currents
ways of seeing water
new paintings by Julian Bailey Luke Elwes
Vanessa Gardiner Janette Kerr PPRWA RSA Hon
furniture by Petter Southall
ceramics, sculpture and craft by leading artists and makers
Saturday 22 September – Sunday 11 November 2018
Whatever its mood, water in paintings can carry light, energy and a kind of soul. The four painters in currents are drawn to paint water again and again, for the joy of it, the power and forocity of it, the contemplative force of it and for its deep unknowable mystery. Essential for life, but associated with danger, water plays a much greater role for all of us than we really realise. It seems likely to demand more of our attention in the future as the climate changes. To look at, it is of course endlessly fascinating both in reality and in the powerful two-dimensional illusion of art.
Bringing together the work of four eminent contemporary painters, currents will sweep you up into the tide of the present moment. For Janette Kerr, water is deeply dynamic, whipped up by the wind and portrayed in energetic expressionist brush strokes. Vanessa Gardiner’s water is often a well of opaque turquoise blue with geometrically divided areas of froth and shadow. Julian Bailey’s joyous seas seem to sparkle and move with thick impasto paint and quick gestural brush strokes. Luke Elwes’ Ganga paintings turn the surface of water into a shimmering meditation.
As a maritime warehouse, Sladers Yard has always been connected to the sea. It has been converted into a gallery and café by Petter Southall who started working wood as a boat builder and whose furniture is filled with the echoes of boat shapes and boatbuilding techniques. With the sea outside the door here at West Bay and water in all its forms on the walls, you are invited to dip in and immerse yourself in one artist’s vision after another.
All works are available to view online. Please follow the links to each artist.
