Net drawings in The Crooked Tree group exhibition City of London

Tongue Tied - pen on paper - 100cm x 136cm

Tongue Tied and The Broken Pattern's Pattern will be on display at Sink Art's new pop-up exhibition...

The Crooked Tree

Private View: 6-8pm 26^th November
Exhibitions Runs: 27^th November – 7^th December

 1st Floor, Building 3,Creed Court,5 Ludgate Hill, London, EC4M 7AA

Lily Rose Thomas | Luke George and Elizabeth Rose | Mary Wintour | Serena Porrati | Natalie Ryde | Natasha Peel

“My kids are starting to notice I'm a little different from the other dads "Why don't you have a straight job like everyone else?" they asked me the other day.
I told them this story:
In the forest, there was a crooked tree and a straight tree. Every day, the straight tree would say to the crooked tree, "Look at me...I'm tall, and I'm straight, and I'm handsome. Look at you...you're all crooked and bent over. No one wants to look at you." And they grew up in that forest together. And then one day the loggers came, and they saw the crooked tree and the straight tree, and they said, "Just cut the straight trees and leave the rest." So the loggers turned all the straight trees into lumber and toothpicks and paper. And the crooked tree is still there, growing stronger and stranger every day.”
Source: Tom Waits -Buzz Magazine (USA) 1993

Hidden in the shadows of St Paul’s cathedral, Sink art has transformed a large office into a pop-up contemporary art gallery. The project is in collaboration with The Renaissance Foundation and money raised by the exhibition will go towards their cause.

Nietzsche said that no artist tolerates reality- the issue of art therefore arises in the creation of work as a rebellion against how things are. To overcome the status-quo has long been an ambition of artistic movements, each one aiming to overcome an issue with the current art of the time, each defying it in new and interesting ways while they all simultaneously shout ‘Renaissance’.

This exhibition makes use of aesthetic qualities to overcome personal issues. Forming these personal experiences are underlying forces in the work which ultimately benefits from irregularity, imperfection and the realm of the imaginary. Cracks appear through paint-works and journeys are explored through photography whilst routine life is re-imagined and disruptive forces shape new identities.  

The exhibition therefore examines the process of and reaction to circumstance. Be it personal, natural or metaphysical the outcome is a result of strength through hardship, a celebration of imperfection.

For further information and images please contact Alex Baddeley:

sink.artshow@gmail.com

http://www.sink-art.com

07507491907

Turning over a new leaf

Work in progress - oil and dye on canvas - approx 2m x 1.5m

There is something seriously sensual about oil on canvas.  My first love is outdoor drawing and working in my Moleskin sketchbooks.  With this painting I want to retain the instantaneous feeling of being there and responding expressively to the landscape. Working on a large scale with big brushes and a palette knife allows me to retain this feeling of spontaneity.  Painting in the fold of the sketchbook acts as a compositional device and also makes the link between the initial sketch and the painting.  The next layers will be hot light shining through from behind the trees.
This is the first new post in my artist blog.  
I update photos from the studio regularly and these new posts will give you a bit of insight into my influences and processes.