WOAW Gallery is pleased to present Contemporary Curated: Landscape curated by gallerist and curator Taymour Grahne, highlighting ten contemporary artists based between the UK and USA. Sixteen landscape paintings were created to illustrate each artist’s personal interpretation of nature, ranging from mythology, historical references, social issues, to human consciousness.
This group exhibition will be showcasing works by Tessa Perutz (b.1988) who portrays nature through abstract minimalistic shapes in a soft colour palette, allowing audience to experience the feeling of lightness within a scene of nature. Hilary Doyle (b.1985) depicts a time when all genders were equal in society. Her painting carries connotation of a world in prehistoric period, under the influence of ancient and Neolithic periods. Nadia Ayari (b.1981) and Asif Tanvir Hoque (b.1991) are both inspired by mythology and yet have created rather different subject matters. Hoque incorporate elements from Italian art history into his figurative paintings, giving the character a traditional heroic quality within the painting. On the other hand, Ayari’s distinctive paintings focus on simple products by nature which can be easily overlooked, yet these objects become the protagonists of her paintings, being magnified in size through powerful combination of strong colour palette and bold outlines; a simple flower can now be seen in a different light and gain a sense of significance in its existence.
Matthew F Fisher (b.1976) visualizes the infinity of time and space, portraying scenes of nature that are suspended in time, exploring the cosmos from a deep personal perspective. Eliot Greenwald (b.1983) challenges the audience’s perception by combining elements from all sides of universe, connecting outer space and earth’s nature in ways that skew the traditional concept of landscape. Stipan Tadic (b.1986) explores the relationship between various dimensions within his paintings. Meanwhile futuristic and conceptual, the techniques used to paint the subject matter remains to be traditional with hints of surrealism. Shaun Ellison (b.1984) portrays personally memorable moments of his life into his paintings. Ellison’s figurative painting captures a live moment in time where the sun is setting as groups of people are at the beach, gazing into the sea and sky, this captured moment stands still for audience to experience the once shared sunset hour. Minyoung Kim (b.1989) and Evie O'Connor (b.1993) both depict food as their subject matter, the main resource humans obtain from nature. Kim is fascinated by human emotions and consciousness, therefore her painting often store elements of comical irony and evokes a sense of laughter from the audience, allowing them to react and interact with the subject matter. O’Connor on the other hand, retrieve image archives from social media platforms and paints the subject matter in an ordinary and realistic setting. The rawness in her subject matter awake audiences and disconnect them from the polished subjects they had gotten used to viewing on mass media platforms.