Church Times: Celia Paul paints peace, while painting in peace

My latest review for Church Times is of the Celia Paul exhibition at Victoria Miro:

'A strong sense of peace emanates from her work as she juxtaposes direct observation with mysticism.

The peace that emanates is hard won, as is the seclusion found in her studio amid the complexities of the relations she paints. Movement and colour in the form of drips, streaks, scrapes, swirls, and globules of paint busily cover the surface of her canvases, and yet their relations one with another fashion contemplative images that cohere and convince. She paints peace, while painting in peace, despite the disruptions of guilt and grief which arise from her past; a new day, a new dawn is depicted undefined by the past. She and her female sitters are strong, waiting peacefully, being themselves, no longer defined by the men in their lives, whether archbishops, artists, bishops, or philosophers.'

Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here.

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Horatio G. Spafford - When Peace Like A River.