Inside Out…

Mari French at Highgate Contemporary Art, London

Mari French at Highgate Contemporary Art, London

This week saw the start of mine and Tassie Russell’s exhibition ‘Inside Out’ at Highgate Contemporary Art, London…

I’m very excited at showing my work in such a fresh, bright, welcoming gallery in the buzzing heart of Highgate, London, and indebted to those friends, clients and relatives who made long journeys down from Manchester, Lincolnshire and elsewhere to attend the private view on Wednesday eve. (a few photos from the evening shown here.)

The blurb on the gallery brochures and adverts reads… ‘the contained architectural exploration of space by Tassie Russell complements the open and expressive landscapes of Mari French’.

…you can read more about the exhibition, which runs until 8th July, at this link… Highgate Contemporary Art

Mari French with Tassie Russell & gallery owner Laurie Maclaren

Mari French with Tassie Russell & gallery owner Laurie Maclaren

Inside Out exhibition at Highgate Contemporary Art, London

Inside Out exhibition at Highgate Contemporary Art, London

Me and my good friend Stephen whose support and hard work made this show possible for me

Me and my good friend Stephen whose support and hard work made this show possible for me

A few of my works at the Inside Out exhibition at Highgate Contemporary Art, London

A few of my works at the Inside Out exhibition at Highgate Contemporary Art, London

found compositions…

a few ‘found’ compositions among the incidental clutter of my small studio…

scraps

leftover scraps from my mixed-media work, stuck on my studio wall…
I add to them on a whim when I think a new piece fits… when I like it too much to throw it away… it may get used again at some point… or I may use the composition itself as inspiration for a future work…

wall detail

wall detail

leaf skeletons interest me… I wedged this one on my wall behind a card… later realising how it echoes the tree on the card…

the photo quality isn’t great on these I’m afraid, but I didn’t want to use flash and the light was pretty low, and they were taken on a sudden whim…

rag landscape

rag landscape

rag landscape 2

rag landscape 2

I love the sometimes accidental beauty of paint rags and palettes… this one had been used for blotting the inky impressions of a recent work…
and seems to suggest abstract field patterns and shadows… even the underlying weave of the cloth subtly adds to the effect…

any other artists want to share their own ‘found compositions’?

shadow and light …

a few recent mixed media works inspired by last year’s studies of light and shadow in medieval churches and undercrofts …

… ready for framing then delivery to Kentmere House Gallery in York.

Undercroft: shadow & light © Mari French 2012

Undercroft: shadow & light © Mari French 2012

Threshold: blue & gold © Mari French 2012

Threshold: blue & gold © Mari French 2012

Undercroft - blue shadows © Mari French 2012

Undercroft - blue shadows © Mari French 2012