Brighton Bold

So here starts the look back over all the exhibitions we've held since the relaunch!

We opened our doors on in December 2012, and we started off with a bang! Brighton Bold consisted of five local artists, each searching for their own sense of identity within the realms of colour and pattern, making for a really vibrant and exciting show.

Here's a selection of our favourite pieces from the exhibition and a bit of info about each artist:

My Americaness, Veronica Blanar
www.veronicablanar.com

''I come from Slovakia and I came to the UK in 2010 looking for a fresh start,

 initially barely speaking a word of English. For a year and a half I lived in London, 

working as an au-pair. My plan was to return home after a year, but I became so 

engrossed with English culture that I did not want to end my ‘travel’ experience yet. 

I studied photography at college in Slovakia (Bratislava) and so instead of returning home 

because of university I decided to apply for a photography degree in the UK.

After a lot of hard work, attending many English courses, visiting photography exhibitions

 all over London, doing plenty of research, looking for inspiration and influence and 

even more studying in the evenings after work- I got in! This was the biggest achievement

 of my life, it made me realise that if I put my mind to something I can achieve it.

Now I am in my second year studying photography at Brighton Uni. 

I enjoy my course and I'm trying to get involved with talks, exhibitions and

 competitions as much as I can to keep me inspired! Documentary photography and 

every-day-life have always fascinated me, but I am also intrigued by portraits, urban and 

staged photography''.

It is a little sweet, and a little sour, Hannah Robson
www.hannahdrobson.tumblr.com

''Since starting my degree I have been exploring the idea of still life.
This has always been something I am interested in, as I think that
objects hold many meaning. I enjoy experimenting with different ways
to represent objects using expressive colours and mark making. Three
paintings I have sent depict a set up of fruit and a mouse or bird.
They are simple, flattened objects and I feel that colour and patterns
are a huge importance in these works. The last is an interior based on
my grandmother’s house but a lot of it is from my imagination. The
objects hanging on the wall and on the mantelpiece are the things I've
always found intriguing.
My aim is to create paintings that are disjointed and flattened by
using bright colours and fluid patterns all over the canvas.''

Hairstyles, B C Hamlin
www.bchamlin.tumblr.com

''I am a local (Brighton) artist. I am mainly a printmaker but I often work in 

other mediums. I gain influence from pop culture, lasting dream imagery 

and vague nostalgic memories. I mix these themes into my own

 illustrative style to create prints. ''

Posts, Daniel Skinner
www.danielmortimerskinner.co.uk

''I discovered the joys of printmaking at Brighton University and was instantly hooked

 on the graphic qualities, the physicality and the thrill of pulling the print off the press.

 Having spent for years immersed in the process of making art I graduated from 

Newcastle Poly

 in 1994 not sure what had happened. I was lucky that at that moment a brand new 

print studio had opened in the area, where I was able to continue making 

prints and after a while find work. 

The cheap cost of living and low cost of materials

 at the studio meant I was able

to really develop my work and printmaking skills over the next 

few years. 

I was slowly able to build a body of work and exhibited widely.

After moving abroad for a while to learn other forms of printmaking I returned to Brighton. 

I now work mostly in relief, working on the same themes in different forms- there is no central tenet,

 everything I see and think about comes out in one way or another through my work.

 Authenticity is the key for me, honesty in your art.''

Bowls, Alice Walter 

alice_walter@hotmail.co.uk

''My paintings are currently exploring that of the quiet, mundane and serene.

Constantly on the borderline of the abstract and the figurative my work encourages imagination

from the viewer rather than declaring a fixed statement for themselves.

This is in part due to the imagery that is in some of the paintings, such as Farm Animals

and Land-Trees, that have connotations of different things rather than being specific

objects that the viewer can identify. The large, simplified brush strokes help form this

ambiguity but also help create visual simplicity and a sense of the uncomplicated

and tranquil in all of the paintings, which the aesthetic colors and close tonal ranges

also contribute to, particularly in paintings such as City and In the Sea.

Ultimately through their aesthetic ambiguity I try to explore the concept of individuality;

being able to maintain an identity that can't fixed or categorised by an outer entity.'''

This was a great success and really got the gallery off to the right start! I'd like to thank all the artists involved for the time, effort and patience they gave our new gallery, thank you all, and  wish you the best of luck with your artistic careers.

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