“2-d”

1 June – 27 August 2004
Olympia Conference Centre, Olympia, London, W14 (Sotheby’s entrance)

“2-d” is a 2-part, 2-dimensional project that will be on show as part of London Olympia’s Art Exhibition Programme.

Part one is the first of the two exhibitions, focusing on diversity, substance and flair in contemporary painting. It includes the following four, European artists, who apply paint using a range of distinct and striking methods.

J.A. Nicholls Sandra Liccioni Greg Rook Denise Stonebridge

J.A. Nicholls comments, “My work promotes a fluid conception of images and the objects to which they loosely refer. The paintings sample the seductions of different modes of mark making and operate like a metaphor to create new possibilities from a complex interplay of parts.

All that can be thought about an image; its history, its time, its pace – the feel of the thing – enters into a commerce with the ideas that surround other familiar styles and images. Amidst the clash of contradictory conceptual fields, my work creates new possibilities, beyond circumscription, beyond expected use”.

Sandra Liccioni born in France studied in Brussels but has chosen London as her current working base. Consequently, her travels have clearly made an impact upon her practice. Sandra’s circular structures provide a platform to examine the surface of painting. On an initial glance the work appears a cluster of decorative and abstract forms darting about the picture plain. However, upon closer inspection the clarity and skill of her organic shapes and foliage come into focus. The experience of viewing the work reminds the viewer of the first experience of using a microscope or camera. Your eye looks at an all-encompassing surface of energy and movement and as you ‘zoom in’ or ‘focus your lenses’ acute detail becomes clear.

Nature and her surroundings coupled with the properties of painting and how painting is physically viewed visibly inspire the artist and are the result of the working process.

Greg Rook states, “We understand that our personalities are constructions, and we understand that these constructions rely on memories of the past that are wholly corrupted by the spectacular culture within which we live. We watch, we learn and we imitate – as the century has progressed selves have become increasingly populated with the characters of others. I have been looking at how cinema in particular, affects our lives, in terms of how we process cinematic memories, how we place patterns of behaviour and lifestyle that we see in film into action”.

Denise Stonebridge’s brave decision to switch into full time painting and drawing after a successful career in the eighties as a graphic designer has been proved by the visual strengths we now witness.
The works’ sumptuous and confident swirls of paint and abstract, free, mark making conjure the feeling of ‘life’. Amongst the works’ abundant energy and movement there are subtle tensions and contrasts. Sweeping, gestural blocks of colour sit comfortably with fine, graphical lines.

Denise explains, “The work starts as a primordial, untamed, seemingly ‘self-aware’ mass that aims to grow of its own accord, ultimately breeding new pieces. As this process seeks to happen, my own desire for shaping and control takes over and I force form and structure onto the work. This control is manifested as an introduction of marks, lines and ‘man-made’ geometric shapes that prevent the unabated expansion of the organic, and hence forces it to change direction and flow.
part one