Home / Products tagged “clourful”

clourful

No products were found matching your selection.
  • Home
  • Exhibitions
  • About
  • England is a Forest
  • Workshops
  • Contact
  • SHOP

Join our Newsletter

Success!

Subscribe

Instagram

smallworksartgallery

‘SEASONS’ at Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge
11 Oct 2025 - 31 Jan 2026
@cuhartsnhs
❄️🌷☀️🍁
Artist-led Curation & Workshops
London

We continue our journey through the SEASONS at our We continue our journey through the SEASONS at our current exhibition at Addenbrooke’s Gallery in Cambridge. Over the next couple of months we will be sharing with you all the works included in the show. 
🍁

Susan Abbs 
Emerging Light 
Oil on copper 
£650

Part of the artists’ ‘Skygazing’ series, this work captures the soft, shifting glow of Cambridge’s skies and the familiar silhouette of Addenbrooke’s chimney. A cool autumnal atmosphere is evoked, inviting quiet reflection on place and light. Artist Susan Abbs is inspired by the sheer expanse of Cambridgeshire skies and explores the elusiveness of light.
.

SEASONS is a group exhibition curated by @smallworksartgallery inspired by the feelings, gestures and emotions that the four cycles of the year evoke.

It is a privilege to know a place through the passage of time, and this exhibition looks to nature for a sense of connection and grounding.

All the artworks in this exhibition are available for sale. 25% of the proceeds go to @cuhartsnhs to support the ongoing arts programme in the hospital. For more information and full list of works, please see link in profile.

#seasons #contemporaryart #artinhospitals #smallworks #cuharts
‘Seasons’ exhibition is now open. Over the nex ‘Seasons’ exhibition is now open. Over the next couple of months we are going to share with you all the works included in the show. 
🍁
Rikki Morgan-Tamosunas 
‘Golden Hour’
Acrylic and charcoal on paper 
2025 
£250

This work depicts autumnal evening glow over fenland fields. When crops fade they nourish the dark, peat-rich soil, signalling nature’s cycle of renewal. 

Artist Rikki Morgan-Tamosunas seeks to explore time and place in her artworks. She wishes to communicate something of the mood and feel of a moment in her work, and the often dramatic and enigmatic qualities places embody.
.
SEASONS is a group exhibition curated by @smallworksartgallery inspired by the feelings, gestures and emotions that the four cycles of the year evoke.

It is a privilege to know a place through the passage of time, and this exhibition looks to nature for a sense of connection and grounding.

All the artworks in this exhibition are available for sale. 25% of the proceeds go to @CUHArtsnhs to support the ongoing arts programme in the hospital. For more information and full list of works, please see link in profile.

#seasons #contemporaryart #artinhospitals #smallworks #cuharts
Julie Caves, Humdinger, 2025, oil on panel, 15x15c Julie Caves, Humdinger, 2025, oil on panel, 15x15cm

We are very happy to include Julie Caves’s work not only in the ‘Seasons” exhibition, but in our store as well. 

Discover her beautiful work on our website (link in bio)

.

Julie Caves is a Margate-based artist who has an MA from Camberwell College of Art, studied sculpture on an Erasmus term in Valencia, Spain, completed the 2-year Turps Studio Painting Programme alternative MA in 2019 and has a certificate in Independent Curating from Central St Martins. She regularly exhibits throughout the UK and has an upcoming solo show in The Cupboard at Liminal Gallery in 2026.

Julie is interested in looking at light and colour in the things we live with and the spaces we live in. She sometimes approaches the subject directly and paints roomscapes and objects from observation; at other times she focuses on the colour relationships and light separated from the subject, letting the painting develop intuitively, and those works are usually read as abstract paintings. She likes switching back and forth between these two ways of working.

#contemporaryart #contemporarypainting #abstractpainting #artcollection #collectart #juliecaves
We are delighted to share this beautiful poem with We are delighted to share this beautiful poem with you from the ‘SEASONS’ exhibition. 
🍁
‘Leaves Falling Autumn Calling’
by Peter Devonald

Peter Devonald is a multi-award-winning poet/ screenwriter, published in hundreds of journals including Broken Sleep, six Broken Spine anthologies, Abridged, Alchemy Spoon, Door Is A Jar, Dreich and London Grip. Winner Broken Spine Readers’ Choice Award 2025, Loft Books Best Poem 2025, Waltham Forest 2022, Heart Of Heatons 2023 & 2021, joint winner FofHCS, runner-up Shelley Memorial and N2tS 2024. Finalist Tickled Pink ekphrastic, commended Bermondsey and Beyond 2025, Hippocrates and Passionfruit Review, Saveas & Allingham 2023. Poet in Residence Haus-a-Rest. Nominated Forward Prize, two BestOfTheNet. 50+ film awards, former senior judge/ mentor Peter Ustinov Awards (iemmys) and Children’s Bafta nominated.
.
SEASONS is a group exhibition curated by @smallworksartgallery inspired by the feelings, gestures and emotions that the four cycles of the year evoke.

It is a privilege to know a place through the passage of time, and this exhibition looks to nature for a sense of connection and grounding.
‘Seasons’ exhibition is now open. Over the nex ‘Seasons’ exhibition is now open. Over the next couple of months we are going to share with you all the works included in the show. 
🍁
Laura James 
‘Season #4: Autumn’
Ink, watercolour and pencil on paper 
21 x 29cm (approx), 17in (h) x 14.5 (w) framed.
2024-25 
£225 

Part of a series reflecting the cyclical nature of the year, each painting captures the unique energy and atmosphere of a season. The works invite viewers to connect with nature’s rhythms and find moments of reflection and comfort. Artist Laura James works intuitively to create expressive and emotive artworks which explore the connection between the inner self and the outer world.
.
SEASONS is a group exhibition curated by @smallworksartgallery inspired by the feelings, gestures and emotions that the four cycles of the year evoke.

It is a privilege to know a place through the passage of time, and this exhibition looks to nature for a sense of connection and grounding.

All the artworks in this exhibition are available for sale. 25% of the proceeds go to @CUHArtsnhs to support the ongoing arts programme in the hospital. For more information and full list of works, please see link in profile.

#seasons #contemporaryart #artinhospitals #smallworks #cuharts
As we continue our journey through Autumn- we must As we continue our journey through Autumn- we must stop and admire the dappled sunlight through this old school gate.
🍁

Julie Caves
Old School Gate 
Oil on canvas 
2024
£290 

Described by the artist as ‘an outdoor still life’, this piece depicts an overgrown gate illuminated by autumn sunlight. The gate is in Margate, at a closed school for D/deaf children. Julie Caves is a painter fascinated by light and colour, often depicting interiors, still life, and sunlit scenes from daily life. She also explores abstraction by separating out the light and colour from objects. 
.
SEASONS is a group exhibition curated by @smallworksartgallery inspired by the feelings, gestures and emotions that the four cycles of the year evoke.

It is a privilege to know a place through the passage of time, and this exhibition looks to nature for a sense of connection and grounding.

All the artworks in this exhibition are available for sale. 25% of the proceeds go to @cuhartsnhs to support the ongoing arts programme in the hospital. For more information and full list of works, please see link in profile.

#seasons #contemporaryart #artinhospitals #smallworks #cuharts
Our exhibition is now open. Over the next couple o Our exhibition is now open. Over the next couple of months we are going to share with you all the works included in the show. Starting with this piece from the Autumn section. We hope you will visit the exhibition. 
🍁

Helen Minns
Oil on heavy panel
£ 395

Inspired by winter walks in an urban woodland near South East London, this painting is part of a series exploring shifting moods through a restricted palette. Earthy browns, oranges and golds evoke a quiet, reflective atmosphere, capturing the restorative calm found in nature’s transforming landscape. Helen Minns is an artist printmaker interested in contemporary approaches to abstraction.
.
SEASONS is a group exhibition curated by @smallworksartgallery inspired by the feelings, gestures and emotions that the four cycles of the year evoke.

It is a privilege to know a place through the passage of time, and this exhibition looks to nature for a sense of connection and grounding.

This exhibition pairs with the launch of the newly refurbished Neurological Critical Care Unit (NCCU), featuring a bespoke commission by Monica Perez Vega titled Cycles of Nature. The artwork has been created in response to creative consultation with staff, patients and their loved ones facilitated by artist Hannah Jane Walker.

The gallery is located on the Ground Floor (L2). From the Main Entrance, follow signs to the K Wards. The gallery is on the main corridor just past the Chapel. The hospital is a public building open all day, everyday.

All the artworks in this exhibition are available for sale. 25% of the proceeds go to @cuhartsnhs to support the ongoing arts programme in the hospital.

#seasons #contemporaryart #artinhospitals #smallworks #cuharts

CUH Arts is generously funded by the kind supporters of Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust.
cuh.arts@nhs.net
It was such a joy to install this exhibition. We a It was such a joy to install this exhibition. We are delighted to welcome you to visit:

‘SEASONS’
The Addenbrooke’s Gallery
Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge CB2 0QQ

11 October 2025 - 31 January 2026
.

It is a privilege to know a place through the passage of time, and this exhibition looks to nature for a sense of connection and grounding.

The poems and artworks were selected for display via a free open call. The call asked for submissions of work that responded to the seasons through a cyclical journey of: awakened optimism (Spring), joyful warmth (Summer), communal gathering (Autumn) and quiet resiliency (Winter).

This exhibition pairs with the launch of the newly refurbished Neurological Critical Care Unit (NCCU), featuring a bespoke commission by Monica Perez Vega titled Cycles of Nature. The artwork has been created in response to creative consultation with staff, patients and their loved ones facilitated by artist Hannah Jane Walker.

The gallery is located on the Ground Floor (L2). From the Main Entrance, follow signs to the K Wards. The gallery is on the main corridor just past the Chapel. The hospital is a public building open all day, everyday.

All the artworks in this exhibition are available for sale. If you are interested in purchasing any of the works please contact cuh.arts@nhs.net for more details. 25% of the proceeds go to @cuhartsnhs to support our ongoing arts programme in the hospital.
We are delighted to welcome you to visit: ‘SEAS We are delighted to welcome you to visit:

‘SEASONS’ at The Addenbrooke’s Gallery
Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge CB2 0QQ

11 October 2025 - 31 January 2026

SEASONS is a group exhibition inspired by the feelings, gestures and emotions that the four cycles of the year evoke.

It is a privilege to know a place through the passage of time, and this exhibition looks to nature for a sense of connection and grounding.

The poems and artworks were selected for display via a free open call. The call asked for submissions of work that responded to the seasons through a cyclical journey of: awakened optimism (Spring), joyful warmth (Summer), communal gathering (Autumn) and quiet resiliency (Winter).

This exhibition pairs with the launch of the newly refurbished Neurological Critical Care Unit (NCCU), featuring a bespoke commission by Monica Perez Vega titled Cycles of Nature. The artwork has been created in response to creative consultation with staff, patients and their loved ones facilitated by artist Hannah Jane Walker.

The gallery is located on the Ground Floor (L2). From the Main Entrance, follow signs to the K Wards. The gallery is on the main corridor just past the Chapel. The hospital is a public building open all day, everyday.

All the artworks in this exhibition are available for sale. If you are interested in purchasing any of the works please contact cuh.arts@nhs.net for more details. 25% of the proceeds go to CUH Arts to support our ongoing arts programme in the hospital.

SMALL WORKS is a curatorial platform led by artists Monica Perez Vega and Sylwia Narbutt. Its ethos is - do what you can, work with what you’ve got. With an emphasis on painting, we are interested in nature-led, curiosity-driven, and materially-playful work. www.smallworksartgallery.com

CUH Arts is generously funded by the kind supporters of Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust. To find out more, please visit: www.cuh.nhs.uk/arts

[image is a detail from artwork by @jennifersteele_art]

@sylwianarbutt 
@monicaperezvega 
@cuhartsnhs

(Full artist list tagged in comments)
Thank you so much to everyone who submitted their Thank you so much to everyone who submitted their work to our open call. We had over 500 artwork submissions, all of which were of a very high standard. As you can imagine, this made our job extremely challenging! After very careful consideration and much deliberation between ourselves and CUH Arts, we are delighted to share with you the final selection of artists and poets for the exhibition. 

SEASONS is a group exhibition curated by SMALL WORKS inspired by the feelings, gestures and emotions that the four cycles of the year evoke. 

It is a privilege to know a place through the passage of time, and this exhibition looks to nature for a sense of connection and grounding. 

The poems and artworks were selected for display via a free open call. The call asked for submissions of work that responded to the seasons through a cyclical journey of; awakened optimism (Spring), joyful warmth (Summer), gathering community (Autumn) and quiet resiliency (Winter). 

This exhibition pairs with the launch of the newly refurbished Neurological Critical Care Unit (NCCU), featuring a bespoke commission by Monica Perez Vega titled Cycles of Nature. The artwork has been created in response to creative consultation with staff, patients and their loved ones facilitated by artist Hannah
Jane Walker.
 
SMALL WORKS CIC is a curatorial platform, led by artists Monica Perez Vega and Sylwia Narbutt. Its ethos is - do what you can, work with what you’ve got. With an emphasis on painting, we are interested in nature-led, curiosity-driven, and materially-playful work. www.smallworksartgallery.com
 
CUH Arts is generously funded by the kind supporters of Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust.
To find out more about our work, please visit: www.cuh.nhs.uk/arts
We’re excited to share that we’ve been adding We’re excited to share that we’ve been adding new works to our store! We’ve recently sold several pieces by Hannah Rollings, and we’re thrilled to have a selection of her latest studies now available on our page. Discover her beautiful work—link in bio!

Hannah Rollings,
Where the Pines Meet the Sea,
acrylic and vinyl on framer’s board, 
A3 
2025

Encompassing both studio and plein-air painting, Hannah seeks to connect with her surroundings through an immersive painting experience, exploring an emotive response to colour and mark-making.
“My practice focuses on picturing landscapes to imbue and reconsider our connection with nature. Reflecting and considering where I, as an artist, position myself and further notions of the figure in the landscape to address and reconsider broader issues within a changing world that would benefit from a rewilding to reverse some negative impacts. 
This latest series of works on paper with Small Works looks to reframe a personal archive relating to my grandmother’s family history as a tea planter in Sri Lanka. By framing painting as a form of participation, I attempt to be involved in the historical narrative rather than spectating or recording it. This series has seen me explore, through large-scale works on canvas and exhibited as part of a group show at the James Hockey Gallery, Farnham, the struggles this land has had to bear. 
The richness of the natural landscape is etched away by the figures presented and the Camellia Sinensis monoculture plantation. Complexities within these relationships are drawn upon to unpack and reexamine these black-and-white photographs and tender relationships for a hopeful future.”
We just want to express a huge thank you to everyo We just want to express a huge thank you to everyone who has submitted work to our open call. We had over 500 artwork submissions by 174 artists, with an additional 41 poetry submissions. We are currently in the process of selecting work and aim to be in touch with results by the end of next week (10 August).

We are enjoying peeking into everyone’s practices and appreciate your patience while we work to curate what we know will be a really beautiful and engaging exhibition.

Please bear with us- thank you!

Monica and Sylwia
Maybe the sea is calling- 🐚 felt like a good da Maybe the sea is calling- 🐚 felt like a good day revisit these lovely works by Justine Formentelli. 🌊

Visit our shop for more info - link in bio.

Conchiglia VI
2024,
Acrylic On Paper
Mounted On Board
14.8x21x2cm

Conchiglia V (SOLD)
2024,
Acrylic On Paper
Mounted On Board
14.8x21x2cm

Conchiglia III
2024,
Acrylic On Paper
Mounted On Board
14.8x21x2cm
…

“Whether using climatological phenomenons, icebergs, shells or botanical references, I am interested in  the intersection of the self grounded in a body and the world around. Through abstracted forms, I look at how the internal and external interact with each other and question the blurry border between the two. As I attempt to make a space emerge from the encounter of abstract marks, I am reflecting on all the visible and invisible currents, energies  and flows traversing  and permeating us.

I also see these organic forms as windows or portals to an interior and private realm which have the potential to spill out and merge with the surrounding empty space. I am interested in the idea of the truly personal, private and also what is unknown to us such as forgotten memories, transference of the past, the subconscious... and how the interaction between the perpetual shifting environment and ourselves can trigger change and a potential new configuration of elements.”

Justine Formentelli spent her childhood living in the Caribbeans, the island of Reunion and Morocco. After 11 years in the United States, where she studied Illustration and worked as a production designer at Harper’s Bazaar, she traveled around the world for a year before settling back in Europe. She is now based in London with her husband and two sons. She recently graduated from City and Guilds of London Art School with an MA. She has participated in numerous exhibitions in the United States and Europe.
We are receiving some amazing work already- but ke We are receiving some amazing work already- but keep it coming! Only 3 days left to apply!!!

Tagging all artists featured in this reel. 🙃

Submissions welcome up to 80x80cm - Link in bio! 
#freeopencall #opencall #artexhibition #artopportunity
✨SOLD✨ It’s here! Beautiful new work by Hel ✨SOLD✨

It’s here! Beautiful new work by Helen Baines is now available in our shop.

The natural world in all its complexity is at the heart of Helen’s practice. It is an intimacy with the landscape and a sense of embeddedness that she seeks to locate in her work. She is interested in how stories imbue landscape with meaning and significance, notions of transcendence; where we end and nature begins, and our own personal geography. Helen meditates on our place within the more-than-human world, exploring narratives from history, ecology and folklore and shaping them with her own embodied experience.

Helen Baines, 
Fegla Fach,
oil on board,
26 × 19 × 4 cm

Helen recently completed three years on the Turps Correspondence Course. She graduated from Epsom School of Art with a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design and later went on to study printmaking at The Art Academy London. Recent Selected exhibitions include the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition and NEAC at the Mall Galleries. Her work has been acquired by consultancies Art Acumen and Cramer & Bell, and is held in private and public collections including the V&A Print Archive and the Scarborough Gallery and Museums Trust.
We are thrilled to have a beautiful selection of We are thrilled to have a beautiful selection  of recent works by Pat Naylor available in our shop. 
Take ` look (link in bio). 

“The human figure has always been central to my work. My figures inhabit a landscape that is
deliberately ambiguous: a sense of peace or a threat? Inspired by stories of space travel and
polar exploration I previously set my figures against a looming sky. Recently, since relocating to
live near Epping Forest, my work has been invaded by the trees, the garden, the leaves, the
many rich shades of green.
The figures too have evolved, inspired by historical depictions of humanity from ancient Egypt to
the 20th century. The figures are reclaimed and developed without reference to a specific time
or place. The materials are part of this process. I use expressive brushwork and bright colours
for both the figures and the setting, and choose not to hide all evidence of previous
compositional choices; in this ghost world the figures appear corporeal but not entirely solid,
they may be consumed by the natural world or disintegrating into the past but they remain alive
and present. Painting as archeology.

Pat Naylor
“Joan Alleyn among the leaf rubbings”
Acrylic & collage on paper,
29 x 24, 2025

Pat Naylor is a UK artist based in Essex. She was awarded a BA in Fine Art from Preston and
an MA in Illustration from the RCA (1982). She recently returned to making art after a long
career in the music industry and several years studying medieval history, culminating in a PhD
in 2008.
She credits the support of art college friends for a return to painting and she participated
alongside them in alumni exhibitions in Lancaster (2017) and central London (2018). Since then
she has had a solo exhibition at Stone Space in Leytonstone and recently contributed to group
shows in Sheffield, Matlock and the Small Works curated England is a Forest in Colchester.
We are very happy to introduce you to the amazing We are very happy to introduce you to the amazing Sarah Praill.

Sarah Praill explores ways of embedding ‘presence’ within a surface through drawing, painting, print making and small sculptural objects. It is an archaeology of feeling and locating. A mark feels like a letter in the landscape of encoded things. 
She recently became a grandmother which has informed her recent work. She has been exploring painting with oil on different grounds. Adding and taking away to build a surface with thin and thick layers of oil paint. Impulse, touch, gesture, colour and mark. A holding space for buried things. It’s an excavation of sorts. You can find three of her Owl paintings in our store (link in bio). This series is made from leftover paint at the end of each day.

Sarah Praill, 
Angsty Titanium Moth Owl, 
Oil on board,
14x19cm,
2025

Sarah Praill grew up in the Midlands and gained her BA in design and illustration at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. She studied Medieval History at Durham University and completed her Masters in Fine Art at The University of the Arts, London in 2011. She drew for many years in the British Museum with The Royal Drawing School and loves ancient markers across time of birth, life and death. She is drawn to chalky off white grounds, inscriptions, Greek funerary pots, ancient goddess figures, pink walls and the incisions on neolithic pots. She joined HAUSPRINT Print Studio in Stockwell in 2017 and completed three years on the Turps Correspondence Course. She will join the Turps Off Site Programme in September. She was awarded an a-n Artist Bursary to study fresco techniques in Sardinia. Her print works were selected for last years Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair. 
Her career as a book designer with the fine art publisher Thames and Hudson informs her thinking. She has three daughters and lives in South London.

Sarah is going to show her work  at the Split 3 opens 20th June. @split.exhibition at Candid Arts Trust, Islington 
She is joining the Turps Offsite Programme in September.
We are very lucky to have a few pieces by Martin C We are very lucky to have a few pieces by Martin Clarkson available in our store.
Martin Clarkson, (1988) is a British artist living and working in Nottinghamshire, England. Clarkson studied fine art painting at Loughborough University. He has worked over last decade on various creative ventures; working as painting technician at Loughborough University, he studied at the Santa Catalina Art School in South Spain, curated and shown work in various exhibitions around the Nottingham art scene as well as hosting various talks and educational workshops as accompaniment to exhibits or as a visiting artist to schools or colleges. 
From 2024 to present, Clarkson has shifted his approach from working primarily within a studio context, to painting En Plein Air, focusing first hand on the natural worlds  of the British archipelago. After this shift in his practice, Clarkson was invited to show his ‘ Ancient Oaks of Sherwood ‘ series as a guest artist with The‘ Obejvak Project Space  in central Prague. More recently in the UK, he has been interviewed for The Ancient Tree Forum, as accompaniment to a commission made  by Sherwood Forest NNR, and has since continued to participate  in various group shows with focus on  the ‘Ancient Oaks of Sherwood’ series. Clarkson has worked in various private collections, including Australia, China,  Europe and the UK.

Martin Clarkson,
Ancient Oaks of Sherwood: No. 45,
oil on panel, 
30x20x3cm,
2022, 

Reminder - Martin is taking part in @springfling . 
💫24th - 26th of May Bank Holiday 💫
PV 6-8pm, Friday 23rd
Studios Open late until 8pm Sat - Sun.
Don’t miss the chance to meet him and see his amazing paintings !

Martins work is made ’En Plein Air’, considering an economy of mark whilst deploying the paint sculpturally to best describe the tree’s architecture,  how its weight sits and shifts through time. Through experiential learning, moving through and surveying this environment I examine the vital features which are evident in our ancient wood; gnarled burrs, fresh epicormic shoots, red rot heartwood, corpse green lichens, moist mosses and fruiting fungi. Each painting investigates a tree as a living landscape in its own right.
We have in our shop beautiful work by beautiful ar We have in our shop beautiful work by beautiful artist JustineFormentelli. Visit our store to see more of her paintings ✨

Conchiglia III,
2024,
Acrylic On Paper
Mounted On Board
14.8x21x2cm

“Whether using climatological phenomenons, icebergs, shells or botanical references, I am interested in  the intersection of the self grounded in a body and the world around. Through abstracted forms, I look at how the internal and external interact with each other and question the blurry border between the two. As I attempt to make a space emerge from the encounter of abstract marks, I am reflecting on all the visible and invisible currents, energies  and flows traversing  and permeating us.
I also see these organic forms as windows or portals to an interior and private realm which have the potential to spill out and merge with the surrounding empty space. I am interested in the idea of the truly personal, private and also what is unknown to us such as forgotten memories, transference of the past, the subconscious... and how the interaction between the perpetual shifting environment and ourselves can trigger change and a potential new configuration of elements.”

Justine Formentelli spent her childhood living in the Caribbeans, the island of Reunion and Morocco. After 11 years in the United States, where she studied Illustration and worked as a production designer at Harper’s Bazaar, she traveled around the world for a year before settling back in Europe. She is now based in London with her husband and two sons. She recently graduated from City and Guilds of London Art School with an MA. She has participated in numerous exhibitions in the United States and Europe.
We are delighted to share the upcoming solo exhibi We are delighted to share the upcoming solo exhibition, “Hissing in Soft Red,” by SMALL WORKS artist, curator (and co-director) Sylwia Narbutt at Outhouse Gallery this coming May.

Hissing in soft red is an exhibition of recent works by Sylwia Narbutt. The show’s theme lingers around the ideas of wild, tamed and uncanny, taking on nature’s contradictions and transformations – trees are getting dressed, pets are dreamy, the fox is running away with a ribbon.

We have this need to manicure every inch of grass, to own it, to overpower it. We are scared of what is hidden, but also tempted by things we cannot comprehend. The trees Narbutt chose to paint resemble human qualities: you know the feeling when someone is looking at you, or standing close by? This happens to us in the woods, trees staring or mocking our moves behind our backs. Narbutt chose to alter her colour palette, following the aesthetics of solarisation to indicate the heightened state of awareness as a way to respond to the issues she is struggling with and wanting to communicate – climate change, wars, fear and a sense of helplessness.

Narbutt is inviting the viewer into the softness of large paintings which take over the small gallery space. The closeness of the works brings back her memories of walking in a clearing in Polish woods as a child, velvety and soft moss attached to the bark of the trees.There is also a distinct main character present in the works, inspired by magnificent Major Oak from Sherwood Forest.

“Hissing in soft red”
Acrylic on linen,
183 x 183 cm,
2025

and two details.

Portrait in the studio by @wierzbicka.studio 

For more info visit @sylwianarbutt

#contemporarypainting #artnews #artistsportrait #artlondon #exhibition #painting #polishpainting #malarka #hissinginsoftred
Follow on Instagram