Brian Sinfield Art Gallery
Just In
Michael Kidd - Sissinghurst Arch
Just in, this stunning new painting by Michael Kidd.
Michael's work shows a strong imaginative streak, quirky at times, surreal at others. Working in acrylic, he tends to work on themes - gardens, chateau’s, coastal scenes and cityscapes, whatever subject holds his interest.
His paintings are highly distinctive and possess an unworldly, surreal quality with a playful sense of mystery, occasionally bordering on the abstract. Whilst, of course, Michael's work is defiantly uniquely his own, perhaps it is the artist's fascination with Alfred Hitchcock that has laid the foundation for his work. Michael says "I love the odd and quirky feeling you get in his films, something sinister or mysterious which helps move the plot along. I quite like playing with different perspectives - it's not about perspectives, it's more about perception, which is the way you see it rather than the way it should be".
Michael Kidd was born in London in 1937. He studied at Wimbledon School of Art where he gained a scholarship to the Royal College of Arts in the late 1950s. Fellow art students included the film director Ridley Scott and artist David Hockney. He started his career working as an art director in some of London's leading advertising agencies and spent some years in America. On his return he began directing TV and cinema commercials in Europe, the US, and the UK, working, among others, for British Airways, Coca Cola, Lloyds, Barclays Bank, and Ford Motor Company, and won many awards.
He gave up directing to become a full-time artist in 1981 and held his first solo exhibition in Mayfair in 1997, and since has devoted all his time to painting.
Image illustrated: Sissinghurst Arch | acrylic on board | 60 x 80 cm
To view the painting details please click here
Featured Artist
Chris Sims
We have just received a small group of new works by the very talented Chris Sims and they are all available to view in the gallery.
These meditative abstracts lead the viewer on an adventure, combining colour, instinctive mark making and abstract values, this exhibition demonstrates the artist's emotional response to his natural environment, the rural and urban areas local to his studio in Buckinghamshire.
Chris will often make small thumbnail sketches as a starting point and then work them up to a larger scale in charcoal on board. He then applies layers of oil paint to build texture, often scratching some areas back to reveal a history beneath. Using this direct personal mark-making process he explores a composition in an intuitive and painterly way, making decisions as the painting develops to a resolution.
The artist explains: "I use colour and instinctive mark making to evoke or capture a moment in time in the rural English landscape. These works have been produced over the period of Lockdown and Isolation in my garden studio. Unable to currently exhib I have been posting on instagram and selling through the #artistsupportpledge iniative. It has really has been a great help in these times for so many reasons. Much of my work involves a variety of techniques; painting, drawing and printmaking processes. Although not directly relating to one particular scene or place, the work is rooted in the landscape, rural or urban around the chalky English countryside and inspired by the Cornish coastline from holiday memories. The attraction to the immediate physical nature inspires compositions, utilising mark making and abstracted shapes, evoking and capturing an emotive place. Applying a dynamic and energetic intuitive approach, layering and adjusting, using inks, paints, charcoal and other mediums, I use this working process to reach a point where a balanced composition emerges."
Image: Let the Wheels Roll | oil on board | 48 x 61 cm
To view all available works click here
Exhibition
Jane Hooper 19 September 2020 - 3 October 2020
Jane's paintings depict simple subjects, often still life arrangements of vases, jugs, flowers on a table commonly found in her everyday domestic environment. Her muted palette gives her paintings a tonal subtlety and her choice of limited subjects give a purity to her work. Jane has been painting for the past twenty years, constantly refining her technique. She’s an artist that will make you crave more wall space and we’re thrilled to be holding a solo exhibition to highlight her beautiful paintings.
The artist explains:
I have always enjoyed drawing from an early age, then I discovered oil paints and have never looked back. I have a real passion for simple, uncomplicated still life, choosing vegetables and flowers from the garden as my main subject matter. I often pair them with kitchen scales or other domestic objects. Colour is important too. I am very drawn to a subtle palette and my aim is to make the colour I choose work in harmony.
This will be my first solo exhibition and I have thoroughly enjoyed painting for it, which I hope is evident. It has made me work hard and I have chosen subjects I may not have chosen if I weren’t working to a deadline. At times it has been strange working in lockdown but there have been advantages too. It has meant that the slower and more gentle pace of life has enabled me to enjoy the process of producing a solo exhibition.”
Jane is a self-taught artist currently based in Buckinghamshire and has been painting for the past twenty years, constantly refining her technique and it is still life that has become her passion.
Painting illustrated: Red Geranium | oil on canvas | 100 x 100 cm
To view all available paintings by Jane please click here