LAST CHANCE TO SEE SUTTON GALLERY'S 'WINTER SHOW'

REVIEWED BY RHYS FULLERTON 

The Sutton Gallery’s Winter Show features a wide variety of styles by over a dozen artists. Despite its name, the exhibition includes some very colourful and eye-catching works that would brighten up the dreariest of days.

Here is a selection of some of my favourites.

‘Flora I’ and ‘Flora II’ (right) by Julia Krone Oliver are vivid treats. Full of colour and vigour, these still-lives are the perfect antidote to the winter blues. 

Imogen Alabaster’s mixed-media works definitely have the most alluring titles: ‘We Have The Best That You Can Find, In a Looking Glass World’ and ‘More Than Enough for Me to Share’ (below). ‘Home Is When I Am Alone with You’ depicts a seagull emerging from a paint-spattered cloud as it glides to freedom, possibly to be with the companion mentioned in the title. You can see it at the foot of this page.

Julia McNairn White’s pastel on paper ‘Beetham Tower’ rises like a futuristic spaceship. It seems to darken the sky around it as if polluting the air, and you can imagine it growing and growing. It very much reminded me of the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The actual Beetham Tower is a 47-storey mixed-use skyscraper in Manchester, designed by Ian Simpson. I’ve seen it in the flesh and have even set foot in it, but I’ll never look at it in the same way again. 

‘Eluding a Portrait’, by Roar Kjærnstad, gives the impression that the artist decided to change style halfway through the painting. It’s as if he decided to go abstract at the last moment. Several other discarded or failed portraits lie on the ground nearby. The question is: Who was eluding the portrait, the artist or the subject? I’m still undecided.

Valerie Hamilton’s ‘Waiting for Paint to Dry’ gives us a rare glimpse into the studio. Is this really what it’s like when an artist has finished a painting?

‘Catching the Wind’ by Cat Outram is for me a standout piece in this exhibition (see below). A colourless etching of the city is brought to life by a beautiful blue sky and fluffy white clouds above it. The way the sky contrasts with the monochrome scene below is charming. Outram’s ‘Arthur’s Seat’ is another highlight.

Finally, if you didn’t get a chance to see Peter Standen’s excellent retrospective last month, there are still a small number of works on display which are definitely worth a look.

The Sutton Gallery’s Winter Show continues at 18A Dundas Street until 23 December 2014.