{"title":"REFLECTIONS Ben Westley Clarke, Oliver Dorrell, Joana Galego, Paul Newman Oct 15, 2020 Dec 22, 2020","description":"\u003c!--begin kunstmatrix--\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe height=\"600\" width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/art.kunstmatrix.com\/apps\/artspaces\/?external=true\u0026amp;language=en\u0026amp;uid=10056\u0026amp;exhibition=2303044\" title=\"virtual exhibition\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!--end kunstmatrix--\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 1.45rem;\"\u003eFeaturing the work of four contemporary artists -\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBen Westley Clarke, Oliver Dorrell, Joana Galego, and Paul Newman,\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ethe exhibition ‘Reflections’ is a selection of painterly reveries as intimate and mystical portraits of desire and despair. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere in this collection of pictures, we find pastoral interludes under the veil of the mystical, as well as post-apocalyptic and stark scenes of the ordinary rendered in neo-Expressionist and Surrealist form. The artists’ sources are many: contemporary environmental and socio-political crises, city scenes, historic British painting, fifteenth century Indian verse, the work of Arthur Rimbaud, the enduring theme of the journey, the inheritance of Spanish painting as well as the more intimate and autobiographical. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg height=\"227\" width=\"227\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0907\/7335\/6877\/files\/ben-westley-clarke.webp?v=1754062349\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBen Westley Clarke \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn these painterly worlds, we encounter the visualization of both repulsion and desire as seen in the work of Ben Westley Clarke, whose painting is a layering of memory, photography, cinematic impressions, celebrity culture and simple observation. Featured work such as ‘Crack City Rockers’ (2017) explores the harsh brutality of urban life as does ‘Bad Town’ (2019) in bold neo-expressionist style that encounters and revels in the life of the protagonists. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConversely, in recent work made in Spain, Clarke investigates the concept of painting and its role within society and draws upon the visual culture of Spanish Catholicism as well as historic Spanish painting. Whereas the previous work made in England was made from observation and memory, Clarke’s Spanish painting combines imagery from film as well as notions of popular culture. The artist notes: “It occurred to me that painting was one of the sources of imagery before film, photography, cinema, even gossip magazines and celebrity culture... Perhaps it had a sort of monopoly on the visualisation of desire and people´s dreams in the way that so much advertising imagery does nowadays.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWorks like ‘Noche Toledana’ (2019) and ‘Comedia De La Sed’ (2019) embed such ideas while also exploring autobiographic memory and the burn of desire while stylistically and thematically drawing upon sources such as Arthur Rimbaud’s ‘Comedy of Thirst’ and Pablo Picasso’s Rose Period. The artist notes that this work strives “to provoke desire and affirm belief – to show a parallel, perhaps utopian, world of fantasy. It alludes to the Catholic iconography of Spain’s lineage of painting, notable for its painterliness, chiaroscuro and visual emphasis on un-idealised facts. The subjects feel more unbelievable, dreamed-up or melodramatic than anything previous in his oeuvre, and yet the way they are painted feels more urgent.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg height=\"262\" width=\"222\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0907\/7335\/6877\/files\/oliver-dorrell-in-studio.webp?v=1754062354\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOliver Dorrell \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe work of Oliver Dorrell similarly transports the viewer to imagined places that are likewise linked to specifically visual and literary traditions and sources. Within the aqueous beauty of Dorrell’s painting there are traces of mythical worlds, populated by memories as well as symbols of ancient songs and folktales as seen in imagery like ‘Only You’ (2020). Recalling the imagery of Henri Matisse, Dorrell’s flooded vignettes and scenes of landscape emerge as settings for magical and allegorical narratives. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDorrell’s paintings included in this exhibition draw specifically upon the artist’s time in India and the study of Indian culture including contemporary painting, traditional miniature painting and ancient epic poetry such as the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and Book Ten of the Baghavata Paruna. A sense of wonderment emerges in brilliant colour in works such ‘Bald Poets’ (2020) and ‘Fishes Swallow Fishes (2020). ‘Fishes’ refers to Bruegel's interpretation of the proverb ‘Big Fish Eat Little Fish’ and the artist notes this proverb is similar to the Indian phrase ‘fishes swallow fishes’ which in turn signifies “chaos and is related as such to the Hindu myth Manu and Matsya.” As such, the artist intends to explore how diverse mythologies understand human desires while also “reflecting on a spiritual and material journey.” A key source for Dorrell’s newest paintings is the work of the fifteenth century Hindu saint and writer Tallapaka Annamacharya (Annamayya) “songs that address both the metaphysical and the romantic.” Such references are interwoven with glimpses of destruction in response to the ongoing crisis on today’s world. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is this otherworldly capturing of a moment that exists between history and the present, this multiplicity of voice, of experience, of nuance, and of integrations of tradition that distinguish Dorrell’s remarkable work allowing it to become a mystical reflection of a universal experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg height=\"195\" width=\"169\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0907\/7335\/6877\/files\/joana-galego-copy.webp?v=1754062356\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoana Galego \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSimilarly, an element of the unfathomable appears in the work of Joana Galego. The artist’s mixed media practice is anchored in the practice of drawing but exists between the effortless loveliness of post- impressionist figural studies and the ache of a solitary life. In her work, Galego interprets the life of emotions within relationships, particularly “the idea of power, submission, vulnerability, miscommunication, loneliness and guilt.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGalego’s accomplished paintings have a sculptural sensibility, a stillness and depth of emotion that remains at its core mysterious. Images such as 'Mother Fleeing as A Teen' (2019) and ‘Someone Else’ (2019) possess a graceful beauty and complexity that comes from the artist’s ability to evoke the life of the heart. A darkness emerges too in ‘Foreign Bodies’ (2019) an intimate portrait of a couple in an enigmatic nocturnal setting. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGalego’s 2020 painting ‘Bathing’ negotiates a complex subject, that of emotional dichotomies. In this picture, the lake represents the cleansing potential of water, while also suggesting its more ominous association – drowning. Flanked by two figures, the primary male protagonist symbolises the concept of emotional fragility and strength. These qualities are of course, found in all people and remain while in opposition not entirely mutually exclusive. Such ambiguity and duality is indeed an intrinsic part of Galego’s cerebral yet emotive approach. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImages such as ‘Go Gentle’ (2019) recall the figural studies of Cézanne, yet suggest the universal experience of desire, solitude, desire and grief. The artist shares: “Surprise and mystery are important to me both in the process of making and the connection with those who see the works. Painting is a sort of portal to a specific emotional state.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg height=\"184\" width=\"184\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0907\/7335\/6877\/files\/paul-newman.webp?v=1753437563\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePaul Newman\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile Galego’s work offers entry into the secret life of emotions, Paul Newman’s vision of hybridity and painterly dream worlds have an intoxicatingly colourful and profound hold over his viewers. Newman’s images seem to be either of a post-apocalyptic nightmare or a strangely fantastic and beautiful landscape of dreams. Characters from historic paintings and films interact with industrial landscapes or reveries from classical imagery of the English countryside. In images such as ‘Black Rainbow II, Study’ (2017) patterned areas of abstraction are juxtaposed with an elemental depiction of weather, historic views and strange figures that intrigue and puzzle. Newman builds this sense of disjuncture by layering contemporary elements such as the underpass from the M5 above the canal in Smethwick, and imagery from John Constable’s 1831 painting ‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows.’ In Newman’s accomplished painting, sfumato and the cast of clouds drifts across this nocturnal scene, against the lyrical mark of the painter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf this work is an evocative dream then ‘Something in the Water’ (2019) is a nightmare. From the artist’s ‘English Gothic’ series, this admixture of neo-Surrealist imagery depicts a Frankenstein like protagonist ‘Frank” in an orange coloured scene of destruction. Newman shares that in this work he has “appropriated a scene from Thomas Gainsborough's 1755 ‘Landscape with Woodcutter and Milkmaid’. Here Frank is substituted for the maid, resting and forlorn in the barren, depleted, Martian like landscape.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLandscape is also at the centre of Newman’s 2020 collage series ‘After the Storm’, ‘No Thru Road’, ‘Devil’s Island’, and ‘Little Red Dragon.’ These works reflect a number of important themes in the artist’s practice: eighteenth-nineteenth century landscape painting, cityscape demolition, and are described by the artist as “self-contained entities of concentrated turbulence exploring a range of gestural and stylistic motifs within my painting. They are like mini apocalypses before, during and after the storm…” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIndeed, these powerful collage paintings have a disruptive perfection, the composition a fascinating balance of cropping and impasto, landscape and brushwork. ‘Little Red Dragon’ in particular is a masterful work, a sense of destruction is countered by an expressive study of the sky, rendered in an unsettling green. Here the pastoral and the industrial while divided meet, as if in battle. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWestley Clarke, Dorrell, Galego and Newman while divergent in their stylistic approach share a commitment to exploring and reworking visual and literary sources, the history of art, travel and exile, and or personal stories within painting, reflecting as such a universal human experience. In their hands, the play of pigment, chiaroscuro, collage, graphic sensibility and figuration and a sense of the unknowable allows an elemental yet complex beauty to emerge. Within this context, it is the artist’s journey that creates new visions for a contemporary world. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRosa JH Berland\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/artspaces.kunstmatrix.com\/en\/exhibition\/2303044\/catalog\"\u003eView the Catalogue\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"don-quixote","title":"Don Quixote","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"subtitle\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"subtitle\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"subtitle\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePaul Newman\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDon Quixote\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e, 2020\u003cbr\u003eAcrylic on canvas\u003cbr\u003e140 x 200 cm\u003cbr\u003eSigned and dated verso\u003cbr\u003eExhibited: \u003cem\u003eReflections\u003c\/em\u003e, Aleph Contemporary, curated by Rosa JH Berland\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eDon Quixote\u003c\/em\u003e, Paul Newman reimagines Cervantes’ iconic figure through a fragmented, kaleidoscopic lens, placing the errant knight in a richly layered and unstable landscape. Part myth, part hallucination, the composition fuses painterly abstraction with comic illustration, folklore, and post-industrial motifs. The skeletal steed, armored with patchwork patterns, leans into a surreal terrain where turbines, cooling towers, and cartoonish clouds coexist with ruins and rivers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe titular figure, tilted dramatically with lance in hand and top hat askew, emerges as a disoriented traveller—one who navigates a world of fractured realities and symbolic overload. Rendered in vibrant, almost chaotic colour blocks and textured brushwork, the painting invites interpretation as both \u003cstrong\u003esatirical and sincere\u003c\/strong\u003e, poking at the persistence of idealism amid societal collapse and environmental degradation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDon Quixote\u003c\/em\u003e is a quintessential Newman work—imbued with theatricality, irony, and layered symbolism. It continues his exploration of \u003cstrong\u003eBritish surrealism, psychogeography\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the enduring relevance of historical archetypes in a digitally fractured, post-truth age.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"title\" id=\"popup_region\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Paul Newman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52699088388429,"sku":null,"price":4400.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0907\/7335\/6877\/files\/alephcontemporary-paul-newman-don-quixote-2020.jpg?v=1762181289"},{"product_id":"to-the-birds-ii","title":"To The Birds II","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"detail_view_module detail_view_module_artwork_caption prose\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"signed_and_dated\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"title\" id=\"popup_region\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"signed_and_dated\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"160\" data-end=\"382\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"160\" data-end=\"175\"\u003ePaul Newman\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr data-start=\"175\" data-end=\"178\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"178\" data-end=\"199\"\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"180\" data-end=\"197\"\u003eTo the Birds II\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e, 2020\u003cbr data-start=\"205\" data-end=\"208\"\u003eAcrylic on board (framed)\u003cbr data-start=\"233\" data-end=\"236\"\u003e85 x 65 cm\u003cbr data-start=\"246\" data-end=\"249\"\u003eSigned and dated verso\u003cbr data-start=\"271\" data-end=\"274\" data-is-only-node=\"\"\u003eExhibited: \u003cem data-start=\"285\" data-end=\"298\"\u003eReflections\u003c\/em\u003e, Aleph Contemporary, curated by Rosa JH Berland\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"384\" data-end=\"870\"\u003eIn \u003cem data-start=\"387\" data-end=\"404\"\u003eTo the Birds II\u003c\/em\u003e, Paul Newman delivers a dynamic and richly textured meditation on environmental fragility, history, and visual storytelling. Central to the work is a large, stylised bird—part organic, part geometric—standing in a painterly puddle of reflected forms. Behind it, a fragmented landscape unfolds: smoking industrial chimneys, abstracted fields, a horseback rider echoing art historical motifs, and checkerboard grids that reference both the pastoral and the pixelated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"872\" data-end=\"1277\"\u003eThe painting’s ornate frame, streaked with caution stripes and distressed textures, becomes an active part of the composition—blurring boundaries between artwork, object, and construction site. This self-aware framing device signals Newman’s broader concerns: the encroachment of industrial modernity on natural and cultural heritage, and the uneasy role of painting in an age of collapse and reinvention.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Paul Newman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52699115454797,"sku":null,"price":2200.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0907\/7335\/6877\/files\/alephcontemporary-paul-newman-to-the-birds-ii-2020.jpg?v=1762181533"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0907\/7335\/6877\/collections\/feeding-2020-20x15-5cm-mixed-media-on-canvas.webp?v=1754062428","url":"https:\/\/alephcontemporary.com\/collections\/reflections-ben-westley-clarke-oliver-dorrell-joana-galego-paul-newman.oembed","provider":"Aleph Contemporary","version":"1.0","type":"link"}