“Here are cool springs, soft mead and grove, Lycoris; Here might our lives with time have worn away.” Virgil, Eclogues X
During the numerous lockdown periods of the pandemic, artists returned to nature as subject matter, embracing the stripped back everyday, while attempting to expand suddenly myopic existences. A rotating exhibition involving pastoral depictions of the outside world such as birds, landscapes, and insects, Arcadia’s depiction of evergreen utopia sets itself against the backdrop of the climate crisis – a dwindling wilderness of undervalued species that may just be our last hope of saving the planet’s biosphere. Pieces serve as reminders: even in Arcadia, extinction is a possibility.
“’Et in Arcadia Ego ’ – ‘Even in Arcadia, there am I.” A reference to death in the Guercino painting ‘The Arcadian Shepherds’.
Enter the Fishing Quarter Gallery, a heritage fisherman’s arch on Brighton’s seafront in late summer 2021 to see paintings, prints, works on paper, and artist books by eight contemporary artists inspired by these lockdown experiences. In stark contrast to the contemporary works, are a selection of historical works by Sussex master printmaker James T.A. Osborne whose passion for native wildlife is untainted by fears of its imminent destruction.
Artists
The artists include Carolyn Trant whose artist books are collected by some of the world’s leading museums and libraries, including the VandA National Art Library, British Library, Tate, USA University Library Special Collections and the Library of Congress. Andrew Gifford is internationally recognised for landscape and cityscape paintings. Solo public shows of his work have been held at Leeds City Art Gallery (2004), Fruitmarket Gallery Edinburgh (2001) and Middlesbrough Art Gallery (2000). In 2014 his exhibition Two Cities: Paintings of Jerusalem and Ramallah toured with the British Council to Al-Ma’mal Foundation, Jerusalem and the A. M. Qattan Foundation in Ramallah. Hackney artist C.A. Halpin is showing commissioned pieces for Arcadia and her detailed drawings of insects, part of her SUPERFLY collection. Her installation ‘Flea Circus’ is to be exhibited as part of the Artwave Festival in Lewes, 11 – 26 September 2021. An exhibition of art and a series of works on paper are included by Rowena Easton whose multi-media works have already been shown on an international scale. Exquisite flower portraits by Rosie Gifford are presented beneath the mesmerising cloud and skyscapes of Sarah Weeden, landscapes and seascapes of Suzanne Hennegrave and the print works of Derry Mountford who has shown at the Royal Academy and regularly exhibits at the Mall Galleries, London.
Artists / Speakers: James T.A. Osborne, Andrew Gifford, C.A. Halpin, Rowena Easton, Sarah Weedon, Derry Mountford, Suzanne Hennegrave, Rosie Gifford, Carolyn Trant
Category: Arts | Visual Arts
Time: 11:00 am to 6:00 pm
Venue details: The Fishing Quarter Gallery, 201 Kings Road, Brighton Seafront, Brighton, BN1 1NB, United Kingdom
