Creative Conversations at Chalk Gallery

Creative Conversations at Chalk Gallery Lewes

Open Wednesday to Sunday 11am to 4pm ,21st August – 22nd Sept 2024 North St, Lewes BN7 2PA

Chalk Creative Conversations Event
Friday 6th September at Chalk Gallery
An event to launch this exhibition. Member artists invited to talk and described their connection/conversation.

Proposal for an original show Art Wave

During the Art Wave Festival 2024, each member of the Chalk Artist Cooperative has invited an external partner artist to exhibit in our gallery. This initiative aims to foster new art connections and conversations among artists, sharing stories and dialogues between art pieces. The show highlights defining relationships and associations through the narrative of affinity, contact and exchange.
An original and thought provoking show where the playful pairing of pieces expresses associations, affinities and shared interests between the artists and the exhibits. Creative Conversations that are then shared to open art horizons and possibilities.

As a member of Chalk Gallery I have invited my artist friend Peter James Field

For our Creative Conversations show I drew inspiration from museums like Pallant House Gallery and the Towner Art Gallery, where an artist with a solo exhibition gets asked by the museum to feature works from the museum’s collection that resonate with the artist’s pieces. My eureka moment came when I thought of adapting this concept to fit within our cooperative, where each one of us plays the role of “solo artist,” and our collection is the vast knowledge and experience we’ve gained throughout our careers.

The success of this exhibition is largely due to the freedom we had in selecting our Creative Conversation artists. There were no strict parameters; each artist was encouraged to reflect deeply and present a unique proposal.

The response has been extraordinary and deeply moving. Come and explore the exhibited works, reflect on the pairings, and form your own interpretations of the connections between the pieces and their creators.

Thanks to all Chalk cooperative artists for their enthusiasm, patience, and support. This is a new initiative, and together, we have brought it to life.

Art print by artist alej ez titled Pine Trees by the Sea at Brunswick Square Brighton — Pine Trees by the Sea at Brunswick Square Brighton 30×42 cm Limited edition digital pigment print
Chalk Gallery artist: alej ez

I admire Peter’s genuine ethos and unique expression in art. His portraits, paintings, and drawings have a thoughtful and carefully considered composition, where objects and clothing reflect the personality of the subjects.
Peter and I met through Brighton Draws Men, a life drawing session I run at the Sussex County Arts Club in Brighton. We have also often attended life drawing sessions at Draw Brighton together. I have chosen a print that responds to my friend’s exquisite portrait painting: the diagonal emphasis, the choice of colours, and possibly even the melancholic mood. The subject of seating and the staged nature are depicted through a vase with flowers and an ottoman, or through the manicured planted gardens and a wrought iron bench

Alexander Nilere, Kilburn (2020) Oil on panel. Framed dimensions: 51x 68cmSelected for the 2020 BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery London.
Creative conversations artist: Peter James Field

Peter James Field

Peter James Field is an artist and illustrator from Brighton, with 19 years of experience under his belt. He’s worked with big names like Time Magazine, The New York Times, The FT, Vanity Fair, and Penguin Books. Peter was highlighted in the ‘Guardian Guide to Drawing’ and even did a series of ‘How to Draw’ short films for BBC Bitesize. His work has been showcased at the National Portrait Gallery’s portrait award four times, including this year’s exhibition that runs until late October, and he’s been featured in The Royal Society of Portrait Painters annual show four times too. In 2020, Peter was a contestant on Sky Portrait Artist of the Year.

www.peterjamesfield.co.uk.

Peter’s words:
I first met Alex 15 years ago at a wedding. He was wearing a colourful suit he’d made himself. He was very friendly to me, and I took an instant and strong liking to him.
Alex, I later learned, had been the singer in a 90s pop group called Acacia, which had been dropped by a major label before releasing any material. The band featured other members who would go on to great success – including record producer Guy Sigsworth (Bjork, Alanis Morrisette, Britney Spears) and Imogen Heap, who would go on to be a Grammy nominated solo artist and collaborate with Taylor Swift. Nilere himself pursued a solo career as ‘The Blackmoth’, without mainstream success.
I saw Alex a couple of times in the intervening years, and he remained, to my mind, an absolutely ideal potential portrait sitter. He embodied an interesting contradiction: this immaculately turned out dandyish some-time pop singer did not cultivate an icy sense of cool distance. In fact he was very kind and free of ego. There was plenty of intriguing, vulnerable stuff going on behind his fabulous, façade – and I like to paint people about whom I have curiosity.
The initial sitting took place at Alex’s flat in Kilburn. We tried out various attitudes. This was a pose Alex struck very naturally and it resonated with me, embodying that flamboyance/vulnerability contradiction within him. After experimenting with some props and lighting we pulled in a red flower in a golden vase, which seemed to curve towards him in a kind of embrace.
The painting was shortlisted for the 2020 BP Award at the National Portrait Gallery, and subsequently went on loan to Manchester City Art Gallery in 2022.

Creative Conversations at Chalk Gallery participating artists

Only connect! … Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die. (E M. Forster)