Martyn Brewster

Coastal Light

recent paintings and drawings

9 September to 29 October 2017

with ceramics by Peter Hayes, Paul Wearing and other leading makers

furniture by Petter Southall.

Into the Light acrylic and collage on canvas 120 x 120 cm

This autumn Martyn Brewster fills the galleries of Sladers Yard with his lyrical abstract paintings and pen and ink drawings of the Dorset coast. Martyn has lived near the cliffs, open skies and beaches of Southbourne in Dorset for thirty years, inspired by the natural landscape, the sea and the light as well as by colour and paint itself. He is an artist whose seductive use of colour and vigorous originality has produced paintings and drawings that are collected worldwide. Martyn Brewster’s paintings and drawings are shown further down this page.

Artist’s Talk:

Martyn Brewster in Conversation with Professor Simon Olding

Friday 29 September 6.30pm

Tickets: £10 or £25 with dinner to follow.

More information about the evening.

Please phone 01308 459511 to book.

To the Sea 120 x 120 cm acrylic on canvas

For his first exhibition at Sladers Yard Martyn Brewster has spent the summer drawing with pen and wash on the Dorset coastline he loves mostly between Bournemouth and Hengistbury Head. He makes these figurative nature studies on site in front of the motif mostly in blacks, whites and tones searching to express the composition and drama he sees in the multiplicity of nature.

D5 Hengistbury Head 21 x 15 cm ink and wash

His drawings feed into the abstract colour paintings in oil and in acrylic which he paints in his studio. Colour for him is an emotional vehicle. He talks of colours ‘having a presence in themselves’ and the play between them within a composition has always fascinated him. He works on a group of paintings at the same time, boldly changing them, exploring and pushing until something magical happens and he finds his reward in the work. Evocative and suggestive, his paintings and drawings are open to the response of the viewer.

Martyn Brewster 23. Fading Sunset acrylic and collage on canvas 2017 50 x 50 cm £3750

23. Fading Sunset 50 x 50 cm acrylic and collage on canvas

Recently he has introduced a more restrained palette bringing the tones and subtlety of his drawings into his paintings. Flashes of vivid colour move amongst more muted tones of light and dark, the translucent and the opaque, creating dynamic canvases. The quieter approach seems to give an entry to paintings of a fresh contemplative power and strength. Filled with a vitality that expresses his vigorous poetic imagination, these are the paintings Martyn will be showing this autumn at Sladers Yard.

20 Coastal Light 181 50 x 50 cm acrylic on canvas

Martyn Brewster was born in Oxford in 1952. He studied Art and Design in Hertfordshire and Fine Art (Painting) in Brighton followed by a Postgraduate diploma in Printmaking. He has been working as a professional artist ever since with regular solo shows in museums and galleries in London and throughout the UK as well as exhibitions in USA, Canada and throughout Europe. He has won numerous awards and his work is in private, public and corporate collections worldwide including the Victoria & Albert Museum and the British Museum. Recently his work has entered the collections of Pallant House, Chichester and the Hepworth Wakefield. In London and New York he is represented by Waterhouse & Dodd.

Martyn Brewster in his studio. photograph by Hattie Miles

Martyn Brewster’s works are shown below. On bigger screens, click on any image to see it bigger with full caption. To enquire about any painting or about the opening please do contact Sladers Yard on gallery@sladersyard.co.uk or t: 01308 459511.