Beth Carter solo exhibition November 20 - January 18
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View Art Gallery presents an international group exhibition
ISOLATION feelings from a pandemic 2020
ViewArtGallery.co.uk for enquiries: info@viewartgallery.co.uk
GILES BARWICK ENE BENDER EVELYN BROUGH MORGAN CHAROLLOIS DAMIAN DALY THOMAS DOWDESWELL LOUISE EAMES CLARE FERGUSON-WALKER MAXIM FOMENKO TARA GOSWAMI ANA IVANOVSKA RIDA BASIT KHAN ADRIANA KUTLLOVCI CEDRIC LAQUIEZE SIMON LEDSON CHRISSA MARKOS LESLEY OLDAKER SNEHA PAUL NICK PIKE
ANDY PRICE REZA REZA MARY ROUNSFIELD PACO SAINZ NATASCHA SASTRA LUPO SOL WOLFGANG STILLER MIKE STUART LUKMAN TATAROV RICHARD TWOSE ANDRIJA VUČKOVIĆ CAROLINE WATSON TERESA WELLS HARRIET WHITE FRAN WILLIAMS CLAUDIA ZAMBERIA RAFAL ZAWISTOWSKI MARTA ZUBIETA
ISOLATION During the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the world’s population has experienced a period of isolation that has wide-ranging impacts on individuals and communities. As ever, artists are producing work that is observing and recording changes in our social, political and physical environment. The collection of work for the ISOLATION exhibition focuses on feelings. Artists have been asked to create work that expresses their emotions during isolation and the response has been quite dramatic. In the explicit narrative attached to the work, artists talk of fear, loneliness, anger and concern for the future. Some discuss mental health issues, with depression and anxiety being the most common. In the implicit narrative, there is depth and complexity in the messages, with an apparent confusion and multiple and changing feelings appearing. Emerging from the gloom we can see some hope, optimism and the greater freedom for exaggerated creativity. The polluted world is healing, communities are growing stronger and we are starting to care for the elderly and vulnerable. Among the complexity of emotions expressed in this collection, we will see a reflection of our own feelings. ISOLATION is a mirror to our feelings from a pandemic.
SNEHA PAUL In the past 10 years, Sneha has gained valuable experience as a designer and illustrator in various fields with clients throughout the world. Isolation has given her the opportunity to increase the time spent on her passion for digital art. Prior to moving to France, Sneha graduated from the top fashion and design school in India—NIFT. Subsequently, she moved to France to complete her Masters in Grenoble, France. She describes the artwork ‘Faces’, created during isolation, with a fascinating narrative.
“It’s all in your mind; control it,” he said. She tried, but failed. Again and again, she tried. To be happy and smile. To curb all the other emotions that surged through her - sadness, anger, hopelessness, loneliness. She tried, but she failed.
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FACES
digital pen and brushes 50 x 60 cm
THOMAS DOWDESWELL UK based artist, Thomas Dowdeswell, describes two paradoxical styles that have come to him during isolation. “Creatively the first couple of weeks of the Covid lockdown completely halted my practice. The large scale semi figurative, quasi-Surrealist mind-scapes appeared irrelevant. I sought some different more positive imagery but everything seemed contrived compared to the daily horrors many people were enduring. Life swung between a sense of utter confusion and chaos yet within it some strange serenity; observing the world slowing down and a daily walk holding reverence, importance and sanctity. From this contradiction of chaos and the search for tranquillity I came to work on two vastly different styles concurrently; both which complement each other to the changing emotional values which affect us during our daily lives. I see the minimalist series (next page) as therapeutic landscapes in which the viewer can let their minds reflect; positively, negatively or ambivalently on their experiences that time or day. The more complex narratives (left) are designed as reminders that the parameters of life, the daily struggles are accentuated now more than ever. As we adapt and society starts to open up again we need to work harder at growing and developing our communities and helping those most vulnerable and most in need.�
HOW TO LIVE A MEANINGFUL LIFE IN AMONGST HOOLIGANS AND COMMUTERS oil on canvas 166 X 141 cm
THE CALM IN AMONGST THE STORM
Thomas Dowdeswell oil on canvas 101 X 76 cm
RAFAL ZAWISTOWSKI Rafal Zawistowski is a contemporary painter who was born in Poland and grew up in Canada. He studied art in Toronto, and then relocated to London for an MA at Wimbledon College of Art, where he still lives today. Rafal’s unique textured portraits are inspired by Classical tradition and the Old Masters. His first solo show was bought out by Charles Saatchi, giving him a platform for continued international success. “These paintings are based on making an image that is beautiful and ugly at the same time. I want my audience to engage by exploring the image and getting absorbed, forgetting what else is happening. Isolation has influenced my work to create a series called ‘Disfigures’. I want to show a moment of time that is known and unknown, by playing on what the audience brings to my work when they view it. Using the notion of memory relying on what the viewer is exposed to and what ideals they bring with them when looking at what is a portrait but also in a way not a portrait - most recognisable qualities are stripped away, yet it is still a recognisable portrait. In a way this mirrors the uncertainty that is happening in society right now.”
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UNTITLED oil on board 60 X 50 cm
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FORGETTING THAT TIME oil on board 60 X 50 cm
WOLFGANG STILLER German artist Wolfgang Stiller has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally, with more than 30 one-man shows around the world. During isolation he has adapted some of his ongoing body of work to suggest a commentary on the current pandemic. “I like to keep the interpretation open since I like art that leaves space for one’s own imagination” The heads in the cart may be seen as representation of the deaths caused by the virus. They are anonymous and are stacked in a cart without apparent care, ready to be discarded. The scale of deaths caused by the virus causes us to consider death in terms of statistics. Looking closer at the expressions on the faces, we can see a range of feelings from restful to anguish, showing some personalisation in the subject, with deeper thought. The artwork may be considered memorial or threatening but has undoubted impact.
WAGEN
wooden cart, polyurethane, paint
MAXIM FOMENKO Russian born Maxim Fomenko, currently practices his art residing in Nuremberg, Germany. He has works in both private and public collections in Germany and the USA. With a sharp eye and a strong visual memory Maxim has evolved an ‘ironic style’. where he combines humour with poignant messaging. “The paintings for ISOLATION are inspired by Chinese doctors who have been working 24/7 since the onset of the Corona virus to save their patients, bringing their own lives in danger and sometimes even sacrificing it.” The paintings are complex in the feelings they portray. The artist’s recognition of gratitude and belief in the work of the doctors is tempered by the attack of the virus and the effects on the mind and body. This translates to the viewer in agitation or even fear of what they may succumb to. The vivid, almost childlike, colours and movement in the brush-strokes adds a different dimension to the appeal, which on a pure aesthetic level is playful with a hint of horror.
THE HERO OF COVID-19 (right)
oil on canvas 50 x 60 cm
I’M OK (next page) oil on canvas 50 x 60 cm
ADRIANA KUTLLOVCI Based in Kosovo, Adriana Kutllovci has been painting throughout the isolation period of the pandemic and her emotional journey is recorded through the series. “Through music and colours, secrets spill my mind. Everybody has secrets. It’s a social act. It’s something one can do alone in a room, isolated from the world. My paintings express my feelings I have for the outside world. Through lines and colours in abstract paintings I show my secrets to people. My very first painting in the first month of isolation, was ‘Is This An Illusion’. It was scary, seeing what was going on all around the world. Death toll raised every hour. It was devastating. I cried a lot. While isolated with my family, we played games, painted with my daughter, danced, screamed to each other, kissed. The painting ‘Play and Cheat’ is a happier memory of these strange and difficult times.”
IS THIS AN ILLUSION (previous page) acrylic, spray on canvas 80 x 80 cm
PLAY AND CHEAT (left)
acrylic, spray, marker on canvas 20 x 20 cm
NATASCHA SASTRA Natascha is based in the Netherlands where she practices her art under the Noventity moniker. “The subject in the portrait was going through a very difficult phase of life. There were some nasty and sad personal events that took place in rapid period in his life. His father, who was diagnosed with dementia, was in the transition phase from living at home with his wife to being placed in a nursing home, when the home became in lockdown. His family could not longer visit him. He became sick, had a fever, was lonely and even more confused. He died from Covid-19. We agreed that the portrait would be influenced by ‘The Joker’ and the carnival in our province, both featuring painted faces. The portrait expressions include raw, hurt, torn, dark, introverted, down, a little bitter, sarcastic and sardonic. The composition doesn’t lie. Nothing is made more beautiful than it is. The man is naked behind his make-up and talcum powder mask. The honey flows uncontrollably along the face, chaotically, messy, confusing. The enjoyment of the little things in life are no longer seen or even experienced as an insignificant burden. Behind the closed eyes, his own thoughts and feelings remain private. What does someone have to endure to get this far and dare to show it?”
NO SMILE FOR A WHILE oil on canvas 120 x 160 cm
MARTA ZUBIETA Marta is a UK based Pop Surreal artist who works digitally mostly with themes of anxiety and millennial delusion. “During this lockdown I am working on pieces relating the tale ‘Alice in Wonderland’ to our current situation. This is my first piece of the series where Alice is trapped in the new reality. I combine pop culture symbols and pastel colours to express the feeling of fake comfort in our houses while we are being hyper-controlled.”
ALICE IN LOCKDOWN Limited edition print 60 x 42 cm
ANDY PRICE UK (Bristol) artist Andy Price has been a professional artist for over 40 years and has enjoyed long-term success in Japan. His work focuses on cultural observations, sometimes celebratory and often satirical. Primarily a painter, Andy is also a prolific producer of work in any medium that best expresses his observations.
‘Hanging Artist’ is a painting with many layers, both physically and metaphorically. The artist hangs from a rope to maintain his artistic practice. Has he escaped from isolation in defiance of lockdown? Is he feeling trapped or running away from being controlled? The apparent chaotic and repeated application of thick paint may reflect a confused and uncertain mind. Behind the paint we can see the emergence of faces. Are they watching, reflecting authority during isolation? Or maybe they are being painted over in an anarchic expression of freedom.
HANGING ARTIST acrylic on canvas 30 x 40 cm
NICK PIKE Working from his studio in Gloucestershire (UK) Nick Pike has developed a style that he refers to as ‘Ghost Impressionism’. This is achieved by applying oil with sponges, where the location becomes more recognisable than the people within. Translucent figures float through the paintings, reflecting our brief presence on Earth. Nick is also a Natural Mindfulness Guide, where he encourages people to explore different perspectives of the natural world. Experiencing nature in this way has inspired many of his artworks. “The portrait reflects the struggle of the self, losing identity and attempting to break through the reflected image. The Corona virus has made us more distant from each other but this artwork explores how we may also find the experience making us more remote from ourselves; our desires and ambitions now subverted.”
LOCKED IN, BREAKING IN oil on canvas 50 x 50 cm
CEDRIC LAQUIEZE Born in Los Angeles and raised in France, Cedric now practices his art in Amsterdam. He is captivated by organic materials and aesthetic shapes, specialising in using dead objects in his art, from animal skeletons to dead insects and flowers. “For me this isolation meant hearing no cars from my balcony, seeing no lines in the skies from the passing planes and being faced with an ocean of time. It’s overwhelming to be faced with no obligations. I spent my time in my work-space finishing ideas born years ago and enjoying nature while birthing new ideas. In this isolation I found a new friend in the silence.” ‘The Jackal’ was one of the pieces completed during the isolation period. The expression and poise of the animal are at first aggressive and fierce. On further inspection there could be a vulnerability in the stance and fear in the eyes, perhaps reflecting the confused feelings of these strange times.
THE JACKAL
bones, silk flowers and glass eyes 90L x 60W x 80H cm
FRAN WILLIAMS Welsh artist, Fran WIlliams, has built a reputation for a unique multi-layered approach to her work, both physically and metaphorically. She often starts by writing words on the canvas and then images appear that express those emotions. The words are buried in the paint, allowing viewers to personalise the narrative. “I created this painting whilst reading about the cyclical nature of humanity and the cycles found within our own lives. I’ve found this bizarre time during isolation to be distressing in many respects but also beneficial in some ways. It brought a halt to some patterns of behaviour that weren’t working in my favour but had a lot of momentum attached to them. I guess it shone a spotlight on all of our lives and patterns... it’s given us a chance for momentum to slow on some stuff and gain on others if we wish... but it’s a choice. I don’t have a fear of death as I’ve always had an inner feeling that we are eternal, that we’ve been here many times before and many more to come. To change and evolve to more than we have been is the task. It’s not easy but is the reason we are here and this crazy time feels like the wake up call we’ve been in need of.”
THE CHOICE POINT
oil, photography, resin on wood 40 x 40 cm
REZA REZA Based in Germany, Reza Reza is an Iranian artist living and working in a provincial town outside of Berlin. He sees himself as an autodidact, even though he had lessons with the Essen artist Eugen Bednarek. Reza’s artwork has a mix of playful humour, often with an obvious or subtle darkness in the subject matter. The instant appeal draws the viewer into the painting and may leave them in a position of discomfort over time. “I painted this at the start of the pandemic crisis. I felt a burden in me like the men carrying the person with the mask. I have used isolation to reflect on the impending changes to our lives. There are positive impacts, such as on the environment, and we have the opportunity to correct some of our wrongs.”
UNTITLED
oil on canvas 50 x 40 cm
CAROLINE WATSON Caroline is a UK (Bristol) artist, with a loyal following of her unique style of theatrical paintings. Caroline is a storyteller, often with a blend of humour and implied dark messaging. The story lines are loosely suggested and left to the viewer to personalise and complete.
‘In Paradiso’ may suggest a new environment during and post pandemic isolation. Dark waters and grey mountains reflect a gloom while the red sky and foliage create a post apocalyptic feel. The clown appears sad, shivering and starved of company. The backdrop to his life is open to many interpretations and we can enjoy the unravelling in our imaginations or maybe resulting from our own feelings of isolation.
IN PARADISO oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm
MORGAN CHAROLLOIS French photographer, Morgan Charollois has produced a series of self-portraits during the isolation period of the pandemic, soon to be available in a book. Usually, Morgan is an avid traveller, enabling him to take stunning landscape photographs. During the lockdown he has been forced to focus on his love of portraiture and whilst self-isolating has had only one subject, himself. The use of black and white adds a dramatic effect to the already strong and fast-changing emotional state he experienced. ‘Zip It’ is an image that reflects changing moods. Each time the viewer looks into the eyes there is a different expression - maybe fear, aggression, or despair but always with a touch of cinematic madness.
ZIP IT
Limited edition of 30, photographic print 60 x 90 cm
MIKE STUART Based in Bristol (UK), Mike Stuart creates raw emotional art that expresses his internal feelings and his reflections on society. Mike describes his emotions one night in isolation and the inspiration for his painting ‘Endless Scroll’. “I’m feeling increasingly trapped by scrolling through my news feed, made increasingly anxious by unparalleled events, but unable to stop myself from checking my phone again and again in case I miss something apocalyptic... Last night it was really getting to me, the isolation, the uncertainty and most of all, just the lack of a hug. I don’t have a habit of asking for help, I was just stumped as to what to do... so I just painted how it felt. I wanted to show it as a universal thing, rather than a personal thing, since I think a lot of people are feeling the same... and it’s hard to reach out if you never do so.”
ENDLESS SCROLL acrylic on paper 30 x 42 cm
SIMON LEDSON Somerset (UK) based artist Simon Ledson is fascinated by the disputed boundary between relationships, nature and culture. This has been accentuated whilst contemplating the current and future impacts of the pandemic. During isolation, Simon has been asking fundamental questions about our place in nature and nature’s place in us. This painting addresses the artist’s own history and is, for him, a way of ‘breaking the silence’. “Paint contests the division between the realms of memory, emotions and experiences, in a multi-layered way. The work references abstraction while retaining recognisable forms. The resulting work is made up of elements that allow meaning to shift. Making use of a colour that resembles a reaction to a tonal vibration rather than reality, I select mechanical marks in order to take the work into a distinct visual form.”
YELLOW AMBER oil on canvas 50 x 40 cm
RICHARD TWOSE Award-winning portrait artist, Richard Twose, is based in Bath, UK, where he works on commissioned portraits and his own creative inventions. “My studio is in a remote barn on a hillside in Somerset so isolation is the normal condition of my working life. But the atmosphere of lockdown has added a deeper level of intensity. Over the past few years my work has focused on images of instability and imbalance, flying and falling but since lockdown I have turned increasingly inward and found myself exploring my family’s complex history and my memories of growing up through new paintings. Over the last few weeks the narrative has become increasingly complex. Images and ideas float in and out of my consciousness sometimes just out of my grasp. I called this painting ‘Possession’. It reflects the process of examination, reflection and release of personal ideas and memories, against the backdrop of a devastating pandemic as I paint in isolation.”
POSSESSION oil on canvas 62 x 83 cm
RIDA BASIT KHAN Rida is an emerging artist based in Lahre, Pakistan. “The corona virus has plagued the world. Everyone is asked to keep a distance from each other. I have shown the same in my painting. In day or night the heart is not far from each other. We have to take care of social distance but we can’t forget those whom we love. “ The message is simple but relevant to so many - longing, loneliness, frustration. The painting has a cinematic quality that appears to capture a moment in time in a long distance love story. The poses are sad, resigned, and perhaps reflect the inadequacy of the use of technology to transmit their love.
6 FEET DISTANCE
gouache, watercolour pencils on paper 23 x 33 cm
previous page: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
mixed media also available as limited edition photo
left: HOUSE OF CARDS
mixed media also available as limited edition photo
TERESA WELLS Based in the Midlands (UK), Teresa Wells is an award winning international artist. Her work has featured on TV and can be seen in public and private collections throughout the world. Through the medium of sculpture she explores the fragile relationship between man and his society. Isolation, miscommunication, frailty and strength are most attractive. Teresa has worked on large scale installations and sculptures up to 4 meters in length and at the more intimate scale, 50 cm cubed in mixed media. She also works in bronze, creating emotive figurative sculptures that celebrate man’s physical and emotional survival over adversity. The pieces in this exhibition can be seen as a commentary on the impact on relationships of being in isolation - the tension, entrapment, loneliness and over reliance on the impersonality of technology. The work is available as sculptural pieces and limited edition photographs.
TARA GOSWAMI “This time of isolation for me has been one of introspection and spending rich quality time being in my own skin like never before. Perhaps aided by my yoga and spiritual practices that are a huge part of my life and form the basis for my art practice I tend to have a fairly easy grasp of the larger concepts of existence and am comfortable in ambiguity. As such, I did not feel either lonely, anxious, scared or negative at any point. On the contrary I found a sense of peace and freedom in this time of confinement. In isolation I am alone, content, creating prolifically, practicing, meditating, becoming a better, stronger and happier person. When this all ends, I hope to be someone who brings value, quality and beauty to the places I go and lives I touch.” There are 21 performances in ‘The Art of Being’ by Tara Goswami, available as a video and individual photographs.
BEING CHANGE (CONFIDING IN A PLANT) Tara Goswami photographic print, edition of 2 20 x 30 cm
HARRIET WHITE Bristol (UK) based artist Harriet White is an extraordinarily talented photrealistic painter. “My work explores themes of ambiguity and artifice. Through painting I aim to combine photographic accuracy and painterly distortion to create a removed ‘version’ of an image, one that has been translated but in itself is open to interpretation; to suggest the presence of some kind of narrative but never to clarify what it might be. The cinematic dimensions and the use of devices such as theatrical makeup, wigs and synthetic lighting can render the source photograph at once heavily composed and also somewhat ambiguous. All of these elements might reference the artificial world of cinema in general, but don’t specify; an implication of something dreamt, misremembered or removed.” During isolation, Harriet has been painting ‘Theresa’, a tribute to a friend who works in the NHS.
THERESA oil on linen 70 x 70 cm
LUPO SOL “My paintings are figurative recreations of scenes of love and fear.” Lupo Sol is a spanish painter who recreates scenes of everyday life, memories, contradictions and twisted thoughts. The grotesque characters are his predilection; the human figure deformed by society, and almost always in paradoxical situations. “I have felt fear and uncertainty during isolation. I have continued to paint, without wanting to think about the future. I have thought many things, that I could not paint people outdoors again, that a great gap was opening between the entire artistic universe of yesterday and all the media and political garbage of today. Doubts have arisen about whether I should paint apocalyptic, dark, dystopian subjects, or if I would be able to put make my mind blank and continue to paint the same. I was pushing things to the back of my brain, not to get depressed. Now, after a few months, everything is softening.” The painting ‘Silence’ suggests many possible narratives about how a couple’s relationship is impacted by unexpected enforced isolation.
SILENCE
oil on board 46 x 38 cm
ANDRIJA VUČKOVIĆ Andrija lives in Croatia where he creates handwelded iron sculptures. “My artworks are pieces of me - my reflection. I adore trying to be a co-creator in this world. For art is such a beautiful way to express ourselves and to break free. My sculptures are created in fire to explode to masterpieces. In my technique I use a welding machine to band together iron wires. This hand-welding technique means that each sculpture is unique. My sculptures are figurative. Having a beautiful wife and daughters I realise that women’s gentleness hides a very large inner strength of their spirit. That strength is perfectly expressed with iron. “(In isolation) it was difficult for all of us to face that strange situation. Look at so many people who have lost their loved ones. I experienced that fear because my daughter has got asthma. My ‘Corona’ sculpture represents all of humanity that has got unhealed wounds made by a virus but still is on their feet - full of anxiety but still alive.”
CORONA
hand-welded iron 70 x 17 x 46 cm
GILES BARWICK Giles Barwick is a Bristol (UK) based fine artist whose art is a means of self-expression and therapy. Giles’ angst-ridden paintings are often bright and lively in nature. The techniques are varied and now adopt an illustrative style in favour of the linear markings of his earlier works. The rough brush strokes, dribbles and smears are achieved with the use of acrylics, pens and spray cans. “Having been told I’m at ‘high risk’, my emotions have been up and down during the pandemic lockdown. I have been frustrated and annoyed at not being able to freely get art supplies. Being restricted in a small place is difficult to judge things correctly. Confinement at home hasn’t helped my creative juices to flow. Nevertheless simply putting paint to canvas has, as always, been therapeutic.”
ETHEREAL
acrylic mixed media 65 x 65 cm
EVELYN BROUGH Evelyn Brough is a UK student with artistic ability beyond her years. This modernised portrait, ‘Girl in Scrubs’ has won prizes and gained her noteriety as an emerging talent. She describes her artistic style as ‘whimsical realism’. “I’m currently a bit overwhelmed by the current situation and I haven’t completely comprehended it yet. I’m spending my time in isolation working on myself, developing as a person, not only in my art, but other areas of my life. I’ve grown up with a print of Vemeer’s painting on my wall. So trying to represent it today, I made the ordinary painting extraordinary by bleaching the colour from her face and putting her in scrubs. The eyes, in particular, reflect how I have been feeling at times during this uncertain period. Like many others, I also wanted to honour the NHS for protecting us, putting their own lives at risk to help others.”
GIRL IN SCRUBS oil on canvas 80 x 60 cm
MARY ROUNCEFIELD UK artist, Mary Rouncefield, works in paint, drawing, print and 3D images involving every-day objects. Her subject typically focuses on human rights issues affecting both women and children. “I care very much about the injustices and cruelty meted out to vulnerable members of our human society, and believe that art can be a means of communication and a catalyst for change.” Mary describes her challenge and response to isolation. “At the beginning of lockdown I found myself unable to settle or even think about embarking on any art work. After a couple of weeks I started browsing through Picasso’s works and was inspired by the raw angst portrayed. The painting ‘War by Another Name’ is one in a series of paintings that express this emotion.”
WAR BY ANOTHER NAME acrylic on canvas 101 x 76 cm
ANA IVANOVSKA Ana Ivanovska, from North Macedonia, has been working on a project “Take a Breath” during the period of isolation. The project is a visualartistic concept composed of photographs and photomontages from her paintings. “This photograph (photo montage) describes my inner soul state of mind in the period of quarantine during the Covid-19 crisis, having the elements of the multiplied masks used in an abstract manner. Hence, at the beginning of the expansion of the virus, we were all very frightened, so I used this kind of photography to emphasize the fear, the “breathless” people with masks, the limited freedom that I felt. The period of isolation is also the perfect time for introspection and for the first time, I used my face for the photography. I became aware of the positive sides of the quarantine, having the possibility to observe my life from a different perspective. We are distant from our everyday lives and increase the appreciation of life. I have taken advantage of more creative time, developing the sense of satisfaction and fulfillment throughout finding my own inner peace. I have been celebrating life through uniting with my dearests, complete dedication to the family and strengthening the relationships.”
BREATHLESS
photo montage print 45 x 70 cm
CLARE FERGUSON-WALKER Clare Ferguson Walker, practices her work in Wales, where she creates imagined characters full of narrative. “My creations haunt me in visions almost constantly and the only thing I can do to relieve the pressure is to make them. I’ve come to realise that they are the language of my sub-conscious mind communicating with me and thus can be interpreted as one might do a dream. Characters, animals, symbols and positions all hold relevance and make up a kind of narrative interpretation of reality, although of course they all come from a sub-reality, another world parallel to this one. My work is often about sadness, beauty and the concept of what that means, grief as well as joy. It also often features archetypal characters from myths and legends.
REMEMBERING THE SEA bronze 70 x 55 cm
Isolation has been a bizzare experience that’s altered my perception of time. I am enjoying the complete lack of external pressure but that has allowed an inner pressure to surface more. I’ve been facing some well-established anxieties and working through them and with them. The loneliness is allowing me to view a relationship with myself that’s been deeply dysfunctional in many ways, a lazy inner slob and a furious inner critic! Art has been a glorious haven as ever, both aspects of me seem to collide and cancel each other out when I’m creating.”
LESLEY OLDAKER UK artist Lesley Oldaker has work in exhibitions and private collections around the world. Her paintings observe modern day society and explore the complex relationships, transient nature and purpose of random moving figurative groups and their interaction within the space around them. She abstracts the essence of emotion, form, space and colour for the paintings. During isolation these public spaces have taken on a very different feel. The painting ‘Treading Water’ is a reflection on how we now keep everything going and move forwards in uncertain times.” On her own feelings during isolation, “It has stopped my only physical connection with other artists and people. The excited feelings you get at events, the feeling of collaboration and belonging, the friendships you make with new people.” “I have really struggled without these social uplifts and the physical bonding with other people. It’s like I am left in a limbo state, waiting constantly for a stability that isn’t coming. The uncertainty of everything is exhausting and is affecting my workflow. I am so looking forward to the social art scene being opened again, so I can escape from myself and be amongst people.”
TREADING WATER
oil on canvas board 35 x 50 cm
ENE BENDER Based in Denver, Colorado USA, Ene Bender has been a practicing artist for 20 years. She has only recently explored the portrait genre of painting, since joining the Mendocino Art Center in California. In early lockdown Ene used her art to combat negative feelings and fill the social void. “The local nursery was the only non-essential business one could partake in. I felt these plants were almost human like, as we wore masks to view and nurture their tender leaves.�
COVID-19 2020 oil on canvas 40 x 50 cm
DAMIAN DALY Irish artist, Damian Daly, has an outer-worldly style of creating his evocative drawings and paintings. In an almost trance-like state, he starts to sketch and characters appear from another consciousness. Stories evolve and are transferred to the larger medium where a ‘finished’ artwork is produced. Due to the nature of their creation, Damian is reluctant to interpret his work, encouraging the viewer to personalise his work, either through personal experiences or fantasies. When pushed for a description of ‘Corona Cubes’, created during isolation, he responds: ‘Eyes closed, things in boxes, cubed compartments, insubstantial stagings of abstract dramas played out between inchoate subjects and objects, in contrived confined spaces.” This extraordinary work of over 50 drawings is a raw insight into the artist’s mind. Some thoughts are concluded and some in early formation, seemingly lost before they are complete. Together, the drawings connect and compete, perhaps reflecting the confused and contradicting emotions of a mind unecpectedly confronted by a new experience.
CORONA CUBES
pen on paper (and glicee print) 90 x 80 cm
CLAUDIA ZAMBERIA Claudia Zamberia is a Kenyan born artist, currently practicing her panting in Florence, Italy. Claudia explores social contexts through her paintings. “At times, the harsh realities of the world are difficult to process so, I use my skill to translate those facts; simplifying them to a point that is easier to absorb. For me, art is a tool that can tell more than just the usual stories. I aspire to bring clarity through painting in times when life makes little sense.” Living in Italy, one of the very first countries to go into into quarantine, Claudia found every day in isolation to stir up a mix of emotions. “I painted “Delirium” as a way of showing the limits of human mental stability during isolation. Clothing is so closely tied to identity, that by using every day objects as representations of our common habits, I literally created a substitute, perhaps even a companion with ‘whom’ to endure the quarantine. It’s not necessarily humanising the object by giving it human features, but instead using it as a stand-in/model. The chair itself is stable (given its four legs), but I on the other side of the canvas might not be.”
DELERIUM
oil, pastel, acrylic on canvas 100 x 70 cm
PACO SAINZ Paco Sainz is a Spanish artist who lives alone, sculpting, away from the noise, in a beautiful and silent place surrounded by nature. His sculptures, made from many different woods, stones and glass, are aesthetically beautiful and tell stories with abstract meaning. The Covid-19 pandemic has not modified his daily routine (working, observing, learning), but it has changed his perception of human beings, comparing what we are now with what we were before. ‘We were many, solitaires, moving into a fragile glass box (PANDORA) containing our egos, our traumas, and our ways of being. We were convinced we were unique; the virus has made it happen. It has made us loners, fearful individuals, confronting us with our fears and traumas, with ourselves. Now, do we still want to be unique?’ The sculpture OFRENDA is perhaps a more subtle interpretation of isolation - reaching, offering, longing, but not fulfilling our human needs.
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OFRENDA
Macael marble, glass and mica 100 x 30 x 20 cm next page right:
PANDORA
woods, glass, tavertine stone 40 x 20 x 19 cm next page right:
PANDORA 2
woods, glass, tavertine stone 9 x 9 x 18 cm
LUKMAN TATAROV Kazakhstan artist Lukman Tatarov is largely selftaught, after a brief spell in art education in New York. The portrait ‘Arzu’ is one of a series of paintings created this year and during the period of isolation. The subdued palette matches the moods of the subjects. They are distant, thoughtful but seemingly troubled. Lukman doesn’t like to talk about himself, so we’ll let his self-portrait do that for him.
ARZU
oil on linen 60 x 70 cm
CHRISSA MARKOS Chrissa is a visual story teller inspired by people and their life stories. She calls it documenting the human experience. Working across portrait, travel and fine art photography Chrissa captures people and places with an evocative and minimal photographic style. She creates dreamy and surreal and often stark and emotional stories that leave a lingering impression. Her work is deeply influenced by her Greek roots - the landscape, the architecture, the culture - but also by cinema and eastern philosophy. “There was a deep sense of melancholy and need for introspection that came with the isolation. The world became very quiet and a sense of stillness settled in, emanating in a forceful need to create. I felt like I was trapped in a single moment, acutely aware of my senses as things slowly shifted around me.
SILENCE
giclee print (photo, digital collage) 20 x 25 cm
On my daily walks through the woods, sights and sounds were amplified and I began to feel the impermanence of my life as the trees and sky towered above me. At times I felt I was getting smaller and the world around me was expanding and consuming me. It took many long walks but eventually I began to feel a deep sense of inner peace and connectedness with everything around me. The slower pace was grounding me and I was more than ever present. It was as if time had stopped for a brief moment to let me catch my breath and go forward more mindfully and with more intention. I was relieved and a part of me wanted this stillness to last longer.�
LOUISE EAMES Louise Charlotte Eames is a gestural abstract painter, based in the UK. She paints in a free ranging manner, attempting to avoid the infiltration of more rational thought processes. it.’ Louise loves brash, bright and zinging colours and relates her work to the improvisatory nature and processes of modern jazz, poetry, drama and dance. “I have been painting throughout this isolation period (a particularly creative time) and my journey is evident in this series of 2020 paintings. I felt very contained and locked-in, having to move my studio to a confined space at home and also home-schooling my young daughter. I felt a strong creative urge to breakout and burst the isolation bubble. Burgeoning, punchy, neon colour expresses the clarity of birdsong on daily family walks and the rainbows in windows that we passed, bringing joy, hope, connection and sunshine.” As isolation eases, Louise’s paintings provide physical and metaphorical brightness in a time where many people are seeking to break out from their own form of darkness.
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MULBERRY MASH acrylic on canvas 30 x 30 cm
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FLEX
acrylic on canvas 30 x 30 cm
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