibition are part of her most recent collection, ‘Water in the Sky’, this project is part of a larger collection called ‘My Sacred Nature’ wherein Starace investigates her own relationship with the natural world, and celebrates the fundamental importance of nature to humanity. 

 

Yavora Petrova 

For the Bulgarian artist Yavora Petrova, her artistic interest lies with the human form and the unity between the mind, body, and soul. In Garden Party II, we see what we assume to be two figures seated at a pink table on the left hand side on the canvas. Delineated by a layering of line drawings in a variety of mediums, her figures are schematic and implied. Their faces are obscured and abstracted, there is noattempt to identify or individualise the figures but rather they occupy a transient position in the painting. The dripping and smearing of the paint down the surface of the canvas, combined with the threatening concentration of black in the top left corner permeate the work with a deep psychological sensibility that challenges the cheery connotations of the work’s title. The artist’s use of a thickly applied royal blue and a cheerful pink go some way to balancing the dominant melancholy in the painting.