Cover; Detail of Honeymoon in Hawaii (Until we Dissolve), 2020 by Grace O’Connor Oil on canvas 122 x 122 cm
2020 winter colouring book Grace O’Connor Cecilia Charlton Hen Coleman Celia Cook Fred Coppin Katharine Le Hardy Calum McClure Anthony Stevens
Eight Contemporary Artists working in the UK today contribute to the Candida Stevens Gallery 2020 winter colouring book, designed to keep all ages inspired by the wonder of art and design.
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Grace O’Connor
Cecilia Charlton
Hen Coleman
Celia Cook
Fred Coppin
Katharine Le Hardy
Calum McClure
Anthony Stevens
Cecilia Charlton (b.1985) London based American artist Cecilia Charlton graduated with a BFA in Painting from Hunter College NYC in 2015 and an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in 2018. Working in textile, her work references personal and cultural histories while questioning notions of medium by bringing together traditions of painting, craft, abstraction, and folk art. Questions of feminism, gender roles, and social injustice are inherently part of Charlton’s work, and whilst her meticulous creative process requires an attentiveness, a seriousness, the implementation of colour allows for a simultaneous feeling of levity and joy. Celia Cook (b.1964) BA Hons in Fine Art from Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, 1986 and an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, 1989. Working in oil and woodcut, her work is instantly recognisable. Billowing, geometric forms oscillate between illusionary space and the surface of the canvas with captivating order and authority; a play of colour, line, light and shade. Hen Coleman (b.1964) BA Hons in Fine Art from Farnham UCA, 2003 and an MA in Printmaking from the Royal College of Art, 2006. Altered landscapes are presented through a combination of drawn and printed process, from the precision within intricate frottaged woodcuts to the patterning of largescale charcoal and ink drawings. Hours of intense close manual work become fluid, flowing images. Fred Coppin (b.1989) BA Hons in Fine Art from Oxford Brookes University School of Arts, 2011. Working primarily in oil paint, his work captures an eternal sense of optimism through a distinctive combination of amplified colour and playful forms. Exploring an eclectic range of unassuming everyday objects, Coppin’s paintings are tied together by an uplifting impulse to dissect, exaggerate and reassemble the world around us into its most hopeful state. Although his paintings are mostly representational, the careful integration of glitches, geometry and pastel tones roots his work firmly in the digital era. Katharine Le Hardy (b.1981) BA Hons at the University of the West of England, 2003. Living in London, Katharine Le Hardy has for eighteen years used her hometown as her inspiration, documenting key features and historic landmarks. Becoming aware of what certain spaces meant to the local community, she started to consider their cultural heritage. Currently documenting deserted funfairs, and researching the history of play, Katharine observes the forlornness of a deserted place of play and how this conflicts with our presupposed associations of jubilance, how our memories entwine with our fantasies. Calum McClure (b.1987) BA Hons in Drawing and Painting from Edinburgh College of Art, 2010. Working in gouache, oil paint and monotype, his work depicts country estates, national parks and botanical gardens which are viewed as a modern Arcadia. The motif of reflection has become important in his work, challenging the viewer to think about what has been painted and the tactile nature of the painting process. Grace O’Connor (b.1974) MA from Royal Academy School, 1999. Working in oil paint, her work reflects her American origins, drawing out the past by articulating the fractured images that make up a moment seen in hindsight. O’Connor transforms mundane impressions of the everyday into views that are vaguely voyeuristic, giving dreamlike representations of seemingly romantic scenarios a menacing suggestion of reality. Anthony Stevens (b.1978) A self-taught artist who works in textile to create bold and engaging hand-embroidered textile collages influenced by his practice of Nichiren Buddhism. Stevens’ work expresses and processes trauma and its after effects, with each piece having an important personal, social, or political message. By choosing to work primarily with scrap fabrics, he finds himself forced to look creatively and perceive potential in what may seem to be useless and beyond repair.
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