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| Mari French at the preview of her new exhibition, Beyond the Surface at Greyfriars Art Space |
A new exhibition has just opened at Greyfriars Art Space in King's Lynn. Beyond the Surface is an aptly named exhibition of extraordinary contemporary mixed media paintings by Mari French. I attended the preview evening yesterday, the gallery was buzzing and I came home feeling energised. Her inspiration is mostly from the landscape of the Norfolk coast and the moorlands of North Yorkshire but there are also a few paintings of the decaying buildings in Venice and two impressive interior interpretations of Castle Rising. Mari's work varies in scale from metre square canvases to smaller intimate pieces but they all share the same qualities of atmosphere and texture. The paintings are multi layered with texture paste, acrylic and sometimes open weave fabric gets trapped and embedded. Tools are used to scratch and scrape, revealing colour from previous layers, and marks applied with the transfer of paint from items like bubble wrap. A delightful visual feast, beautifully orchestrated. The work is essentially abstract; the viewer can bring their own imagination, experiences and interpretation. There are passages of bright light and high contrast suggesting sunlight bouncing off the water filled dykes between fields and the creeks of the saltmarsh. Others have muted sweeping vistas and a brooding tension, you can almost feel the wind whistling across the expanse of moorland. Evocative is the word and I love this exhibition!
The exhibition opened today and is on until 5 October 2013. The gallery is open Monday to Saturday 10am - 4 pm (www.greyfriarsartspace.co.uk) and you can find out more about Mari and her work at www.marifrench.com. I urge you to visit. Mari will be present most of the time and will be more than happy to chat about her inspiration and techniques.
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