Brian Sinfield Art Gallery
Exhibition
Elsa Taylor 14 May - 28 May 2022
Exhibition: 'You Know How I Feel'
"What is art? Big question. The Victorian artist James Holland was under no illusions. "It is, or ought to be, the object of all art to produce as near a likeness to nature, in every respect as the instrument or materials employed will admit to." In other words, detail, accuracy, and finish. Constable's buyers demanded this, yet it was his six foot sketches that today spark our interest. In that respect Constable was ahead of his time. But it was Turner who painted works of the heart and mind, dramatising his subjects. Gone was the emphasis on detail, it was the emotional response to a subject that was all important. Turner had bucked the trend.
Elsa Taylor is a colourist; her flower pieces are more celebrations of colour and design than depictions of flowers. Her landscapes of layered earth colours, delicious harmony of umbers and siennas are the artist's emotional responses to landscape, and that is what is important. Any artist beginning a painting embarks on an adventure. Elsa works at the surface of her canvas with saturated colour, exploring the shapes and textures that emerge in an attempt to capture the character of the subject. At times semi- abstract merges with abstract. Nothing much of detail here, but strong imagery and colour." Brian Sinfield
This exhibition will be the seventh held at the gallery and the paintings have lost none of their zest. Undoubtedly Elsa Taylor is one of the finest colourists working in England today.
To view the full exhibition please click here
Featured Artist
Introducing Peter Kettle
We are thrilled to be representing a new artist to the gallery, Peter Kettle. We are sure you will find his work as exciting as we do.
Peter considers himself a documentarian and expressive landscape artist creating oil and mixed media paintings by immersing himself in the landscape. He paints from his native Wales as well as Scotland and other remote regions of the world.
He incorporates journalistic narratives and social geography into his projects recording elements and nuances of the space to rework into ambitiously scaled and expressive paintings; using paint and other media poured, rubbed and splashed onto the canvas.
Having worked exclusively in oils, his technique has broadened to the use of Gesso, collage, inks and shellac. His paintings give the impression of well-worn exterior walls, buffeted and corroded over time. The effect is a characterful, well weathered surface, stony and granular that is at the same time luminous with dramatic light. His paintings go through a number of stages, deconstructed and layered, to form a complex expression of his subject matter.
Peter started his career in Wales and now lives and works in Bristol, maintaining his travels to his native Wales and across Britain, which remains a continual spur for his work.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and the Royal Cambrian Academy (RCA) and has featured on the BBC New. The Guardian published an article as he was the 'One to Watch'. His work his held in private collections internationally.
Image illustrated: Waterfall, Claerwen River, Wales | mixed media on canvas | 110 x 90 cm
To view all available works click here
Just In
Introducing Melissa Scott-Miller
We would like to introduce to you the urban landscape artist Melissa Scott-Miller.
At an early age Melissa was an enthusiast for London's streetscapes and has made this her specialty, to record the rich detail of the city. She is fascinated by light, pattern and texture, particularly on bricks and slates of London buildings and well as the flora and fauna found in city gardens and parks. Melissa likes to work outside, whatever the time of year, and sometimes from windows where she can paint larger views. Often favouring unusual viewpoints, she is interested in the detail and the effects of nature on man-made structures. At the same time wishing to portray the emotional relationship she has with London streets, where she has lived as a child, and continues to live as an artist, a mother and a dog owner!
She paints with small brushes, so that she can draw with the paint and fill in areas as if embroidering, putting great care and attention into each section and generally not going back to it.
Over the past 30 years her work has been shown in many group exhibitions throughout the UK, including the New English Art Club, The Royal Society of Portrait Painters, The Mall Galleries and on seventeen occasions at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Melissa has been a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters since 1999, and the New English Art Club since 2008. In 2018 Melissa was elected a member of the Royal British Artists.
Painting illustrated: Regent's Canal in Islington, Spring Sunshine | oil on canvas | 70 x 100 cm
To view all available work please click here