Artwork of the Month: October
October's Artwork of the Month has been chosen by Nicky Knowles RWA. She has picked 'The Little Mirror' by Anne Redpath RWA from the RWA Permanent Collection. Nicky writes:
'I discovered Redpath’s work last year when a couple of her paintings were included in the Women with Vision exhibition at the RWA. Her painting Gloxinia stopped me in my tracks. From a distance it is an abstract painting of spontaneous mark making but as you move in closer it reveals a simple still life with flowers.
The Little Mirror has the same freshness, as if the artist has just walked away from her canvas. Once again the painting has a loose spontaneity but here there is a clearer still life with a gathering of intimate objects upon a circular table. A little oval mirror takes centre stage and is flanked by a candle stick, vase of flowers and figurines. Further, loosely painted objects add to the decorative quality and show Redpath was clearly influenced by the works of Bonnard and Matisse.
Redpath’s paintings are timeless, drawing on traditional subject matters of still life, domestic interiors and religious shrines. Her father was a tweed designer in the Scottish Borders and she saw a connection between his use of colour and her own. "I do with a spot of red or yellow in a harmony of grey, what my father did in his tweed."
Mixing directly onto the canvas Redpath’s surfaces are confident and rich in mark making, texture and pattern and presents both a sheer joy of painting and a delight in the everyday things around her.'
Anne Redpath's work will be on display in the Link Space on the Lower Ground Floor throughout October.