S A X I M P E Y S TO R M
Beyond the shadow of the ship I watched the water-snakes: They moved in tracks of shining white , And when they reared, the elfish light Fell off in hoar y flakes. Wi thin the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire: S A X I M P E Y S TO R M Blue , glossy green, and velvet black, They coiled and swam; and ever y track Was a flash of golden fire .
The Rime of The Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge , 1798
Introduction
For me the potential of ar t is its ability to remind u s o f , o r d r aw i n t o q u e s t i o n , t h e p re s e n c e or absence of impor tant human truths: honesty, morality and humility among them. Through ar t (at its most authentic) we can address and take refuge . I am writing this introduction at a time of relative turbulence within our society - London and other major cities in t he UK have been gripped by riots, we reel from corruption within the media and perpetual economic turmoil and confusion i s p rev a l e n t . W h e n d we l l i n g o n s u c h n e g a t i ve examples of 21st Century accomplishment, it comes as no surprise that the way that many of us live our lives in the West has come in to question. A collective ego has created a scenario where we cannot help but focus on a series of genuine dilemmas. It seems topical, relevant and beneficial then to focus on my first statement. Ta k i n g i n s p i r a t i o n f ro m S a x I m p e y ’s d i r e c t experience of a storm encountered during a 36 hour period in the winter of 2009 whil st sailing t o Po r t u g a l f ro m I re l a n d , t h i s e x h i b i t i o n t a ke s us on a passionate journey towards humility. He describes a different sea to any he had experienced before , and though the Irish Sea is notorious in its reputation as violent and temperamental, on this occasion it was truly ‘awe inspiring’. Impey was ver y conscious of beholding something awesome , as the storm g radually built and revealed itself over its duration. Whilst on the dawn watch he was able to closely obser ve the change of lig ht in the mid st of the storm from the hours of darkness to the grey daybreak and diligently bear witness to the breath-taking immensity of the swells and skies around him.
In conversation prior to Impey’s last exhibition, ‘Voyage’, he spoke of his periodic urge to escape to sea: “21st Centur y mass communication, the re l e n t l e s s , t o t a l , b a n a l , v a p i d t e d i u m o f t h e seeming need to communicate, or be communicated to, all the time , disappears out there on the ocean. A mind can breathe , and obser ve , and reflect, away from the shrill des peration of a culture that, having forgotten that it is better to say nothing than something about nothing, invents ever-new ways to fill ever y single space with less and less. So a cer tain empathy with earlier travelers ensues: the sea is still the sea, as it ever was, direct and uncomplicated…” This exhibition offers us an expanded perspective; this collection of paintings truly are a reflection of man’s insignificance in the face of the formidable might of nature where the sea transforms from place of refuge and nur ture to a place of malefic reverence . When stood in front of these highly complex, p hy s i c a l a n d e m o t i o n a l wo r k s , t h e v i c a r i o u s experience is majestic - a profound recognition of glor y ensues - one enters another realm. As ‘Hell’ was a muse for Milton or Dante – the sea becomes a t a b l e a u w h e re t r a n s g re s s i o n c a n t a ke p l a c e . These paintings are the closest that I have seen in some time to earlier paintings relating to religious epiphany. For me they are modern altar pieces to the might of Nature itself. Perhaps we can learn modesty and acceptance of a greater sense of order from the dominance of the natural world captured so emphatically within the paintings of this exhibition – perhaps they can ser ve as a reminder, at an impor tant time , of a greater force than ourselves at work.
Joseph Clarke . 2011
S a x I m p ey ‘ S t o r m ’ by Owen Sheers
‘ … an d t h e m e m o r y of those appointed to the grey ships – battleship, merchantman, trawler – cont r i b u t i n g t h e i r s h a re t o t h e a g e s’ pavement of British bone on the sea floor’ From Defence of the Island s by T. S . E l i o t .
The paintings of Sax Impey’s ‘Storm’ carr y th e c h a r g e of rescued images; residues of a sur vivor’s w i t n e s s imbued with the knowledge that the sea, h oweve r much we might forget it, is a wilderness. Fo r m a ny years now Sax has chosen to spend half h i s ye a r travelling into that wilderness, par tly for wo r k , p a r t ly to escape ‘the cacophony, the babble of t h e 2 1 s t centur y.’ When he returns he remembers. Wo r k i n g i n his Por thmeor studio with the ocean (and so m e t i m e s its waves) at his window, Sax uses the view b e fo re him not as his subject but as a conduit, a s e n s o r y vessel to transpor t him back to his time a l o n e o n the open ocean. Loo king through this exhibition I became aw a re t h a t alth ough an element of Sax’s motivation in t a k i n g t o the sea is to exchange a world of commu n i c a t i o n for a world of communion on his return t h e re i s , undeniably, a des ire to communicate . To tel l , t o b e a r a gospel-like witness to what has been le a r n t a n d experienced out of sight of land. In ‘Storm ’ t h i s i s more true than ever, the progression of t h e wo r k char ting a discernable narrative of a storm in t h e I r i s h sea. Through these panels we are taken t h e re t o o, into that space of the awful and the awesom e w h e re the presence of the individual is reduced a l m o s t t o nothingness, where time is at once foreve r a n d ye t also, in the face of mor tal danger, so u n b e a r a b ly limi ted and p re c i o u s . T h e s c a l e o f t h i s n e w w o r k adds to this sense of total immersion. Standing
b e fo re t h e l a r g e s t o f t h e s e p a i n t i n g s I c o u l d fe e l t h e s p r ay o n my f a c e , s m e l l t h e s a l t w i n d o n t h e n i g h t . M o s t i m p o r t a n t ly t h o u g h , I c o u l d fe e l t h e s e a ’s m ove m e n t . Fo r a ny a r t i s t wo r k i n g w i t h t h e s e a a s t h e i r s u b j e c t t h e re i s a n e s s e n t i a l p a r a d o x t o b e ove rc o m e . U n l i ke a m o u n t a i n l a n d s c ap e , a s p re a d o f r u r a l f i e l d s , t h e s k y l i n e o f a c i t y, eve n t h e c a l m e s t o f s e a s i s n eve r s t i l l . I t s s i n g l e e l e m e n t i s c o n t i nu o u s a n d c o n s t a n t , a n d ye t eve r c h a n g i n g . H ow t h e n , t o c ap t u re t h a t p ro t e a n f l u i d i t y, t h a t re a c t i ve m o m e n t w h e n l i g h t a n d w a t e r wo r k o f f e a c h o t h e r t o c re a t e , j u s t fo r a s e c o n d , a v i s i o n d e s e r v i n g o f evo c a t i o n ? I d o n ’t h ave t h e a n swe r t o t h a t q u e s t i o n b u t I s e e i t p r a c t i c e d i n S a x ’s ‘ S t o r m ’ p a i n t i n g s . S o m e h ow within these frames the tectonic sliding of giant s u r f a c e w ave s , t h e s t i rr i n g o f a w i n d - h a rr i e d c u rre n t , t h e r u s h i n g o f a d aw n s u r g e o f w a t e r, t h e s e t t l i n g a f t e r m a t h o f a c a l m a re a l l n o t s o mu c h a s c ap t u re d a s s u g g e s t e d . W h i c h i s , o f c o u r s e , mu c h b e t t e r. I t i s i n s u g g e s t i o n t h a t t h e p owe r o f a r t l i e s , i n a s C h e kov o n c e s a i d , ‘ a s k i n g t h e r i g h t q u e s t i o n s ’ . A n d t h a t i s w h e re fo r m e S a x ’s wo r k f i n d s i t s m o s t p o t e n t a c h i eve m e n t . I n d r aw i n g u p o n h i s l i ve d e x p e r i e n c e o f t h e s e a n o t s i m p ly t o ‘ t e l l ’ u s a b o u t i t , o r eve n t o ‘ s h ow ’ i t t o u s , b u t r a t h e r t o c re a t e i m a g e s a t o n c e p hy s i c a l a n d a b s t r a c t ; i m a g e s w h i c h h ave e n o u g h b o d y t o m a ke u s fe e l b u t a l s o e n o u g h l ig h t , s p a c e a n d u n k n ow i n g n e s s t o m a ke u s t h i n k .
Microcosm o i l and mixed media on panel 122 x 122 cm 4
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Rising Sea (1) oil and mixed media on panel 61 x 122 cm
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Rising Sea (2) o i l and mixed media on panel 100 x 100 cm
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Spr ay oil and mixed media on panel 100 x 100 cm
11
Char t (Ir ish Sea) o i l a n d m i xe d media on hydropgr aphic char t on panel 104 x 72 cm
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Char t (White Water) o i l a n d m i xe d m e dia on hydropgr aphic char t on panel 72 x 119 cm 14
Char t (Celtic Sea) o i l a n d mixed media on hydropgr aphic char t on panel 72 x 107 cm 15
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Falling Light oil and mixed media on panel 61 x 122 cm
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Wind and Sea Increasing o i l and mixed media on panel 100 x 100 cm
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Ster n Light, Breaking Wave (1) oil and mixed media on panel 100 x 100 cm
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S t er n Light, Breaking Wave (2) o i l and mixed media on panel 61 x 122 cm
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Bones of Drowned Sailor s oil and mixed media on panel 122 x 183 cm
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N i g h t , W i n d N W F9 o i l a n d m i xe d m e d i a on panel 122 x 183 cm
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28
Night in the Celtic Sea (1) oil and mixed media on panel 153 x 153 cm
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Night in the Celtic Sea (2) o i l and mixed media on panel 153 x 153 cm
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Ve r y R o u g h , N W F 9 - 1 0 ( 1 )
Ver y Rough, NW F9-10 (2)
o i l a n d m i xe d m e d i a o n p a n e l
oil and mixed media on panel
40 x 40 cm
40 x 40 cm
Ve r y R o u g h , N W F 9 - 1 0 ( 3 )
Ver y Rough, NW F9-10 (4)
o i l a n d m i xe d m e d i a o n p a n e l
oil and mixed media on panel
40 x 40 cm
40 x 40 cm 33
Rising Light (1) o i l a nd mixed media on panel 61 x 92 cm 34
Rising Light (2) oil and mixed media on panel 61 x 96 cm 35
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Rising Light (3) oil and mixed media on panel 122 x 183 cm
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Afte r t h e D aw n , F 1 0 ( S t a r b o a r d ) oil a n d m i xe d m e d i a o n p a n e l 122 x 244 cm
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After the Dawn, F10 (Por t) oil and mixe d media on panel 122 x 244 cm
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A f t e r t h e D aw n , F 1 0 ( L o oking Forward) o i l a n d m i xe d m e d i a on panel 122 x 183 cm
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SAX IMPEY
RESIDENCIES AND COLLABORATIONS
1969 Born Penzance, Cornwall
2008
with Red Earth: ‘Longshore Drift’, Suffolk
1988-91 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Newport
2007
with Red Earth: ‘Enclosure’, Dorset
2005
with Red Earth: ‘Vanishing Point’, Birling Gap, Sussex
with Red Earth: ‘Jalan’, Trafalgar Square, London
with Red Earth: ‘Geograph – Trace’, Birling Gap, Sussex
2004
with Jony Easterby: Samphire Tower, Samphire Hoe, Dover
1997
Kunstbrucke, Berlin
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011
Storm, Millennium
2009
Voyage, Millennium
2007
Sea, New Millennium Gallery, St Ives
2005
Catena, One0Two Gallery, London
2004
Events, New Millennium Gallery, St Ives
2002
Labyrinths, New Millennium Gallery, St Ives
Arts Council Collection
2000
Transition, Newlyn Art Gallery
Warwick University
COLLECTIONS
The Connaught Hotel Terence Disdale Design SELECTED MIXED EXHIBITIONS
Travelex
2011
Mixed Winter, Millennium
Private collections worldwide
London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington
2010
Mixed Winter, Millennium
London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington
2009
Mixed Winter, Millennium, St. Ives
London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington
2011
Storm, Millennium
2008
Drawing Show, NSA, Exchange, Penzance
2010
Art of the Sea (In Pictures), Owen Sheers, BBC4
2007
Art Now Cornwall, Tate St Ives
2009
Voyage, Millennium
The St Ives School 1997-2007, Howard Gardens Gallery, Cardiff
2007
Art Now Cornwall, Susan Daniel-McElroy, Tate Publishing
2006
Fragments, Cafe Gallery Projects, London
Sea, New Millennium Gallery
Fragments, Tom Thompson Gallery, Owen Sound, Canada
New Face of Cornish Art, Laura Gascoigne, The Times
2003
Starting a Collection, Art First Contemporary Art, London
2006
On the Very Edge of the Ocean, Ben Tufnell, Tate Publishing
2002
Constructed, Newlyn Art Gallery
2004
Events, New Millennium Gallery
2001
Sax Impey, Richard Nott, Ged Quinn, Fermyn Woods, Northats
2002
Arts Council Collection Acquisitions, 1989-2002
2000
Ark 2000, Dilston Grove Church, London
ARTNSA, NSA Publications
1999
The New St Ives Artists, Maidstone Museum and Art Gallery
Labyrinths, New Millennium Gallery
1998
Common Ground: Sax Impey and Richard Nott, Book Gallery, St Ives
2001
Behind the Canvas, S Brittain / S Cook
1997
Kunstbrucke, Dock 11, Berlin
1998
The Dictionary of Artists in Britain Since 1945, D Buckman
Landmarks, Cafe Gallery Projects, London
1996
Drawing Towards the End of a Century, NSA Publications
Drawing Towards the End of a Century, Newlyn Art Gallery
Another View: Art in St Ives, Marion Whybrow
1996
PUBLICATIONS AND SELECTED PRESS
Published by Millennium to coincide with the exhibition ‘Storm’ by Sax Impey All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers Photography of work by Graham Gaunt (www.grahamgaunt.com) Portrait photography by Mark Noall (www.photographer-st-ives-cornwall.co.uk) ‘Sax Impey - Storm’ Introduction by Owen Sheers © Owen Sheers Printed by Active Colour (www.activecolour.co.uk) ISBN 978-1-905772-47-6
MILLENNIUM Str eet-an-Pol St. Ives Cornwall 01736 793121 m a i l @ m i l l e n n i u m g a l l e r y. c o . u k w w w . m i l l e n n i u m g a l l e r y. c o . u k