Simon Spare, director of Thompson Spare, Tunbridge Wells’ newest estate agency tells us about the latest art exhibition they’ll be showcasing this week
“Land’ -�recent work�by Sally Cole.
I�first saw Sally’s work at the Rye Society of Artists’ Summer Exhibition two years ago – a smallish painting in an ante-room, I was still struck by its power and immediacy, a muscular expression of landscape in mixed media.
Last summer, we had occasion to visit her beautiful studio in the rolling Firehills between Hastings and Fairlight. With wine in hand, and green with envy for her working environment, shared with three other artists, we wondered at her sketchbook drawings – definite, positive things, quietly forceful but with a strong sense of enquiry.
Landscape is at the heart of Sally’s recent work. The exhibition includes paintings, drawings and monotypes, made both locally, and from as far afield as Pembrokeshire and New Zealand. Each piece has a real sense of place, drawn from her intimate knowledge of the surrounding topography. Using a subtle palette lit with highlights of bright colour, she builds a dramatic version of the scene in front of her.
She says – “Working in the landscape in all weathers has always been crucial to my understanding and refining of the experience of being an artist.
For me to respond to and record the landscape truthfully requires time and total immersion, observing and listening, whilst being quiet within the land.
My painting thoughts develop through this lengthy contemplation, with numerous return visits to the same locations.
I do not wish to portray a swift representation, but to express the deep feeling I receive from the land.”
This lengthy contemplation, and the depth of her feeling, both ring out loudly and clearly in her art, and we are proud to be showing it in Tunbridge Wells for the first time.
The exhibition will be showing at ThompsonSpare Art, 52 High Street, Tunbridge Wells�from Thursday 7th June (Preview 6-8pm – all welcome)
