Adam Dix in conversation with Candida Stevens, watch video here
Nici Bungey in conversation with Candida Stevens, watch video here
Saturday 19th June 11-2pm - Meet the Artist, Nici Bungey in gallery /
General reception, drinks will be served, Friday 25th June, 5 - 7.30pm /
Saturday 10th July 11-2pm - Meet the Artist, Adam Dix in gallery
We are proud to present the work of Nici Bungey (b.1967) and Adam Dix (b.1967) in an exhibition of paintings. Both artists, well established in their practice, express in their unique ways their experience of the world around us.
The work of Adam Dix explores the history of transmission, and wrestles with components of contemporary communication. Coupling the contemporary instant-ness of a screen shot, with the slower historic ghostly feel of lithography, Adam Dix’s work is concerned with communication through the ages, the constant effort of humanity to come together, share, inspire, pass on our narratives. Humanity has communicated for millennia through illustrations, rituals, customs, choreography, music, writing, religion and symbolism in an attempt to understand one another. Pilgrimages to sites both known and unexpected are suggested in Dix’s paintings, religious ceremony is referenced. Costume, disguise and the borrowing and interpretation of symbols are prevalent. Timeframes are indistinct, in Dix’s work the present assimilates the residue of the past, we are left contemplating whether a scene is contemporary or historic.
Using proportion as her master and colour as her guide Nici Bungey creates artworks that consist of layers of heat pressed paint. Her work is an ongoing intuitive enquiry, a never-ending series of experiments of infinite variation, inspired by the immediate events in her life. This series of paintings was made during the lockdown year of 2020-21, when Bungey walked in the South Downs National Park every day, observing the changes in mood of the landscape. As the seasons and light change, Bungey’s response to the mood corresponds. In these artworks, alternate juxtapositions of similar or divergent tones elicit disparate emotional responses. While Bungey firmly occupies her own territory of exploration, and is not specifically influenced by particular artists, it is impossible to view this work and separate it from the history of colour field painting. The movement places less emphasis on gesture, brushstrokes and action in favour of an overall consistency of form and process. In colour field painting “colour is freed from objective context and becomes the subject in itself.” Josef Albers (1888-1976) who is influential for his work on colour theory, was an early proponent who observed that colour is relative and changes in relationship to colours around it.
Both artists studied graphics as their first degree, followed by for Bungey a Masters in textile design and for Dix a Masters in fine art, and both have been selected for the Jerwood Drawing Prize amongst other prestigious awards including the John Moores Painting Prize for Bungey and The Future Can Wait and Saatchi New Sensations for Dix. Both build up their paintings with several overlaid layers, for Dix often as many as 20 layers. They share a joy of colour and a command of form. We look forward to sharing their work with you.
