ART MATTERS by Enzo Marra

This month I’m concentrating on one very local arts venue, which is presenting five artists whose differing approaches allow each body of work to come to life, due to the giant leaps between them.

PHOENIX GALLERY, Brighton, www.phoenixbrighton.org

Until Sunday, December 13, the Platform Graduate Award 2020 will be viewable online at www.phoenixbrighton.org/Events/ platform-graduate-award-2020/. This is the first time the gallery is taking part in the Award, which was established in 2012 and is designed by Contemporary Visual Arts Network South East to support emerging graduate artistic talent, and to help further their practice following graduation. Phoenix has selected five artists:

Working within the expanded field of sculpture, Rachel Atkinson’s practice consists of large-scale props, video, photography, and poetry. Utilising these media, along with characters and props, she sets a scene of fakery and strangeness to explore concepts of audience expectations, illusion, the screen, theatre, and colour.

Peruvian artist Ursula Vargas has been researching pre-Colombian art and how this historical aspect of her culture is reflected in her contemporary practice. Witnessing how human exploitation of natural resources contributes to environmental problems and climate change has guided her choice of traditional painting media with found supports such as discarded cardboard boxes.

Charlotte Guérard’s abstract narratives are a conversation between forms and colour. Charlotte’s 2020 alternative Graduate show was presented as a virtual exhibition entitled Is This A First and featured works produced before and after lockdown. She was nominated for the Freelands Painting Prize 2020 and published in the a-n review earlier this year.

Through the medium of photography, Leanne Jones-Starr explores the connection between memories, the uncanny and intuition. Her most recent collection of works is a collection entitled Isolation Garden which consists of five digital images taken during lockdown. They are inspired by the confinement of the garden with each being individually titled at the time in which they were taken.

Jessica Davis expresses the effects of how both animals and humans have clashed as they expand more into each other’s territory. To express this through art she uses a range of mediums, such as drawing, painting, taxidermy, sculpture, and photography. Growing up, Jessica saw the effects that humanity has on wildlife around us. Having her own difficulties with special needs, she feels that she has a deeper connection with nature and animals.