Ashley Amery: Wandering Places

Wandering

Places

exhibition

at

the

Beginning

with

is

Ashley

Rebecca

intricate

Amery’s

Hossack

marks,

as

Art

first

solo

Gallery.

seedlings

or

saplings, Amery’s paintings grow gradually, reflecting the very processes of nature in their creation. Amery uses

gouache

detailed

layers

paint to

and

build

ink

on

paper,

otherworldly

rooted in familiar organic shapes.

creating

abstractions

Waterfall with Pink Flowers, 2020 gouache on 400gsm watercolour paper 130 x 85 cm 51 1/8 x 33 1/2 in

Narrow Waterfall (Glinting), 2020 gouache on 400gsm watercolour paper 130 x 160 cm 51 1/8 x 63 ini

Ephemeral Waterfall, 2020 ink and gouache on 400 gsm watercolour paper 130 x 160 cm 51 1/8 x 63 in

Waterfall Descending into Whirlpools, 2020 gouache paint on 400 gsm watercolour paper 130 x 161 cm 51 1/8 x 63 3/8 in

'I am interested in the way memory informs image making. I draw from a personal stock of impressions to make sense of them through painting. My early years as a child spent in South America and Southern California feed into my use of bold colour, as well as subjects that centre around water and the ocean.'

ASHLEY AMERY

Cherry Blossom/ Sakura, 2020 oill on canvas 85x95 cm 33 1/2 x 37 3/8 in

Deluge, 2020 gouache paint on 400 gsm watercolour paper 130 x 161 cm 51 1/8 x 63 3/8 in

Underwater Plunge, 2020 (left) gouache on 650gsm fabriano watercolour paper 85 x 64 cm 33 1/2 x 25 1/4 in

Kelp Blossom, 2020 (right) gouache on 650gsm fabriano watercolour paper 85 x 64 cm 33 1/2 x 25 1/4 in

Amery draws on inspirations as diverse as botanical illustration, early modernist painting, and the garden outside her studio. Her method also reflects an appreciation of hand-rendered craft derived from the Pre- Colombian traditions of Latin America and Southern California that she was exposed to during a childhood spent in San Diego, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The hand-painted pottery and woven textiles of these cultures inform Amery’s imaginative engagement with colour and pattern.

Wandering Places (Passageways), 2020 gouache on 400 gsm watercolour paper 130 x 160 cm 51 1/8 x 63 in

Ashley Amery is a San Diego born, London based artist.

Her practice draws upon line and pattern making as a means of investigation. Ashley works on paper in fine detail to create beautiful paintings full of botanical and abstract forms.

The process of revisiting a piece many times and allowing it to build organically is essential to her practice. She uses gouache paint, a medium that has been associated with picture making for hundreds of years. Gouache creates a unique

opaque

surface

that

is

perfect

for

weaving

together pattern and form.

Village Gardens, 2019 (detail) ink on 300 gsm fabriano paper 85 x 64 cm 33 1/2 x 25 1/4 in

Guava Jungle, 2020 gouache on 650gsm fabriano watercolour paper 85 x 64 cm 33 1/2 x 25 1/4 in

Surging Waterfalls, 2020 gouache on 650gsm fabriano watercolour paper 85 x 64 cm 33 1/2 x 25 1/4 in

Waterfalls (with Clementines), 2019 gouache on 650gsm fabriano watercolour paper 85 x 64 cm 33 1/2 x 25 1/4 in

Rushing Water, 2020 gouache paint on 400 gsm watercolour paper 130 x 161 cm 51 1/8 x 63 3/8 in

Ephemeral Waterfall, 2020 (details) ink and gouache on 400 gsm watercolour paper 130 x 161 cm 51 1/8 x 63 3/8 in

'Gouache is an opaque watercolour paint that has been used by artists for over a thousand years. I like the way it can be used to build translucent layers, as well as create lines and surfaces that fully cover the paint beneath.

It is also a medium that you can work back into and re-wet, which allows you to pick up on colours that have already dried. The flexibility and graphic quality allows for a wide range of ways to work.'

ASHLEY AMERY

Narrow Waterfall (Glinting), 2020 (details) gouache paint on 400 gsm watercolour paper 130 x 161 cm 51 1/8 x 63 3/8 in

Deluge, 2020 (details) gouache paint on 400 gsm watercolour paper 130 x 161 cm 51 1/8 x 63 3/8 in

'Gouache is traditionally used for fine details and smaller scale paintings, as well as commercial illustration and design work, but I like using it to create larger scale paintings, which allow me to push the medium beyond its expected use. In this way, detail becomes the subject of the work, even to the point of overwhelm.'

- ASHLEY AMERY

Surging Waterfalls, 2020 (detail) gouache on 650gsm fabriano watercolour paper 85 x 64 cm 33 1/2 x 25 1/4 in

ASHLEY AMERY, 2020 'Having spent my earliest years in sun-drenched Latin America, then my childhood in San Diego, in a home only a short walk from beaches and cliffs, I had space to explore a natural world of tide pools, changing currents, and ocean swells.

I have spent a great deal of time in and around the ocean, which has given me an understanding of this landscape from within. The coastal environment and the experience of it's rhythms often come through in my paintings.

At the same time, the many brightly woven textiles and patterned pottery, especially from Mexico and Guatemala, that were a part of the home where I grew up, gave me a particular love of craftsmanship, especially the kind that found it's way into the home through everyday objects and decorations.'

2a Conway Street Fitzroy Square London W1T 6BA info@rebeccahossack.com www.rebeccahossack.com