Brian Sinfield Art Gallery
Exhibition
Elsa Taylor 14 May - 28 May 2022
Exhibition: 'You Know How I Feel'
"What is art? Big question. The Victorian artist James Holland was under no illusions. "It is, or ought to be, the object of all art to produce as near a likeness to nature, in every respect as the instrument or materials employed will admit to." In other words, detail, accuracy, and finish. Constable's buyers demanded this, yet it was his six foot sketches that today spark our interest. In that respect Constable was ahead of his time. But it was Turner who painted works of the heart and mind, dramatising his subjects. Gone was the emphasis on detail, it was the emotional response to a subject that was all important. Turner had bucked the trend.
Elsa Taylor is a colourist; her flower pieces are more celebrations of colour and design than depictions of flowers. Her landscapes of layered earth colours, delicious harmony of umbers and siennas are the artist's emotional responses to landscape, and that is what is important. Any artist beginning a painting embarks on an adventure. Elsa works at the surface of her canvas with saturated colour, exploring the shapes and textures that emerge in an attempt to capture the character of the subject. At times semi- abstract merges with abstract. Nothing much of detail here, but strong imagery and colour." Brian Sinfield
This exhibition will be the seventh held at the gallery and the paintings have lost none of their zest. Undoubtedly Elsa Taylor is one of the finest colourists working in England today.
To view the full exhibition please click here
Featured Artist
Introducing Peter Kettle
We are thrilled to be representing a new artist to the gallery, Peter Kettle. We are sure you will find his work as exciting as we do.
Peter considers himself a documentarian and expressive landscape artist creating oil and mixed media paintings by immersing himself in the landscape. He paints from his native Wales as well as Scotland and other remote regions of the world.
He incorporates journalistic narratives and social geography into his projects recording elements and nuances of the space to rework into ambitiously scaled and expressive paintings; using paint and other media poured, rubbed and splashed onto the canvas.
Having worked exclusively in oils, his technique has broadened to the use of Gesso, collage, inks and shellac. His paintings give the impression of well-worn exterior walls, buffeted and corroded over time. The effect is a characterful, well weathered surface, stony and granular that is at the same time luminous with dramatic light. His paintings go through a number of stages, deconstructed and layered, to form a complex expression of his subject matter.
Peter started his career in Wales and now lives and works in Bristol, maintaining his travels to his native Wales and across Britain, which remains a continual spur for his work.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and the Royal Cambrian Academy (RCA) and has featured on the BBC New. The Guardian published an article as he was the 'One to Watch'. His work his held in private collections internationally.
Image illustrated: Waterfall, Claerwen River, Wales | mixed media on canvas | 110 x 90 cm
To view all available works click here
Just In
New Work by Clare Granger
Clare studied Law at Downing College, Cambridge, Fine Art at Harrogate College and Portraiture at the Charles Cecil Studio, Florence. Although born in Surrey, Clare now lives in Harrogate. She paints mainly in oils and is inspired by landscape and figures. Clare endeavours to capture the atmosphere of her subject using colour and line. She has exhibited widely and has completed numerous commissions including portraits of the President of the Law Society which now hangs in the Law Society's Hall, and the Marquess of Downshire. She also exhibits at the Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition.
The artist explains: “There is always something so magical about experiencing somewhere new; I am filled with the desire to respond to the energy and tranquillity of a place, to capture and distil an atmosphere if I can. I have travelled through India, Myanmar, and parts of South America. Throughout my journeys, I draw and paint, I photograph and collect avidly, creating sketchbooks which record multi facets of the countries visited. These books are then used to inform my work back in the studio at home. It gives me intense pleasure to be able to rekindle the emotions and sensations of these journeys.
Working in the studio I have the delicious freedom to explore colour harmonies, whilst searching to evoke the mood of that moment which has given me the initial inspiration. I hope, in this way, to create an image which both alludes to an experience of mine but that also, at some level, finds a resonance with the experience or imagination of the onlooker.”
Image illustrated: Arriving at the Beach | oil on canvas |50 x 60 cm
To view all available paintings please click here