True to Form Exhibition Brochure

True to Form

15 November - 5 December 2014

Julia Cooper - Ben Lowe - Diana Matthews FRSA - Jane Wheeler

Contents

Julia Cooper ..........................................

4-9

Ben Lowe

10 - 13

..........................................

Diana Matthews FRSA

.....................

Jane Wheeler ..........................................

3 - 4 Bartlett Street Bath BA1 2QZ Opening hours: Monday to Saturday 10am - 6pm Wednesday 2pm - 6pm Closed on Sunday www.davidsimoncontemporary.com gallery@davidsimoncontemporary.com 01225 460189

14 - 20 22 - 26

True to Form

15 November - 5 December 2014

This exhibition features three painters, Julia Cooper, Ben Lowe & Diana Matthews FRSA, who enjoy exploring the finest line between the figurative and the abstract, pulling forms out of abstraction. The exhibition is accompanied by a selection of stoneware ceramics by Jane Wheeler.

Bitter Lemon oil on canvas 61 x 71cm ÂŁ1,250

Julia Cooper Julia Cooper is based on the south coast of Cornwall, her studio overlooking a busy harbour. This latest series of paintings concentrates on kitchen stilllifes painted in oil. Surfaces are washed with colour then scored, scraped back or obliterated to create an interesting narrative which allows her to explore colour and rhythm. Whether abstract or figurative the image is discovered through this process.

Julia Cooper trained in Fine Art as well as Interior Design and has exhibited her work widely in the United Kingdom. She has recently been working on a large project with the National Trust in creating paintings for their holiday cottage refurbishments.

5

Coriander oil on canvas 78 x 98cm £1,950

Bollinger oil on board 38 x 48cm £750

6

Manzanilla oil on board 22 x 28cm £475

Picholine oil on board 22 x 28cm £475

Aperitif oil on board 22 x 28cm £475

Fragata oil on board 22 x 28cm £475

7

Hazelnut oil on board 22 x 28cm £475

8

Vanilla oil on board 22 x 28cm £475

Sage oil on board 22 x 28cm £475

Cinnamon oil on board 38 x 49cm £750

Walnut oil on board 22 x 28cm £475

9

Ben Lowe Ben Lowe’s work uses layers of abstract forms to capture atmosphere and emotion through landscape painting. One of six finalists in BBC2’s ‘School of Saatchi’ – a significant achievement considering that he his largely self-taught, but yet he has developed a unique and powerful style.

Wilkkommen oil on board 68 x 62cm £1,250

10

Count Them In oil on canvas 100 x 100cm ÂŁ3,250

11

Landscape I oil on panel 80 x 95cm ÂŁ2,500

12

Landscape II oil on panel 70 x 100cm ÂŁ2,700

13

Diana Matthews FRSA Diana Matthews trained at Bath Academy of Art under William Scott, Antony Fry, Gillian Ayres and Peter Lanyon. She then went on to teach fine art at various institutions and now paints full-time and exhibits her work regularly in London.

Jug and Compote oil on board 25 x 35cm ÂŁ1,000

14

Brown Bottle oil on canvas 45 x 55cm ÂŁ1,200

15

Transient Still Life IV oil on board 45 x 55cm ÂŁ1,200

16

Transient Still Life III oil on board 45 x 55cm ÂŁ1,000

17

Symmetry In Space VI oil on board with ink 44 x 50cm £1,200

Symmetry In Space VII oil on board with ink 29 x 25cm £1,000

18

Jug and Plate oil on board 34 x 45cm £1,000

Jug and Dishes oil on canvas 39 x 28cm £1,200

19

Intermezzo oil on board 24 x 38cm ÂŁ1,000

20

21

Jane Wheeler Jane Wheeler was born and raised in Norfolk and stucied ceramics at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham. She returned to ceramics in 2003.

For Jane, the vessel is a space-containing hollow form that offers the richest language for working in clay. Its conceptual simplicity allows readings which allude to our most distant cultural pasts, and to the state of being human. Its limitations are those for which the potter’s tools and equipment are designed; it is a familiar scenario within which to work. Thus, it becomes necessary for Jane Wheeler to make working and the work uncomfortable in some way, to push the boundaries in order to attempt discovery of new or hidden qualities of this profoundly significant, yet ordinary object.

Jane’s vessels are made of stoneware clay bodies with added coarse grog, sand, quartz and feldspar granules. reduction fired to 1260-1300 º C with gas. Layers of oxide, slip, and chun glaze producing the textured surface which both reflects and absorbs light and refracts it where the chun gathers into thick runs full of miniscule bubbles.

22

Spring Rain Bottle ceramic 30 x 23cm ÂŁ420

23

Spring Rain Bottle with Clematis Stems ceramic 48 x 21cm ÂŁ850 Spring Rain Bottle ceramic 26 x 19cm ÂŁ360

24

Large Black Ice Flagon ceramic 53 x 38cm ÂŁ1,250

25

Spring Rain Oak Leaf Bottle ceramic 20 x 16cm £190 Spring Rain Bottle, Oak Stem & Acorns ceramic 16 x 12cm £160

26

27

Diana Matthews FRSA, Jug and Compote, 25 x 35cm ÂŁ1,000

3 - 4 Bartlett Street Bath BA1 2QZ 01225 460189 www.davidsimoncontemporary.com gallery@davidsimoncontemporary.com