New Visions

NEW VISIONS

Contemporary Painting in Cornwall

This exhibition showcases the work of artists who use paint to present realities and

perceptions in new and developed ways.

These works do not conform to traditional ideas of painting in Cornwall, which are rooted in

the histories of Newlyn, the modernism of St. Ives, and illusory romanticism.

In the 21st century, what is the role of the artist who uses paint and pigment? What is the

continuing significance of painting in an apparently restless and uncertain world?

Modernism cast it's utopian wisdom worldwide, but has become the haunting ghost of

regularity and formula. In the wake of conceptual art and the postmodernist death and

rebirth of painting, terms such as 'abstract', 'figurative' and 'landscape' have become

irrelevant categories. These works draw from the multiple visual languages of painterly

possibility and show the diversity and engagement that artists have with modern life. They

acknowledge the histories of art and the influences of media, and invoke a subtle

subversion.

The use of pigment is a millennia old method of communication and play. These artists use

the essential qualities of drawing and mark-making with materials to ascertain that there is

more to be drawn out and unleashed through the hand than has already been shown.

Using observation, interpretation, symbolism or sense the artists show painting as a mode

of questioning and analysis, healing, hope and humour.

The works explore alternative visions and deeply-grounded realities. They illustrate the

ways we connect to place, consciousness, ourselves or each other. The potential

algorithms of image and form within restless complex states, are revealed and defined

through the hands and bodies of the makers.