Vivienne Williams 12 – 29 April 2016
THACKERAY GALLERY Est 1968
My subject matter is still life - vessels, flowers and fruit. I paint everything from my mind, my imagination and memory, preferring a flattened perspective with simplified forms. There is an emotional significance invested in the objects by returning to them again and again - like working a seam, one painting leads on to the next. Colour, form and texture are equally important. The elements within a painting are re-arranged and painted over many times - it is a balancing act, deciding what to leave in and what to leave out. In this way, layers of paint are built up until ordinary paper takes on the feel and weight of old leather. The surface texture is energetically worked and reworked, scratched, sanded and stained. This is very exciting because at any moment during this process there is an opportunity for a painting to emerge. If the painting is true, you paint your own state of mind. It records who you are and how you feel - your own inner landscape. It always astonishes me when the battle on the paper resolves itself into a calm painting. Vivienne Williams 2016
Cover: Nature Table II mixed media on paper – 41 x 51cm
My subject matter is still life - vessels, flowers and fruit. I paint everything from my mind, my imagination and memory, preferring a flattened perspective with simplified forms. There is an emotional significance invested in the objects by returning to them again and again - like working a seam, one painting leads on to the next.
Blue Jug with Apples mixed media on paper 40 x 42cm
Blue Bowl with Pomegranates & Chillies mixed media on paper 30 x 40cm
Apples & Eggs
mixed media on paper 51 x 41cm
Blue Jug with Seven Pears mixed media on paper 41 x 51cm
Dark Bowl of Apples with Three Eggs mixed media on paper 51 x 41cm
Dark Table with Pear, Bowl & eggs mixed media on paper 41 x 51cm
Five Apples in Blue Bowl mixed media on paper 30 x 30cm
Six Apples in Blue Bowl mixed media on paper 33 x 30cm
Flask with Crocus Bowl mixed media on paper 41 x 51cm
Kitchen Table with Still Life mixed media on paper 46 x 61cm
Nature Table II
mixed media on paper 41 x 51cm
Pale Crocus with Blue Flask mixed media on paper 41 x 51cm
Pale Flask, Dark Bowl with Apples & Chillies mixed media on paper 41 x 51cm
Pale Jar with Apples mixed media on paper 30 x 40cm
Pink Table, Yellow Jug & Pears mixed media on paper 40 x 42cm
Pomegranates, Bowl, Chillies & Eggs mixed media on paper 30 x 40cm
Nature Table
mixed media on paper 51 x 41cm
Pomegranates, Bowl, Chillies & Oak Leaves mixed media on paper 30 x 40cm
Tabula Rasa I
mixed media on paper 51 x 53cm
Tabula Rasa II
mixed media on paper 50 x 49cm
Yellow Jug, Pears & Figs mixed media on paper 40 x 40cm
Tabula Rasa III
mixed media on paper 50 x 50cm
Tabula Rasa IV
mixed media on paper 54 x 56cm
Seven Pears & Flask mixed media on paper 41 x 51cm
Still Life with Apples & Beans mixed media on paper 56 x 63cm
Six Pale Pears & Three Eggs mixed media on paper 51 x 41cm
Still Life with Fruit & Bowl mixed media on paper 41 x 51cm
Still Life with Chopsticks & Limes mixed media on paper 46 x 61cm
Table Still Life with Pears & Eggs mixed media on paper 51 x 41cm
Winter Landscape I mixed media on paper 12 x 12cm
Winter Landscape II mixed media on paper 12 x 12cm
Yellow Crocus with Jar mixed media on paper 41 x 51cm
Table with Pears, Apples & Beans mixed media on paper 51 x 41cm
Bowl
mixed media on paper 23 x 22cm
Strawberry Bowl
mixed media on paper 26 x 23cm
BIOGRAPHY SOLO EXHIBITIONS 1992 Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff 2004 Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff 1993 Arts Workshop, Swansea - Attic Gallery, Swansea 2005 Attic Gallery, Swansea 1995 Attic Gallery, Swansea 2009 Attic Gallery, Swansea 1997 Attic Gallery, Swansea 2010 Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff 1999 Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff 2012 Attic Gallery, Swansea 2000 Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff 2014 Attic Gallery, Swansea 2001 Attic Gallery, Swansea 2016 Thackeray Gallery, London PRIZES & COMMISSIONS 1991 National Eisteddfod of Wales, Mold, third prize 1992 Artist in Residence, Ceri Richards Festival, Dunvant, Swansea 1993 Three paintings chosen for World Trade Centre, Cardiff Invited to provide programme cover for BBC National Orchestra of Wales season 1995 Painting chosen for CD cover, Swansea Bach Choir Book cover, Buddhist Publishing, Diamant Verlag, Munich, Germany 1997 Commission for three paintings, Swansea University Library 1999 Short-listed for University of Glamorgan Purchase Art Prize, Oriel y Bont, Pontypridd 2000 Painting in Carmarthen County Hall: BBC Your Paintings Highly recommended prize winner in inaugural Welsh Artist of the Year, Cardiff 2001 Short-listed for University of Glamorgan Purchase art Prize, Oriel y Bont, Pontypridd 2003 Painting purchased by Contemporary Art Society of Wales 2008 Invited to be on panel of judges for Welsh Artist of the Year competition, Cardiff TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS 1989 Attic Gallery, Swansea 1992 Attic Gallery, Swansea 1995 Attic Gallery, Swansea 2008 Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff 2012 The Mind’s Eye, The Jerram Gallery, Sherborne; Oriel Tegfryn, Menai Bridge
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 1981/82 Sydney Watercolour Exhibition, Sydney, Australia 1983 - 2014 Attic Gallery Summer & Christmas Exhibitions 1990 - 2014 Martin Tinney Summer & Winter Exhibitions 1991/94 Wales Art Fair; Attic Gallery 1991 Coach House Gallery, Caerphilly 1992 Connecting Lines, Life Drawing; Arts Workshop, Swansea 1994 A Roomful of Flowers; Oriel Myrddin, Carmarthen, touring Wales, England and Ireland 1995/00 The 20th Century British Art Fair, Royal College of Art, London: Martin Tinney Gallery 1997/01 Fine Art & Antiques Fair, London; Martin Tinney Gallery 1999 Martin Tinney Cork Street Christmas Exhibition; Glasgow Art Fair, Martin Tinney Gallery; Selfridges (4-Person), Manchester; The Gallery, Manchester’s Art House 2000/03 Selected for Welsh Artist of the Year, Cardiff 2002/05 Affordable Art Fair, London, Martin Tinney Gallery 2004 Essence of Wales II, St. David’s Hall, Cardiff 2006 The Painted Pot, Newport Museum and Art Gallery 2008/14 Lime Tree Gallery, Bristol & Long Melford; Winter and Summer Exhibitions 2008/14 The Jerram Gallery, Winter and Summer Exhibitions 2009 Lime Tree Gallery, Bristol; The Principality, Artists from Wales; Lime Tree Gallery, Long Melford 2010 Oriel Tegfryn (4-Person) Menai Bridge; Lime Tree Gallery, Bristol; The Jerram Gallery 2011 Lime Tree Gallery, Long Melford; The Jerram Gallery; ‘East meets West’, Lime Tree Gallery,Bristol; The Principality, Artists from Wales; Lime Tree Gallery, Bristol 2012/14 20/21 International Art Fair, Royal College of Art, London (Lime Tree Gallery) 2012 The Great Welsh Journey; Lime Tree Gallery, Bristol - Battersea Affordable Art Fair, London: Lime Tree Gallery - ‘One Hundred Years of Painting in Wales’, Bodelwyddan Castle, Denbighshire 2013 Lime Tree Gallery, Bristol - Art & Antiques Fair, Olympia, London: The Jerram Gallery - ‘Fifty Years’, Oriel Tegfryn - 20/21 British Art Fair, Royal College of Art, London: Martin Tinney Gallery 2014 Martin Tinney Gallery, (3-Person) - LAF, Business & Design Centre, Islington, London: with MTG since 1992 - Celtic Connections, Lime Tree Gallery, Bristol - Still Life and Interiors, The Jerram Gallery, Sherborne - Hampstead Affordable Art Fair: Lime Tree Gallery 2015 3 New Artists, Thackeray Gallery, London
Published by Thackeray Gallery, 2016 Photography by Vivienne Williams 2016 Text by Vivienne Williams, 2016