Brian Sinfield Art Gallery
Just In
Lee Madgwick
Lee Madgwick’s mysterious and emotive paintings depict scenes of abandonment, seclusion and dereliction. Both his urban and rural pictures portray parts of the modern British landscape that are often overlooked by many (with occasional sprinklings of the surreal). With an undercurrent of mischievous menace throughout, the subject matter is at once thrown into question. Who inhabits these places? What lives do they lead? What is happening or about to happen?
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.”
Lee paints on canvas in oils and acrylics. A play of light is used to generate an abundance of seemingly inexplicable moods to contrast with a brooding sky. Lee has exhibited in Norfolk, Cambridge, London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Amsterdam, Milan, Stockholm, Singapore and New York. In recent years he was elected as a member of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) – in 2015, was asked by Banksy to showcase his work alongside internationally acclaimed artists at a large temporary art project called Dismaland – in 2018 his drawing ‘Shroud’ was selected for the Derwent Art Prize, and in 2019 was commissioned to paint a piece to feature as the cover art on the Kaiser Chiefs new album ‘Duck’.
Lee was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk in 1980 and later graduated in Graphic Design from Norwich University College of the Arts, 2003.
Image Illustrated: The Summer House | acrylic on canvas | 80 x 80 cm
To view all available paintings by Lee Madgwick click here
Featured Artist
Miles Cole
An expressive abstract painter, Miles Cole was born in 1965. He studied Fine Art at Gloucester College of Art and the Chelsea School of Art. His early career was spent working as an illustrator with regular commissions from various periodicals such as The Economist, The Times Educational Supplement, Tatler, the Mail on Sunday and many others. In 2010, after a successful career as an illustrator, he returned to painting after a fifteen-year hiatus. His work is rooted in the tradition of British and European post-war Modernism, particularly abstract painting, He says of his work: "The interconnecting lines found in these paintings are a catalyst for what then becomes a sensual engagement with the materials - deconstructing and reconstructing shapes into various compositions until a point of departure from the subject matter has been reached."
As with all artists there are undoubted influences - Kandinsky for one but more particularly the Russian/French abstract painter Serge Poliakoff. Undoubtedly Cole is a master of colour. The power of these paintings relies on two main factors, a perfect understanding of colour and tone and the placing of the right colour against a contrasting colour (powerful in itself), and the use of strong almost three-dimensional shapes, exemplified in his painting 'South Bank'. Combined, these create an explosion of colour that appeals directly to the senses. One does not need to understand the complexities of abstract art to be drawn into its orbit. Stand in front of one of these paintings and you begin a fascinating voyage of discovery.
Exhibitions include the Paisnel Gallery, London, The Square Gallery, London, the Mall Galleries and with the Josie Eastwood Gallery in Hampshire, as well as taking part in numerous mixed exhibitions.
To view all available paintings by Miles please click here
Image illustrated: Outrospective | oil on canvas | 90 x 115 cm
Exhibition
Annie Rouse 9 May - 30 May 2020
In this stunning exhibition Annie has produced beautiful interior still lives and then moving from the domestic interior familiar she has captured the exterior garden and beyond to fields and meadows of her childhood.
Annie Rouse clearly has a great love of painting. Her pictures say it all. They chart the passage of time, she says, journeys made, stories told, notes in sketchbooks, scratches on walls and old songs. There is nothing overworked in these paintings. Instead there is a quirky almost childlike spontaneity, a love of drawing, of texture and the viscosity of oil paint laid on thickly.
Most of her paintings are in a large format, better to carry her vision, though in this exhibition there are also some delightful smaller works. Occasionally she moves towards abstract, with blocks of colour. Isolated images within a composition - vases of tea cups, flowers, mugs, oranges and lemons pack her canvasses.
Undoubtedly there are influences, Dame Elizabeth Blackadder OBE, RA, RSA, the Scottish painter is one, but like all good artists she takes from the best and disregards the rest, putting a stamp on her own work.
This will be Annie’s second solo exhibition with the gallery and we are very excited about this new collection of work.
Image illustrated:
Table with White Mugs and Three Pears | oil on canvas | 91 x 120 cm
To view all available paintings click here