New exhibition at Junction Art Gallery this month

Local artist Paul Kessling and upcoming artist Sarah Wiberley come to Junction Art Gallery.

Junction Art Gallery was established with a clear aim of bringing a diverse range of artists to Woodstock, Oxfordshire, in a creative new art space. As part of this Kate Hipkiss, the director of the gallery, is focused on engaging the viewer through different exhibitions where the core themes of each artist compliment each other.

The latest joint exhibition in June is an excellent example of artistic function. It features the work of painter Paul Kessling and glass artist Sarah Wiberley. Inspired by the use of understated, subtle imagery, the exhibition explores the use of colour, structure and spontaneity through both artists’ approach to their chosen medium.

Working with common themes of light and translucency, a comprehensive knowledge of their craft is central to each artist’s work, allowing them to bring form and structure to complex, unpredictable materials.

For Kessling, the use of colour is a way of communicating atmosphere, mood and weather. Much of his painting is done on the Ridgeway near his home, recording the changing seasons using fluid washes of colour that hint at the forms of the landscape. Often working with just a suggestion of form, he works wet on wet, allowing the seeping inks and watercolours to create the landscape. His paintings are brief moments in time, often completed in minutes, but requiring a depth of knowledge and experience to create.

Kessling’s compelling use of colour is echoed in Sarah Wiberley’s hand-blown Cameo glass vessels that use subtle imagery and vibrant colour to modernise a complex glass blowing technique. Exploring the idea of ornament in her work, she is inspired by the decoration used in 19^th century art, through which she questions the significance of purely decorative vessels. Her work is small scale and controlled, but by meticulously cutting away a pattern and working with layers of glass, her designs are stretched and distorted in a way she cannot wholly control.

This is a fascinating exhibition, highlighting two artist’s manipulation of two very different media in order to contain, and give form to, their work.

For more details visit http://www.junctionartgallery.co.uk