JELLYBRELLA          

NEW PAINTINGS

by Marion Jones & Chris Lessware

Tuesday 19th - 31st March 2019

Opening Times Tuesday – Sunday 11am – 5pm

Thursday 'til 7pm, Closed Monday

Private View: Thursday 21st March  5:30-8pm

 Marion Jones

Marion makes abstract geometric paintings that emphasise edges, lines and planes. They often contain transparent and opaque layers, solid and floating forms, matt and shiny surfaces and colour. She has exhibited in a wide range of different galleries and has paintings in a number of private collections. 

See website for additional exhibitions -

http://www.marionjones.co.uk
http://www.twitter.com/marionelmajones
http://www.instagram.com/marionelmajones

Chris Lessware

My painting is abstract; it contains no symbolism, no disguised representation, no consciously emotional content, no “reality through a prism”. It is solely concerned with the interaction of paint, charcoal, pastel with surface. In my view, there is no requirement to “say” anything in a picture that can be put into words – paint has its own language, in the same way that music has.

The question “What does this painting mean?” is therefore one that I regard as redundant. It means what it is in itself, as well, of course, as having (or lacking!) a meaning in a social-historical context.

This is not to say that I am hostile to representational painting; rather, I see no point to it other than that, that might be equally or better served by abstraction.

My pictures, then, are concerned with colour, structure, movement and stasis, texture. I am interested in contrasting textures, colours, structural factors: single central image or dispersed elements? Main image “contained” or going to edge, and by implication, continuing beyond? Blurring and concealment, as against sharpness of image; direction of mark/brush stroke; shiny or matt areas, when seen from front or oblique angle; effect of bleed of pigment; the cut of black around an image or part of one; the role of chance. I think the examples I have attached contain, when taken as a whole, all these factors.

These concerns and practices, I think, are central to all painting, abstract, representational and figurative and are perhaps obvious; nevertheless, they are perennial.

My paintings are produced, for the most part, flat on the floor; I do sometimes make preparatory sketches, but often do not – colours are sometimes mixed on a palette, but more often, on the canvas itself. I have tended to use certain sizes repeatedly; 40*30 inches (example, New Rose) until recently. Now I prefer a square – 100*100 cms (the other images). Maybe the smaller size makes for a more central image, the square for more dispersal.

As for titles, they are a convenience, to avoid using “Untitled” or dates and numbers. I often use song titles or TV programmes or personal events; I try to avoid referring to any identifiable feature of the painting itself, or accidental resemblance to some object from the real world.

I believe that I work within the tradition of Abstract Expressionism and am happy to accept that label, with the proviso that there is no implied “spiritual” or emotional driving-force or objective. In my view, the paintings should be regarded as material objects with such-and-such a pattern of shapes, colours and textures. Many artists are, I believe, blind to the “meaning” of their own works – it is the job of critics to explain them.

In summary, I see my work as traditional, possibly reactionary – painting on canvas – not relevant in any political sense; concerned with issues tackled continuously since the 50s at least, but never solved. Briefly, influences; Appel, Jorn, De Kooning, Lanyon, Diebenkorn, Mitchell. Of living artists, Albert Oelhen and Vaida Carvanho.

www.chrislessware.co.uk

www.blackpaint.wordpress.com

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

https://www.facebook.com/sproutarts

BURNTWOOD ART GROUP

Recent Paintings & Prints

5th - 16th March 2019

Open Tuesday - Sunday, 11am – 5pm

Private View Friday 8th March, 6 - 8.30pm

Monoprinting Demonstration with Maureen Sweeney - Sunday 10th March, 12-1pm 

Maureen Sweeney

Fiona Reid

Margaret Donaldson

Margo Random

The Burntwood Group led by Maureen Sweeney is a group of artist friends who meet monthly in Maureen’s home studio. Project-led, we meet to discuss, share and bounce ideas off each other. We are all interested in working from things we’ve seen or experienced but portraying them in a way that is not too defined/descriptive or restrictive. We’ve worked in a variety of media including oil, acrylic and watercolour and in printing have included collotype, mono-print, etching, linocut and screen-printing. The Burntwood Group, originally started some 20 years ago, has exhibited together many times including several shows at Sprout Arts. Margo Random has joined us for the past year and this will be her first time showing her work with us.

Maureen Sweeney 

Maureen Sweeney was born in London and studied Fine art and was awarded a post graduate year in printmaking at Wimbledon School of Art and Morley College, amongst her tutors were Maggie Hambling, Frank Auerbach and Prunella Clough. She taught Art and printmaking in secondary schools and adult education.

The city and her travels are a source of inspiration in her paintings and prints. The Thames which she crossed daily to school from Chelsea to Battersea and which was beside Battersea Power Station feature in her etching series “ River Trip” taken from drawings done on river boats travelling the Thames. Her monoprints, paintings and etchings of Battersea Power Station show her attachment to this great building. Travels in Britain and abroad captured in sketchbooks are translated into paintings using vibrant colour and fluid brushstrokes.

Maureen has exhibited widely in Britain, France ,Germany , Norway , Russia and Israel. She exhibits at Southbank Printmakers gallery, Gabriel’s Wharf, Upper Ground SE1 9PP near the Oxo tower and Greenwich Printmakers Gallery, Greenwich Market, Greenwich SE10 9HZ. She is a committee member of The National Society of Painters, Sculptors and Printmakers. She was a committee member and co-curator of The Printmakers Council for many years .Maureen’s prints, paintings and drawings have been collected by private patrons and collections in Britain and abroad. Amongst the group exhibitions she has exhibited are The Summer Exhibition Royal Academy, Stowell Trophy Royal Academy, The Royal Watercolour Open, The Royal painters and Printmakers Open, National Theatre, Natural History Museum.

Recent exhibitions include Greenwich printmakers at UCL, National Society of Painters, Sculptors and Printmakers 2018 The Menier Gallery London, Royal Brompton Hospital. Featured Artist 2019 Greenwich Printmakers Gallery, Forthcoming exhibitions :- Burntwood Art Group at Sprout Gallery, Moyser Rd. Tooting SW16 in March , Greenwich Printmakers at the Watts Gallery July-Sept 2019 , Greenwich Printmakers at Salvation Army HQ, St Paul’s. London. Greenwich Printmakers at The Barbican Library.

Twitter:- @mosweeney artist, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Fiona Reid 

Margaret Donaldson

Margo Random 

Margo has come to art following a career as a musician, songwriter and actress. Studying mainly at Putney School of Art, for the past nine years she has been passionate about making art and oil painting in particular. Margo has shown her work at Putney School of Art, winning the Oil Painting Prize at the 2016 summer show for ‘Orange Woman’. Margo has had solo exhibitions at Sprout Art Gallery, Urban Art Fair and Wandsworth Artists Open House and has shown her work at Jonaquest Art in Greenwich and Riverside Building in Hammersmith. Five of her ‘Tooting Bec’ paintings were acquired by London Transport Museum as a series of limited edition prints. Margo’s work encompasses landscape, still life and portraits with an abstract sensibility and love of colour derived from her travels, her London home and her origins in New York. ‘I love to paint with an element of surprise; an unusual composition, colour palette, subject or degree of abstraction.’ This is the first time Margo has shown her work with Burntwood Art Group and is pleased to be exhibiting her monoprints, woodcuts and linocuts inspired by her work with them. 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

https://www.facebook.com/sproutarts