Daphne Francis Gallery

Presence 21/23

Online Exhibition

Join us as we celebrate our presence in the world, not only physically but online @DaphneFrancisGallery

Paul Newman

Everlasting Journey Study 21x30cm

The 'Presence' exhibition continues until March 2023 with the beautiful enigmatic paintings of Paul Newman. A highly acclaimed and talented Birmingham artist.
@PaulHNewman

Study For Arabian Night Adventure 21x30cm

Paul Newman The Metamorphosis Landscapes

A series of studies that evolved over time of imaginary landscapes in a state of flux. The characters journeying within them include a slowly metamorphosising fly, a shepherd and his companion from a Constable painting and chastened deer from a Rococo era painting. Also depicted in two of the studies is a version of Don Quixote inspired by the cover to the Beach Boys Surf’s Up which in turn borrowed its weary Native American Indian on a horse from a 1928 sculpture The End of the Trail by James Earle Fraser. This figure is a symbol of an uncertain and relentless journey, never reaching a destination or resting place. Perhaps this figure also reflects the game of painting trying to find a resolution and finishing point in the battle between improvisation and representation.

Paul Newman is an artist based in Birmingham. Recent exhibitions include; ‘We are such stuff as dreams are made on’, APT gallery and Darkness at the Edge of Noon, Cello Factory, London, 2021. Paul is a member of Contemporary British Painting and has work represented by Aleph Contemporary and Stryx Gallery Shop. Paul is a visiting lecturer at Birmingham School of Art & Loughborough University.

@paulhnewman

Mechanical Fly Study 25x35cm

Field Study 125x35cm

Woodland Study 25x35cm

Enquiries to Jo: Info@DaphneFrancisGallery.co.uk

Scroll further to view some beautiful and dynamic artwork from some of the best and most talented artists in and around the UK and beyond!
Creativity has expanded phenomenally! And to share this explosion of ideas and art, we are exhibiting a different artist every few weeks with links to their sites and social media presence.
Although online communication was seemingly forced upon us by the pandemic, it has opened doors to communication we may never have explored. Ever more is this important with recent world crisis!
More and more people have continued sharing what they do in their lives or of their work. In some way, now, the two are no longer separate. Are you defined by your media presence? Like and Share!
@DaphneFrancisGallery

Nita Newman - @nitarosenewman (Twitter and Insta) - www.nitanewman.com

Celadon Green Bo Peep & her Cappamore Ram; Acrylic on canvas; 297 x 420 (2021)
Bo Peep is from the fairy tale The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. In this painting Bo Peep is now a woman, she has been elevated from a cheap ceramic object by subtly changing the glaze into Celadon Green. Celadon green was once considered so beautiful that only royalty could look at it. Though the name Celadon is French, for centuries the colour was only known by the Chinese as mi se, which means ‘mysterious colour." The word Celadon first appeared in France in the 17th century and that it is named after the shepherd Celadon in Honoré d'Urfé's French pastoral romance, L'Astrée (1627), who wore pale green ribbons. Bo Peep, is now depicted as older and stronger,She is now accompanied by a powerful ‘Cappamore Ram’, an Irish souvenir. The painting is pure artifice, The matt surface fakes the impression of a shiny glaze, It references collage within its dropped shadow, but it is just paint, which depicts a future orientated projection of Bo Peeps coming of age. The Shepherdess now wears the colours of the Shepherd.
Nita Newman

After Goya; La Beata. (The Blessed-1795) Acrylic on canvas; Double Pendant portraits 16 x 20” (2020)

In Goya’s original painting, a pious old woman teeters back supported by her walking stick, she thrusts across into the face of the glamorous Duchess of Alba, who is bearing down on the old woman with a blood red ribbon, pushing her towards a darkened corner. A contest between good and evil, faith and force. On the surface, this scenario looked like a playful game where the Duchess coerces her ‘willing’ maid into submission by ‘pretending’ to be the face of evil; this is just a ‘game’, but is it?

After Goya; La Beata. (The Blessed-1795) Acrylic on canvas; Double Pendant portraits 16 x 20” (2020)

‘The Finger’; Acrylic and liquid leaf on board, 42 x 59.4 cm (2020)

Holding a thimble in my hand I paced (yet again) around my bedroom. The Victorian Cloisonne thimble was given to me by a dear friend. I had to do something with it, but what? Frustrated I stuck it on my middle finger, stood in front of the mirror and made my defiant gesture; I liked it, so I painted it. A subtle psychedelic shadow threw a further pop art veil across the surface. Defiance turns to slight embarrassment but that’s how I felt. In my imagination the owl in ‘The Finger’ sees everything, all he must do is turn his head to see the world; I bet his skilled artisan maker never dreamt that this thimble would be used as a form of protest.

Nita Newman

Artist Statement

I am former Art & Design lecturer and mentor at Birmingham City University and Foundation Diploma

course leader at Cadbury College. I was lead artist at Art Club for young people at Friction Arts for 7

years and project manager for Midlands Architecture in the Designed Environment. I now work in

community spaces with adult learners. During the second lockdown I worked from home, shifting from

room to room in my home in what felt like an ever-decreasing space. My online classes with my

wonderful students kept me sane and grounded.

At home over lockdown, the objects around me developed into a rich seam of imagination and memory.

Xavier De Maistre, author of ‘A Journey Round my Room’, found himself in a similar predicament in

1790. Under house arrest for an illegal duel, he came to terms with being stuck at home by embarking on

an epic journey around his room; every single object told a story, through its form, function, history, and

memory.

Enquiries to Jo: Info@DaphneFrancisGallery.co.uk

Brigitte Thomas - @brigittethomasartist

A Space Between, 12x12 inches, Mixed Media

Thomas's beautiful atmosheric paintings are often an emotional response to sensory perception. Movement, visualisation and perspective inform and resolve the works as a fragmented abstract language of colour and form.

Website: https://www.artbt.co.uk

Enquiries to Jo: Info@DaphneFrancisGallery.co.uk

A Space Between, 12x12inches, Ink and Oil Painting

Cristina Celestini RBSA, ASGFA - @cristina_celestini

Evening light, 55x75, Coloured pencils on paper

Cristina was born in Rome, Italy but has been living in Birmingham for over 30 years. She is a self-taught artist whose work is inspired by the nature of memory, the passage of time, and human feelings. She works within a classical figurative tradition with a love of detail, realism and the rendering of light and shade. Cristina’s main medium is pencil and coloured pencils, as she tries to explore and experiment with line and the layering of colour to achieve unexpected effects.

Enquiries to Jo: Info@DaphneFrancisGallery.co.uk

The wait , 80x60cm, Pencil on paper, Artist Cristina Celestini

Anne Guest - @anneguest.artist

The Harvest Moon. Anne Guest. Cyanotype and copper metal leaf on paper. 46 x 46 cms framed.

Sun-dancer_Anne Guest_Cyanotype on paper.Framed size 34 x 34 cms

My work explores the awe, wonder and fragility inherent in the natural world. These pieces of artwork have been created using the cyanotype process, a camera less photographic process that uses ultraviolet light and light sensitive chemicals that I mix myself.

I have an MA in Fine Art from Birmingham City University. I have been shortlisted for several prize exhibitions including the Jerwood Drawing Prize and the Ruskin Drawing Prize. I have exhibited in several solo exhibitions as well as numerous group exhibitions both nationally and internationally. My work is held in both private and public collections. My most recent solo exhibition was at Fulham Palace in London.

Instagram @anneguest.artist

Twitter @a_g_artist

'Time and again. Anne Guest. Cyanotype with gold metal leaf detail. Framed size 43 x 43 cms.

Days Like this. Anne Guest. Cyanotype with copper metal leaf on paper. 46 x 46 cms framed.

Enquiries to:

T: 07707278398

E: Info@DaphneFrancisGallery.co.uk

Twitter: @D_F_Gallery

FB: www.facebook.com/DaphneFrancisGallery/

Instagram: @DaphneFrancisGallery

Steve Evans

Overpass 2021' - Ink on Paper. Size: 52x37 cms Framed

'Projection 2021' - Ink on Perspex on board. Size: 60 cms Sq

STEVE EVANS PRBSA

Evans' work, informed by his background in structural engineering, incorporates the techniques and formal qualities of technical drawing before the advent of CAD – qualities of precision, regimentation, the repetition of line and reference to geometry. Unlike CAD these works contain minute inconsistencies. These ‘flaws’ evident in the hand-drawn pieces, add qualities that make each unique. The arrangements of line and spacing of multiple images, create visual disturbances and illusions beyond the original formal references. They are abstractions that explore and extend pictorial space through the use of light, line and colour.