The gallery celebrates the intoxicating spirit of India with a three -week exhibition which showcases new work from contemporary artists who interpret the spirit of India in their own style.
Exhibition dates
Saturday 8th October – Sunday 29October 2016
Private views: Saturday 8th October 3 – 7 pm and Sunday 9th October 11 am – 1 pm
Exhibiting artists: Penelope Anstice, Tobit Roche, Paul Treasure, Victoria Threlfall
Penelope Anstice’s latest body of work was created from two separate trips to India: one to Kerala and Calcutta; and more recently to Jodhpur in Rajasthan. Since her first visit to Jodhpur in 1990 she had always wanted to return to the city which, for her, “encompasses everything India has to offer for an artist.” She is inspired by the ‘Blue’ city’s fascinating architecture, its ancient walls, the towering Mehrangarh Fort, and the vibrant markets teeming with life. “I like to sit amongst it all and paint the permanently shifting scene,” she says, “to try and capture an impression very quickly.”
Tobit Roche has “been under the spell of India” since his teenage years which were spent in New Delhi and he maintains that India is still his spiritual home. Roche grew up amongst artists; his father (who was born in India) was the poet and novelist Paul Roche, who modelled for the Bloomsbury artist Duncan Grant. His landscapes are imbued with the particular haze and atmosphere of the Indian subcontinent. These paintings are “about longing and nostalgia,” says Roche. “I show a view of India which is intensely personal and is based on my emotional reaction to this country. When I am there, I get very moved by the spirit of the landscape, which is t
Paul Treasure travelled to Goa from Kerala for this exhibition thathe says is his “response to the experience of that place.” The paintings express his feelings of joy. For Paul, “India is a magical place that helps to focus the mind on accepting what it means to be a human being today. It leaves me feeling inspired, elated . . . I try to explore these emotions further in my paintings and experiment with many different mediums and materials.”
Victoria Threlfall struck outfrom Rajasthan into Madhya Pradesh away from the popular Indian tourist destinations . Here she visited Hindu pilgrimage sites along the Narmada river and the ancient city of Mandu.
“Leaving bitterly cold and wan London in February and arriving in Indiais an almost overwhelmingexperience. The heat, noise, smells and filth both beguile and repel but the colour is always enthralling with seeminglyimpossible juxtapositionsof hue and tone somehow managing to look harmonious.”