NICOLA BENSLEY

Nicola is one of the most gifted portrait photographers working in London. Partly because her portraits embody the soul of her subjects but moreover because of her wonderful mastery of the B&W film medium. In her MAGGI HAMBLING STUDIO PORTRAIT 2017 she encapsulates and mirrors the sheer abandonment and wildness of the dynamic painting style of Maggi Hambling, the portrait literally captures HAMBLING'S personality on film. In the Frank Auerbach portrait you have the compositional liner balance of his powerful hands - a motif that resonates throughout many of his works and this cleverly forms the basis and focus of the image.

WAYNE BINITIE

Every generation throws up a unique artist. One who embodies the 'zeitgeist' but who also possesses the skills and sensibility to allow great work to emerge. Wayne is one of those. He has recently been elevated to the shortlist for the prestigious PRIX PICTET global photographic award. His work is both uniquely modern, beautiful and poetic. It's no surprise to find he is also a classical pianist. You can feel this influence in the movement of his volcanic ash drawings and more evidently in his intricate sound installation work. His collaborative work, which he's undertaking with the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, is both important and wonderful. We are also delighted to present his work in more depth in his solo show in the summer.

CHRISTIAN CHAIZE

With alchemist powers, if you had to mix Frederic Mompou's Silent Music with a large format camera you would not be surprised to find a very modern manifestation in the body of work as beautiful and fascinating as Christian's Praia Piquinia. Both artists, composer and photographer, heavily influenced by impressionist painting and the impact of time. Christian's use of the larger format camera is akin to the discipline of the master pianist-composer. We are delighted to present new work by Christian in his solo show at the gallery opening in May 2019.

EILEEN COOPER RA

As in all of Eileen's work, the subject matter is always arresting, whimsical and saturated with emotional resonance. Look closer and you will be drawn in initially by the beauty of her mark making but then drawn into the drama of her unique and extraordinary work. We have a number of new smaller scale original works on paper and print editions of Eileen's work and we are please to have the opportunity to show more at the end of the year with her two Blackbird Editions colleagues.

TESSA GRUNDON

Tessa's work is extremely delicate both in the materials she uses and in the output of her work. She uses a mix of found materials including pigments drawn from mud, coloured earths, rust and charcoal. Embedded in the materials is a history of the place and time from which these works are made. It's a wonderfully poetic statement of our our time and place and what we are doing to the planet. Her work makes you consider those places, it's unapologetically enviromental in it's focus and resonance and all the more powerful for that.

COLIN JONES

The Sunday Times described Jones as 'The George Orwell of British Photography'. There's no doubt that the humanity in Jones's images is arresting, deeply profound and important. His work is all the more powerful as he has the eye of an artist, the simplicity of his images look 'easy', but they are not. It's no surprise to find he has had more cover images on the Observer Magazine than any other British photographer. The first images we're exhibiting of Colin's work are his Andalucia landscapes and in those you can see just what an acute eye he has. We also show a glimpse of his 'social documentary' in his eloquent image of a coal miner holding lanterns from Nottingham, England. It's an astonishing image with touching respect for the subject - an aspect of his output that elevates and infuses all his documentary work and makes him a truly exceptional artist.

PAM LONGOBARDI

All of us in our day to day life will hear in the background and be familiar with the ongoing issues with pollution but specifically pollution caused by non biodegradable plastic and it's utter devastation on our planet's oceans and rivers. In understanding Pam's work, this aspect has to be at the forefront. It is then surprising and also humbling to see the delicate intricacies of her craftsmanship as a contemporary artist against this backdrop and it's precisely this that makes her work so eloquent, important and profound.

LUIS GONZÁLEZ PALMA

Luis work is steeped in social commentary and deeply complex in meaning, his heavily 'politicised' imagery is made even more powerful and potent by the fact that he executes all his work with the eye and excecution of a grand master painter or watercolorist - an aspect of which more traditional photojournalists or critics have trouble assimilating - but it is precisely this that elevates his work and makes him one of the most important photographers practicing in the modern age.

STEPHEN FOX O'DRISCOLL

Stephen's skills as a painter are both unique and impressive. His training at Goldsmiths and the Royal College of Art spent perfecting his craft are obvious. In his work there is a uniformity of surface brushwork that creates an overall harmony and his use of colour is simply wonderful. It's no surprise then to find that his paintings style harks back to classic painting traditions - whilst remaining utterly modern and uplifting in their subject matter.

GINA PARR

Gina's background in creating illusions in her stage set design for television has a poignant impact on her painting and photography and makes her work all the more poetic. It's such a refreshing combination of disciplines, as all painting is essentially an abstraction - sometimes illusion, sometimes symbollic, sometimes both. In Gina's autobiographical and emotionally driven work on the ocean you get the experience and confidence of the former and in her 'LAST FISH SUPPER' you have the full force of stylised symbolism with a contemporary twist and some humour thrown in.

JOHN LANCASTER

John is a consummate colourist. Into our second year after our introductory group shows, we delighted to present our first one man show by presenting a taste of the work of John Lancaster. We are presenting a juxtaposition of early architectural work with his more recent work. John has an extensive range and gift of painting especially in the use of oil on canvas on larger scale works. His use of colour and form is as wonderful as the subjects he has chosen to study throughout his long and covetable career.

MARI MAHR

Mari's photography embodies a lifetime of stories. Throughout her career she has continued to evolve, challenge and surprise. Her work, whilst being visually dramatic and stylised never looses the personal narrative. Importantly she has undoubtedly been one of the most significant practitioners of the photographic medium and over the past 50 years has been profoundly influential in elevating the practice of photography. With so many solo exhibitions spanning more than 50 years around the world, it is difficult to know where to begin to summarise such a talent. In our launch show we have included a selection of early work and newly published work from her Words, Words, Words series, which we are thrilled to present. And in our current show THE BLUES we have the complete set of eight works from the 'ANOTHER PARAGRAPH ON THE ISLAND' series.

MICK ROONEY RA

Mick's output throughout his career is breathtaking. Quoting Professor Norbert Lynton, 'Rooney is the right painter; he has the knowledge, the skills of the pictorial narrator as well as the urge. He also has something else, equally important; the urge and the ability to make images strong and permanent.... His delight is in what paint can do and how it can deliver, again and again, in so many different ways, what the imagination will conceive. There is humour in his art and a great deal of love.'

ANDREW SQUIRE

Our earlier selection of mono prints do not do justice to the wonderful colourist that Andrew is. Originally trained as an architect his acute sense of space, line and balance are always an influence and prevalent in his work.

In his own words, 'At a personal level, relocating to a studio on the edge of the elemental and diverse Northwest Highlands of Scotland has also brought another powerful reminder of forces much bigger than ourselves. I'm continuing to work with familiar iconic images and with more ambiguous, abstracted pieces drawn from the textures & forms of the Highland landscape, to continue that process of exploration & mapping.