Lots of new work for September plus the British Art Fair

Newly acquired works

We spent yesterday rehanging the gallery with a raft of new work, ably assisted by a splendid young chap getting some work experience. Works may be seen in our Autumn exhibition page or in our Latest Work section (albeit the latter with a slightly curtailed list of those by Rebecca Swainston). As part of the new-mix, Alex Hain, a young man who we’ve been proud to work with now since 2015, has produced four wonderful works, three being large energetic and immediate Scottish coastal paintings, largely painted out in-situ, which given their sizes is no mean task. The fourth is just the most wonderful impasto oil titled High Viz’, a composite portrait of folks Alex works with during his non-art day job (like most young artists, there’s a need for a secondary source of income).

Rebecca Swainston

The second collection of new works comes from Rebecaa Swainston. We visited Rebecca in her studio in Berkshire a couple of weeks ago, coming back with nine new paintings. Rebecca’s work often combines a strong yet never-garish palette together with sentiment and meaning; it strikes me sometimes in a similar way to the subtle meanings found in Tudor and Stuart portraiture. A great artist, all on show in the gallery as I type.

Portrait of a boy - 1927

Other works just acquired include a fabulous 1927 portrait of a boy by Frank Runacres. Likely a family member, possibly his nephew, the painting couldn’t be from any other era, especially with the splendid full brown suit he was made to wear!

Michael Aryton

Also just acquired is a very strong painting from 1966 by the late Michael Ayrton. Titled Green Head II (Persephone), it fits right into the centre of his work exploring mythology, especially Greek mythology (Persephone was the Goddess of the underworld and wide of Hades). As you’ll see from the Latest Work section, this is but one of many recent acquisitions brought into the gallery.

British Art Fair

Finally, moving onto the British Art Fair at the Saatchi Gallery in London, this is a must for us, and we’ll be exhibiting many of the most well known names of the twentieth century this year, including Frank Auerbach and David Hockney. The fair runs from 28^th September to 1^st October and if anyone would like complimentary tickets, just let us know and we’ll email over the link.

All for now, Steve and Christine