British Art Fair

We look forward to presenting the work of five women artists in their 50s, 60s and 70s.

Pippa Blake, b. 1954

Blake studied Fine Art at Camberwell College of Art (1972 - 1976) gaining BA Honours (First Class). In 2005 she graduated from the Visual Arts Programme, West Dean College with a Postgraduate Diploma (Distinction). Blake has travelled the world extensively. She serves as a founding Trustee for BLAKE, an organisation in New Zealand inspiring environmental leadership.

We show a preview of new work made for her solo show, Undercurrents, due to show at Cromwell Place in October (18-23rd) and some powerful earlier pieces inspired by travel. 

Alice Kettle, b.1961

Kettle is internationally renowned for being a pioneer of her art form, with an application and process that makes her a unique creator and maker of art. Her work is regarded as boundary breaking and contemporary in its process, yet it also evokes a deep sense of the fundamental with its themes. Kettle depicts contemporary events and the experience of being in the world in her stitched tales. She draws references from the history of figurative textiles and monumental narrative tapestry.

We will be showing Star Flowers, the last piece in the series Within Each Other Portraits of Ourselves inspired by Thread Bearing Witness, an epic project working with refugees from Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

Kerry Harding, b.1972

Harding holds a BA in Fine Art from Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University (1991-94) and an MA in painting from Falmouth (2000-03).

This series of paintings combines influences from art history including the Romanticism of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) and the photorealism of Gerhard Richter b.1932. The canvases are repeatedly reworked, sometimes over several years, and bear the scars of being layered with paint, stripped and scraped numerous times. Centuries of erosion and deposition that have formed, and continue to shape, the coastline are mirrored in this physical working and reworking of the surface.

Olivia Stanton, b.1949

Stanton (b.1949) trained at Byam School of Art (now part of Central Saint Martins), London from 1973-77 under the tutelage of Wynn Jones and Bill Jacklin. Her work uses rich colour to fuse moments of bold geometry with hints of natural form, creating sophisticated and visually stunning paintings. Her paintings are always a response to contemporary events, with titles like Track & Trace and Rollout. 

Olivia’s work is strongly rooted in the history of British landscape painting. Influences include Ivon Hitchens, Paul Nash, R B Kitaj, Gillian Ayres and further back to Gaugin, all for their bold use of colour. 

Irene Lees, b.1943

Irene Lees’ ever-questioning mind, her curiosity for human psychology, social history and injustice, is the driving force behind her work. Critically engaged in contemporary society, art history and literature, her work often reflects on the ways the past resonates with current issues, and how we can use our understanding of the past as a lens through which to view the present. She directs her considerable mastery with a pen to achieve an almost digital like rendering, using either a continuous line or weaving together researched text to form her ‘artwork essays’. 

Irene Lees’ work is meticulous in skill, research and application. Her drawings are, in her own words, ‘artwork essays’. Her considerable mastery with a pen achieves an almost digital-like rendering. Yet, get close to a work by Lees and you will see that each line is hand drawn in rhythmic loops or layers of repetitive text. Contained in these tightly conceived and intricately constructed works, is a strongly felt human emotion and spirit that filters through. 

Featured for this exhibition are her exquisite burkas and bodices from her series, “The History of body packaging”. This collection looks at the common myths and misunderstanding behind this notorious garment and its changing significance over the centuries. Irene carefully selects and weaves together texts on the history of underwear and questions why constricting items such as chastity belts and basques appear as erotic to today’s liberated woman. Anonymity and Visual invisibility are two pieces made after Lees attended a rally protesting against the Iraq war in London. Finding herself looking into the eyes of a lady in a full burqa it was the connection felt in the eye contact that inspired these drawings, where the eyes are empty.