Elements of Love

Tuesday 7 - Saturday 11 February

Twenty-four artists from SW London are delighted to be exhibiting paintings, drawings, prints, textiles, glass, sculpture, ceramics and mosaic in the Menier Gallery, the week before Valentine's Day.

Love is at the heart of the human existence. A tender source of joy and happiness, love can declare itself in romantic gestures or simple acts of kindness. Love can stir passion and strong emotion, cause sadness and longing, leave us broken and betrayed, hurting and alone. Love can also heal. Artsts' diverse interpretations of this mysterious theme are revealed here.

The artists are some of the members from three art groups based in Kingston, Merton and the surrounding areas: Hawks Road Artists based at ASC Studios Kingston, KAOS (Kingston Artists Open Studios) and Merton Arts Festival.

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Pierce Pettis - That Kind Of Love.

Art events update

Tonight the Private View for the 82nd Annual Exhibition of The National Society of Painters, Sculptors & Printmakers was held. The exhibition is at the Menier Gallery until Saturday 11 July. The National Society is a charity with 80 artists showing a wide variety of art, from modern to classical styles in three disciplines. The aim of the society is give emerging artists a platform to exhibit in a major London gallery. The exhibition includes work by commission4mission artists, Elizabeth Duncan-Meyer and Peter Webb.

Yesterday, at St Martin-in-the-Fields, a reception was held to celebrate the loan of the painting Parameter by Mark Francis as part of the St Martin-in-the-Fields Art Programme curated by Modus Operandi and overseen by the St Martin-in-the-Fields Arts Advisory Panel.

Mark Francis says of this work: “Parameter is one of a series of paintings created between 2011 and 2014. The main concern of this series revolves around the use of the grid in relation to different types of networks. Earlier paintings focused on more organic and fluid forms with more chaotic connections. The grid has been an important form throughout my painting practice as it presents a structure within which more ‘random’ incidents can occur. Amongst other influences, the internet, cartography, circuit boards and transport systems provide a stimulus to make the paintings.”

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M. Ward - Psalm.

The Heart of Things

The Heart of Things is an exhibition of paintings and sculpture by Paul Hobbs and Sarah Kelly-Paine at the Menier Gallery from Tuesday 15 - Saturday 28 October, Mon - Sat 11 - 6, Fri 11 - 8, closed Sun.

Sarah Kelly-Paine's oil paintings use earthy colours and patterns drawn from nature and reflect her exploration of the organic nature of a creator God. She writes that the aspects of painting that always thrill her are colour, pattern and story. She finds deep satisfaction in a repeated pattern and feeds her imagination from trees, plants and earth. Her work, with its dots, dashes, flowing lines and circles, has synergies with the work of aboriginal artists.

Paul Hobbs’ conceptual work explores contemporary issues in the light of biblical values. His new installation ”Ten Words” comprises two sets of 165 wooden blocks giving telling glimpses of contemporary stories in relation to some time-worn words. Fragmentation characterises his works; small pieces separated but, like puzzles, which can be built to form a whole.

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Tom Jones - Charlie Darwin.   

The Heart Of Things

The Heart Of Things is an upcoming exhibition of painting and sculpture by Paul Hobbs and Sarah Kelly-Paine at the Menier Gallery (51 Southwark Street, London SE1 1RU) from Tuesday 16th to Saturday 27th October, Monday to Saturday 11.00am to 6.00pm (closed Sunday, late night opening on Fridays till 8pm).

Paul Hobbs "makes both celebratory abstract paintings, and painting and sculpture that consider contemporary social issues in the light of biblical values.

Punctuated with both humour and pathos, Paul Hobbs' work engages a wide range of materials to wrestle with questions of human value, dignity and faith. Familiar images are collaged together to make disturbing and yet frequently amusing juxtapositions. Some literally become visual puzzles. Hidden in the layers of paint, collage and assorted objects, metaphors and associations abound, laying out stories with multiple meanings.

Drawing on topical news and social debate, Paul's background in Sociology and his Christian faith, this work tries to come to terms with a world of great opportunity and yet great suffering, a place where even one’s best intentions can become distorted, or diluted by more pressing local activity."

Sarah Kelly-Paine writes: "My paintings celebrate the land that God has given to us. Earth is different everywhere, we are different everywhere. When we know who we are and where our land is we can oversee it and use it and delight in its uniqueness. We can have confidence in what we have and who we are because God made us and chose us. We can celebrate other people and other places and recognize our interdependence and our individuality. Sometimes there is a long hard journey to go on to find yourself and your land. Pain and suffering are part of life.

At certain times particular biblical stories capture my imagination and drawing on my illustrative roots I enjoy pursuing a story through images. The Bible is to me an intimate book and speaks to my spirit woman. It is also a practical, universal handbook and guides lifestyle choices. My beloved God is tender and endlessly creative, bigger than all my struggles and life’s senselessness. In my painting I seek to discover Him more and share what I know of Him with the onlooker."

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Julie Miller and Emmylou Harris: Forever My Beloved.