Jo Lamb: Another Day in Paradise

A SMALL AIRPORT IN NORWAY oil on canvas 60 x 42 cm

Another Day in Paradise Jo Lamb 13 MAY - 28 MAY 2017

ST ANNE’S GALLERIES REPRESENTING SUSSEX ARTISTS

111 HIGH STREET, LEWES, EAST SUSSEX BN7 1XY Mobile: 07777 691 050 sok@stannesgalleries.com www.stannesgalleries.com

ST ANNE’S GALLERIES

ON COMMUNING WITH NANNY RED SHOES Sarah O’Kane in conversation with Jo Lamb How do you think your work has changed over the years?

It’s probably got braver. In some ways it’s got easier to paint but my main concern is colour and I’ve become braver with colour. I try out different things; what I’m aiming for now is a simplicity. The compositions become less important than the colour. In some ways I could be called an abstract painter. I feel my work has moved on.

It’s been great working on big paintings for the show, and I’d like to do more.

You originally trained as a designer of printed fabrics as well as a painter. Do you think design sensibility still influences your work?

Yes, it comes through all the time. I was advised I was more likely to get student funding if I took up design as it was thought it would lead to employment. At Camberwell they trained us to draw and become a good designer. But I had a studio in the Painting Department and I was taught by some brilliant painters including Gary Wragg and Sargy Mann. I ended up with a Distinction in Painting, and shown at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London. I never designed a fabric in my life!

Your titles are frequently witty or unexpected, or both. At what point do you think of a title for a painting?

I’m thinking about titles as I work. I’ve been thinking about Howard Hodgkin as he recently died. We are photo: Benetta Adamson

similar in that memory is an important part of my art. My reality is not Sussex landscapes. My life is in a different place: I teach art part-time in a jail.

Every painting has a file of photos, drawings and source material, so there is a lot of forethought before I begin work on a canvas. For instance, the painting Leaving is about a visit to Norway and spending a very long time waiting at a tiny airport for my flight. I had my sketchbook and watched loads of people. The man and woman holding the signalling paddles would break into a sort of dance every now and then, as if they were a couple, and so they’ve found their way into the painting.

You have a fascination with fairy tales, fables and stories.

Yes, I do, because they teach us about life. Everything is fine, then something goes horribly wrong… Red Riding Hood, for instance, is both a character in a wellknown story, and an icon. A real-life character from my childhood was known as Nanny Red Shoes and in a way I’m still arguing with strong female characters.

How would you describe yourself as an artist?

I am still fascinated by painting. I have a pig-headed obstinacy about painting. It’s like a continual duel with oneself. I will go back to a subject and almost ‘chew it’. I have a black sense of humour. Humour has always been my escape method in life. I need to be braver about being mad. My work is not about lovely fluffy stuff; it might be more interesting than that.

RED CRANE

WHITE MISCHIEF

oil on canvas 40 x 40 cm

oil on canvas 50 x 50 cm

FAKE NEWS oil on canvas 30 x 30 cm INCIDENT ON 42ND ST oil on canvas 60 x 42 cm

SWIMMING oil on canvas 41 x 31 cm

TOP GEAR oil on canvas 50 x 50 cm

VISITING VALHALLA (TOP LEFT) acrylic on paper 42 x 42 cm

ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE (TOP RIGHT) acrylic on paper 38 x 40 cm

THE RED FLAG FLIES OVER THE RAILWAY LAND (BOTTOM RIGHT) acrylic on paper 42 x 42 cm

THE ALIENS HAVE LANDED ON 58TH STREET acrylic on paper 40 x 40 cm

RUSSIAN TRAIN oil on canvas 41 x 31 cm (detail)

GERRY’S GUYS oil on canvas 40 x 30 cm

PETER AND THE WOLF (TOP) oil on canvas 40 x 62 cm (detail)

OMANI SHELLS

THE BEACH (TOP)

oil on canvas 32 x 32 cm (detail)

oil on canvas 50 x 50 cm (detail)

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD AND THE WOLF IN CONVERSATION oil on canvas 30 x 39 cm (detail)

LOOKING FOR GOLD oil on canvas 60 x 80 cm

READING THE WILL oil on canvas 50 x 50 cm

JO LAMB

LOOKING FOR TREASURE ISLAND (TOP)

TRAINING Byam Shaw School of Art, London Camberwell College of Arts, London Goldsmiths, University of London

oil on canvas 41 x 31 cm A HOLIDAY ROMANCE

SELECTED SOLO AND GROUP EXHIBITIONS Whitechapel Art Gallery (Promising Young Artists) Watatu and Paa Y Paa Gallery, Nairobi Kings College Hospital Brighton Museum and Art Gallery Courcoux and Courcoux, Stockbridge Zimmer Stewart, Arundel Easton Rooms, Rye Pallant House, Chichester Trinity Arts, London Star Gallery, Lewes HQ Gallery, Lewes St Anne’s Galleries, Lewes

oil on canvas 60 x 42 cm

WORK IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Worldwide Fund for Nature United Nations Environment Programme Worthing and Southlands Hospital Trust (Public Art Catalogue) Eastbourne Hospital Trust One Planet Pictures Television for the Environment EXTREME SPORTS (TOP) oil on canvas 41 x 30 cm LEAVING oil on canvas 60 x 80 cm

ILLUSTRATION The Singalong Band with Jo Lamb: Mrs H Sings.

DESIGN Worldwide Fund for Nature, Natural History Film Festival, Oxford University Press, Greenpeace, East Sussex Farmers Market (Common Cause), United Nations Environment Programme, BBC World, The Feral Housewife