Brian Sinfield Art Gallery
Exhibition 'Unfound' by Lee Madgwick
'Unfound' 14 October - 28 October 2023
Announcement on the exhibition 'Unfound' by Lee Madgwick
You are invited to join us in celebrating this long-awaited exhibition by Lee Madgwick. 'Unfound' is Lee's second solo exhibition with the gallery.
We announced on our homepage that images of new exhibition paintings would be available to view online from the 27th September. Lee's work is in such demand that his paintings were being purchased as the images were being uploaded, and therefore the exhibition has already nearly sold out.
We apologise if you have missed out on this occasion, but rest assured we will be holding a further exhibition of paintings by Lee in 2025.
Join us for a glass of champagne and meet Lee Madgwick who will be present from 11am - 3pm on Saturday, 14th October 2023
"Lee Madgwick’s paintings have the unearthly power of a disturbing dream in which familiar places are cut adrift from everything reassuring and become outposts in a desolate spinal landscape. But a dream is indistinct, and fades; here they with the unfading, scrupulous, fascinating detail of a Dutch Master. Silence hangs over every canvas and poetry is found in meticulous renderings of every form of decay. Not death, though – his scenes are alive. The natural world thrives and reclaims, people have been here recently (thought they might not have meant well), and the weather is about to change." Will Wiles
The artist explains: “I hope to achieve a sense of drama in my work. Presenting a familiar image yet placing it in an intimate and moody setting. A narrative is very important – but intentionally never fully explained. I like to leave it for the viewer to come up with their own interpretation.”
A catalogue is available on request.
To view the full exhibition please click here
Image above: ECLIPSE | ACRYLIC ON CANVAS | 100 X 150 CM
Featured Artist
Frances Clark-Stone
We would like to introduce artist Frances Clark-Stone.
Frances is a visual artist, and her aim is to find peace and serenity in the palette of everyday life, whether walking through woodlands, by rivers and canals, the view from a window, the garden, a landscape, or the night skyline.
The artist explains: "My work is always prompted by how an experience made me feel, with the idea or image evolving in my mind for months, sometimes years, before I start painting. Although I often paint natural scenes, they are less about the landscape than about the relationship between the human being and the environment.
I am a visual artist working in oil and pastel to create a narrative in which the viewer may place themselves. Inspiration comes from dreams, experiences and relationships with both people and places. Everyday places become extraordinary in moments of awareness, feeling and mood.
My work is often described as magical or spellbinding and often my paintings evoke a feeling of vulnerability in those paintings which contain figures, or a stillness in the place-based ones. It is the drama of the moment which I want to convey.
I use a combination of oil paint, oil bars, cold wax and oil pastel, usually over a period of weeks so that each layer can dry. For the soft pastels, fixative and a liquifying medium increases flexibility, allowing a build-up of texture and accidental pattern.“
Frances studied Art History and is influenced by a wide range of art styles. Her style however is most strongly influenced by impressionism, post impressionism and fauvism, as well as some illustrative artists working today.
Francis has been painting since 2007 and is now a full-time artist based in Gloucestershire.
To view all available work by Frances please click here
Painting illustrated: Taking Notice | pastel on board | 48 x 68 cm
Current Exhibition - 'Under the Skylight' by Felice Hodges
'Under the Skylight' by Felice Hodges
This stunning exhbition of abstract paintings celebrates the use of colour in painting. Having spent much of her early early life and university years in New York, Felice's background familiarised her with the ‘colour field’ paintings of Helen Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Clyfford Still, Ellsworth Kelly and others.
The artist explains: "My fascination with how colour can make the viewer feel, combines with my interest in drawing and collage in which pieces of paper are placed above, or secreted below, multi-layers of paint, so that only their outlines are revealed. Some of the textures also incorporate hessian and sand, whilst the mark-making consists largely of charcoal, Indian inks, chalky pigments and oil pastels. These gestural notations are often nonfigurative, although there are also references to everyday, domestic objects such as chairs, tabletops and vases.
My drawings are intentionally ambiguous, and I aim to encourage interpretation and engagement with the work in a very personal way. Indeed, there is deliberately little in the way of narrative, so that the viewer can engage with a painting with a fresh and open mind. This creative interaction between the artist and an observer is something I always strive for ... to be able to stimulate what, I hope, leads to a fruitful ‘conversation’.
This body of recent work encompasses themes which I have explored for many years. Recurrent motifs of interior objects, such as vessels, appear to float on ‘fields’ of modulated colours, often appearing in rhythmic sways which recall my deep interest in music.
In other paintings, as their titles suggest, the colours alone encapsulate the mood of a place or the memory of a moment of time. ‘Congo Pink and Magenta’, for example, refers purely through colour to the heat and exoticism of Africa … a reminiscence pared down to narrow bands in a combination of ‘hot’ tones.
In ‘Mexico I’ and ‘Divide by Rust’, the earthy shades of yellow ochre, sienna and reddish brown recall the heat and baked dust of the region, though the former painting highlights vessel shapes too, showcasing the artefacts of this ancient civilisation. I love the challenges of invention, of experimentation with novel colour combinations and notations." Felice Hodges
Painting illustrated: Balance l mixed media on canvas | 49 x 49 cm
To view the full exhibition, click here
To view the digital catalogue please click here
The exhibition is live now and continues until 11th October.