Brian Sinfield Art Gallery

Forthcoming Exhibition

Saied Dai RP, NEAC and Charlotte Sorapure NEAC 10 June - 24 June 2023

'In the Mind's Eye'

Exhibition opens Saturday, 10th June 2023.

View the full exhibition here

We are delighted to be showing this eagerly anticipated joint exhibition featuring work by Saied Dai and Charlotte Sorapure, two artists who share the same artistic values, studios and life.

In this exhibition Saied explains: "The motivation and attitude of an artist can best be determined, not so much by their subject-matter, but how that subject is interpreted. The vehicle is important but should not be mistaken for the destination.

This seemingly disparate collection of paintings and approaches are the culmination and inadvertent diary of what has ‘caught’ me in the last couple of years.

A closer look will reveal the connecting thread of focus, intention and resultant atmosphere that connects them all. Art really does come out of life.

All ideas are founded on observation, for without obser-vation there would be no content. Some are painted directly from the subject, others mostly from drawings; whilst a number are based on an idea, or even derived from imagination. Often it is a mixture of all these elements together, aiming to create a self-contained world that comes back to the reality with greater force and expression - a mystery and hopefully an enigmatic beauty.” Saied Dai

Charlotte explains "Paintings often feed off one another. It can be helpful to switch from an observed to an invented image, as the objectivity of one and the lyricism of the other remind me that good paintings need to have elements of both.

I am usually hinting at a kind of poetic awareness rather than any literal narrative – to hopefully give the viewer a sense of the underlying mood and character of a place or an object. It is a case of being constantly alert to the possibilities in potential subjects; from a humble still life, to figures or the patterns and movements in nature.

There is a group of paintings within this exhibition that represent something of a turning point, where unconventional night-time compositions of the garden became a compelling subject. Something of a symbiosis between garden and painting developed - the one influencing and nurturing the other.

Night both captivates and unsettles. The ending of our daytime activities and the onset of darkness can paradoxically mark a period of awakening - not only for nocturnal creatures, but also for different parts of our psyche to emerge ... a different awareness.

In this group of night paintings, the shadow itself takes on an independent life, interacting with its surroundings, hopefully eliciting the other-worldly quality of nocturnal settings. Form and structure have merged, melded and simplified. It is not intended to signify the dark side of human nature but to point to a more nocturnal mode of being.

Light used to be rare - now it is abundant. Consequently, darkness has become precious, similar to that other precious thing, silence.” Charlotte Sorapure

To view all available work by Saied please click here

To view all availabe work by Charlotte please click here

To view the digital catalogue please click here.

Featured Artist

Victoria Webster

Victoria Webster was born in Chester and graduated with an Honours Degree in Illustration and Graphic Design from Leeds. She then embarked on her successful career as an illustrator overseas in New Zealand and Australia, where she worked for Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising. A few of the many exciting projects she has been involved with include designing postage stamps for Australia Post, having her work produced as a range of phone cards for NZ Telecom and children’s books with Macmillan Publishing.

Upon leaving her career in advertising, her beautiful paintings and drawings were being bought and cherished by art collectors around Australia, including the State Premier of Victoria.

She has completed two Artist-in-Residencies in UK schools and helped implement and teach a new Illustration degree at Wellington Polytechnic, held illustrative courses at The New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts and workshops at The National Library of New Zealand.

Victoria’s paintings are full of wit and irreverence and are inspired by her travels, love of gardens and architecture, but also by her longing to be near the sea. Her honed illustrative style translates itself into pared down shapes and salient forms. In her images familial bonds run deep and there is quietness and ease in which the figures, birds or beasts occupy the space. The connection of people who live their lives beside it and on it are the vicarious inspiration for her detailed paintings.

Her paintings can be found in private collections in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

Victoria now lives with her family in Herefordshire.

Painting shown here: ‘A Quiet Corner’, oil on canvas, 92 x 122 cm

To view all available work by Victoria please click here

New Aquisition

Fred Cuming RA

Amongst Britain's most outstanding, respected and poetic landscape painters, Fred Cuming RA is considered one of the finest landscape painters of his generation. Obsessed with capturing colour and light, Cuming’s work expresses a dreamlike quality which transports the reader into his evocative world.

Cuming (1930 - 2022) studied at Sidcup School of Art from 1945 to 1949 and, having completed his National Service, went on to study at the Royal College of Art from 1951 to 1955, where he gained a Rome Scholarship and an Abbey Minor Scholarship. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1974 and a member of the New English Art Club and an Associate of the Royal College of Art. His first solo show was held in 1978 in London, and since that time he exhibited regularly in solo shows throughout the UK and more recently in the United States. His work has also been included in many group exhibitions since 1953. In 2001 he was given the honour of being the featured artist in the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition, with an entire gallery within the show dedicated to his work.

He was the winner of many awards including the Grand Prix Fine Art (1977), the Royal Academy’s House & Garden Award and the Sir Brinsley Ford Prize (New English Art Club, 1986). His work is held in private collections throughout the world.and in 2004 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Kent at Canterbury. His work is represented in private and corporate collections in fifteen countries and we were honoured to be one of the galleries to represent him.

Image shown here: 'Autumn Sea'.