New Recruits - Annual Exhibition 

Guy Portelli - Mark Rothko's Palette

3 Award-Winning Painters, 1 Highly Accomplished Sculptor

Saffron Gallery’s first exhibition of 2012 is an annual showcase of some of its new artists for the year ahead. This year the line up is better than ever and includes three talented, award-winning painters and one exceptionally accomplished and rather famous sculptor.

Claire Wiltsher is an award winning painter whose work was recently acquired by the House of Lords to be exhibited as part of their permanent collection. Claire’s MA is in fine art, with a BA (Hons) in fine art painting. Her oil and mixed media landscapes combine layers of paint with fragments of collage. She scratches through sections of the painting to allow colours from underneath to emerge. “I want to create evocative paintings of land and sea that show a sense of place - different weather conditions are key elements”. Claire uses brushes and different sized palette knives to build up layers and create depth. Paint is also flicked or carefully thrown on selected areas, evidence of which can be found all over her studio floor!

Another award-winning artist, Susan Evans, regularly shows throughout the UK, Europe and the US and has enjoyed solo shows in London, Bath and Brighton. Susan is collected privately and publicly, by institutions including Exeter College, Oxford and the Peterborough Museum. She creates powerful skyscapes on canvas, constantly blending to give a soft, blurry effect. She often works quickly, sometimes using cloths to make the paint as thin as possible. She then builds up a canvas with slightly thicker paint, sometimes using a small amount of palette knife work. Fascinated by horizons and the mystery of distance, skies and cloud patterns have been her main inspiration while influences include Constable, Rothko and Turner.

Acclaimed Scottish artist Colin Brown enjoys a strong international career with regular exhibitions throughout the UK, Europe and America. His paintings have received a number of awards, most notably a major artist's grant from The Pollock-Krasner Foundation of New York in 1996. In his current work Brown pulls together random elements and fragments into closely controlled compositions. The paintings run a fine line between impulse and calculation, continuously shift context and meaning rather than attempting to realise a predetermined concept. He follows a specific process which allows the painting to emerge through its implementation.

Last, but notably, award-winning sculptor Guy Portelli VPRBA FRBS joins Saffron’s ranks bringing with him a selection of his famous Pop Icons series of sculptures. Guy, Vice President of the Royal Society of British Artists, shot to fame when his pitch on Dragons Den so impressed the dragons that three of them invested in his Pop Icons collection and launched his major solo exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London. Major commissioned sculptures are exhibited at The Commonwealth Institute in Kensington, at Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, and Spitalfields in London, The Trafford Centre in Manchester and private commissions include his ‘Peace & Love’ sculpture for Ringo Starr. Guy is currently working with Jeff Beck to create a new addition to the Pop Icon series.

The exhibition runs from this Saturday 4th February to Saturday 25th February at Saffron Gallery, Saffron House, 59-60 High Street, Battle, TN33 0EN. Further information can be found on www.SaffronGallery.co.uk and www.facebook.com/SaffronGallery or by phoning 01424 772 130.

Gallery opening times are 10.00am – 5.00pm Monday to Saturday.

http://www.SaffronGallery.co.uk