|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| We at Signal Gallery are sticking to our goal of promoting and showing the work of fine artists, whether they come from a traditional ‘fine art’ background or are seen to be part of the Urban/street art scene. In our next exhibition ‘Mortal/Immortal’ we are showing two very well established and mature artists from the different poles of the painting scene – abstract and figurative. Both artists are primarily excited by the application of oil paint onto canvas and both a have demonstrate a particular strength in the use of colour. In Crawfurd Adamson’s the figure occupies centre stage. His works have an enviable ease of execution in capturing the human form with paint. His works seem to be celebrating the joy in achieving gestural simplicity and spontaneity through drawing and painting. The lone figures themselves in the exhibition are literally striped of supplementary props, defined settings and narrative. They are figures in isolation, in a strange, enclosed and self-contained attitude. It is in the use of light that marks out these works beyond their simple structures. A very intense, direct and dramatic use of light is in evidence in all the canvases. The colours used, whilst muted, are rich, and the paint applied with a directness and confidence that allows the marks to breathe. By contrast Barbara Steinberg’s work is the striped of figures and solid shapes. Her works demonstrate the seductive power of rich intense colour. Each of her refined and vibrant paintings creates it’s own world of light and shade. Like Crawfurd Adamson, there is evidently a joy and confidence in her sure-footed ability to combine colours to create such strong atmospheres and moods. These ‘landscapes’ have a heightened mythological air about them that is both autsere and fascinating. Crawfurd Adamson has been showing works in London since the late 1980’s. He was recognized aa part of the very fertile line of high quality Scottish painters of his generation, led by Peter Howson and Ken Currie. He most notably had annual solo shows with the Jill George Gallery and the Scottish gallery. This will be his second show at Signal Gallery Barbara Steinberg has shown in the USA (where she was born and was educated) and extensively in the UK. Originally a sculptor, she studied and worked with Michael Ayrton when she first move to the UK. This will be her third show at Signal Gallery. The combination of the two styles of work in the gallery should be fascinating and illuminating for anyone interested in the art of painting - the restrained worldliness of Adamsons lonely figures juxtaposed with Steinberg’s other-worldly and powerful imaginary worlds. What unites these two artists is the love of and absolute mastery of the art of oil painting. |
 
|