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Where Do We Stand?
7th February to 29th March 2009
oil on board or oil on canvas
all £550 except two below £675
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Michael explains the background to the exhibition: "These paintings are concerned with painting as a subject in itself and with landscape, reactions to the world around us. Painting lost its monopoly of representation with the invention of photography. The developments since then, from Impressionism on, show the efforts to establish an independent sphere, proper to painting alone. The question is whether this can be done. "
Michael continues: "We live today bombarded with images, in a digital overload. Painting remains an artisanal pursuit, each work a 'one of', recording what an individual eye has seen or imagined. The issue for the viewer is to see where he stands in relation to the work. Where is his place in the effort of communication?"
With an innate understanding of colour and tone, and a strong grasp of the solidity of objects, Ruth has real sense of scale and proportion. The space between things is visually delightful. Her handling of paint is lively and full of vitality, and her work has an impressive honesty and integrity. Her paintings show maturity and style.
Ruth is also a musician and moved to Manchester in 1996 to study the Oboe at Chetham’s School of Music. She furthered her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and was subsequently awarded a scholarship to study at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Ruth returned to Manchester in 2004 to take up a scholarship for post graduate performance studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, graduating with distinction.
She is currently enjoying a dual career in art and as a freelance Oboist, performing regularly with the Wales based wind quintet Celtaidd as well as with various orchestras and chamber groups.
Zoe's long career has won her recognition as one of the leading figurative painters of her generation, and has brought her many high profile commissions such as the portrait of Lord Bath in 2002. From 1990 to 2001 Zoe lectured at Falmouth College of Art and Design and was visiting lecturer in painting at the Accademia di Belli Arti di Vinezia, Italy.
Zoe's subject matter is often women, children and animals. Theatrical costumes and settings present a world in which she brings together fragments from different time frames and a very personal narrative.
See more information on the Portfolio page.
Rachel Hardy Moody
Rachel studied at Kent Institute of Art Canterbury under Peter Doig. She works in oil and gesso to produce complex and serene landscapes.
With some mixed media works she applies whiting, pigment and paint, having first applied a ground. Often having completed a painting Rachel will over paint and scratch into, revealing the under painting before arriving at the image. She also works in pure Gesso on board, oil on board and oil on canvas. Some influences are Morandi, Diebenkorn, Rothko, Nash, Kurt Jackson, Peter Doig and Maeckelberghe to name but a few.
Snow Field, mixed media, £895.
Benjamin Jones
Born in 1976, Benjamim is the second of five children of the artist Robert Jones. Brought up in Cornwall, he attended Hayle School, Penwith College and Falmouth College of Art. When he was younger he played the cello in the County Youth Orchestra. Since childhood he has been surrounded by art and has been familiar with paintings and galleries all his life.
He is a keen traveller, and has planted trees in Australia, looked after ostriches on a kibbutz in Israel, visited Spain and Portugal and worked on flower farms in Cornwall, and has worked with his father as a studio assistant. In 2001 he lived in Bristol and worked in a studio alongside various artists and craftspeople. Several of his still life paintings are in the collection of the M.B.N.A. Bank Headquarters.
Benjamin is currently studying at the London City and Guilds Art College on a BA(Hons) course in conservation.
Chris Garratt
Born in Leicestershire in 1944, Chris Garratt studied Fine Art at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham. For many years he lectured in Art History at Exeter College of Art and Falmouth School of Art, specialising in experimental film and video as a fine art medium.
He served on numerous arts committees including the Arts Council of Great Britain, South West Arts and Television Southwest. He is the (largely anonymous) artist and co-writer of the Biff cartoon strip which ran for 20 years in the Guardian and has also illustrated many titles in the "Introducing" series from Icon Books.
Since moving to the Isles of Scilly in 2001, Chris has returned to painting. "I work very slowly" writes Chris, " building up the pictures on small wood panels in thin glazes and although I work in oils (rather than for instance, egg tempera)I feel I'm part of a tradition that goes back to Quattrocento Italy."
