JonaQuestArt
Presents
Future Horizons Art Exhibition
An all-female ‘tour-de-force’ troupe of artistic consciousness from 5 transglobal emerging artists Lee Panizza(Australia), Beate Munch (Germany), J. Suyi (British Nigerian) Jacquemet Armandine (France), Perla Mignanelli (Italy)
These ‘sisters’ of abstract and semi-surreal portrait art take you on their inner journey to that special place within themselves that is peaceful and calm, yet full of turmoil and flux, a place where they question their own existence in relation to others, the world around them and power surge forward to affirm their positions as strong women carving out their own unique artistic identities.
Join Us at the Official Opening Night Fri 11th May 6 -9pm
Click here for FREE admission or RSVP to jonaquest@jonaquestart.com
Exhibition continues until Tues 29th May 7pm
At: JonaQuestArt. 36 Greenwich Church St. Greenwich. London. SE10 9BL
Nature, abstraction, semi-surrealism & an exploration of mood are the order of the day where each artist ponders, wrestles with, tugs at and freely yanks their core emotions to shake loose their discontent with seeing things in realistic terms. They oscillate from gentle to wildly abstract to expose, and simultaneously hide, glimpses of pain and hardship endured to reach a place they call ‘home’, a deep, safe space in the soul that only art-making can fill.
The journey begins with a broad look at the outside world by two abstract landscape artists, Lee Panizza (Australia) & Beate Munch (Germany), both of whose work portrays the larger elements of nature in fragmented forms. Panizza, who has Degree in Fine Art Painting from the South Australian School of Art 1976, explores themes “about abstraction from nature and the nature of abstraction. I am fascinated by how we perceive layers and light and am always experimenting on how to visualise an idea”. She works on large scale canvases. Like collage, cut and torn fragments tumble with geometric patterns and are overlapped with washes of oil paint to portray the sense of awe she feels at seeing an expanse of sky, an impending storm, a restless sea or indeed shoals of fish echoing the diminutiveness of the artist’s place in the great outdoors, and somewhat in the greater scheme of things. The external forces of storms, skies, changing landscapes & weather pressure creates a never-ending palette for this Australian artist with which she explores her Cornwall environment.
Beate Munch, a German native studied painting at Wiesbaden Free Art School (WfK) and Fine Arts and Art History at Kunstwerkstatt, Vhs, Mainz. She was accepted to enter the Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize 2018 on Instagram and has exhibited widely. A coup for Munch was her artwork being featured in “The Art Edit”, Summer 2018 Campaign, House & Garden Magazine, May – July 2018. She has completed many workshops on “Realism and Abstraction”, “Free Painting” and on colour and line. Her works have been sold privately in Germany, Austria and Brazil as well as having being displayed in office and hospital projects. Munch uses abstract expressionist acrylic painting to explore more literally nature’s horizon lines. With swathes of block colours, the earth as well as the artist’s emotions and moods seem stable but they are undercurrents of unease seen in the choppy mark-making & textured movements. Her European landscape palette of blues & green colours, texture, landscape and rivers are the template for a constant desire to understand her environment & her own artist’s soul space.
Halfway through our visual journey, we meet J. Suyi an emerging abstract artist of British & Nigerian heritage. Self-taught, her chosen medium is mixed materials allowing her to feel in control without setting limits. She fuses acrylic paint & resin mediums deftly with ‘global optimism’ (reference to titles ‘One Family under the Sun) allowing nature to take its course. She uses vibrant colour and texture to depict her sense of urgency, calm & resolution. Suyi has an intuitive response to external stimuli and uses colour like a dancer blending, bleeding, running movements, swirls, quick turns and chance. These abstracts create a feeling of travelling, surveying with an aerial view into territory that subconsciously vibrates, sometimes with seismic shifts within the artist’s own soul.
On nearing our destination within the context of this Exhibition to reach ‘our soul space’ as female artists, we are introduced to 2 semi-surrealist portraiture artists whose works focus on an ethereal and alter-ego style of portraiture which are distorted in proportions and exaggerated through the use of light & dark. French artist Jacquemet Armandine paints in an illustrative, stylised fashion. Soft, dreamy portraits of wide-eyed feminine women reoccur surrounded by ladybirds, butterflies & birds are inextricably intertwined by strands of hair made of leaves and tendrils of plants. Nature has turned to nurture. Through the use of an autumnal, muted colour palette the subjects of the artist herself, friends and commissions belie a peace & simplicity that doesn’t always exist in real life. The subjects of these portraits enjoy their introspection and live in the moment. They don’t feel threatened by the viewer’s gaze but stare curiously with soul-full eyes. They are used to being the focus of attention but they are secure in themselves and neither overindulge in ego, nor shy away from it. Representing all women with essences of different physical traits they come together to create a signature style. Beautifully drawn in pencil & acrylic, these soft-focus ‘elfin’ figures pay homage to the artist’s love of 1960’s fashion and hairstyles and allow the artist to concentrate on the gentler aspects of human nature, thereby accessing those qualities in herself.
In contrast, Italian portrait artist Perla Mignanelli showcases depictions of women with a darker perspective, teetering possibly on high heels to “balance between chaos and order” . She chooses a stark black background to set a scene of drama & intrigue. Her women are cubist vamp-like goddesses or divas, reminiscent of faded Hollywood glamour. There is a ‘funereal-like’ sense to the work, complete with monochromatic bouquets of flowers. Her technique “matches daily objects with natural or fantastical elements in order to develop the perfect idea”. A gothic air, punchy subjects and confident decorative scroll work are not dissimilar to the work of many tattoo parlours. Mignanelli studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Macerata and achieved a BA Degree 2010 and an MA in Decoration. For her MA degree she “analysed fashion as works of art and how characters like: Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, Roberto Capucci weren’t just stylists but artists that built fabric sculptures.” She says her “paintings reflect my personality……Femininity and women are the main focus of my works. I have always been fascinated by feminine gestures, exhibitionism, makeup, fashion, but most of all by the small details of what makes us unique as women” She likes her portraits to the frozen moment captured by the click of a paparrazzis’ camera when “the imagination becomes shape and form”.
Mignanelli completes our soul-searching expedition for female artistic validation through looking outside yourself in nature, to coming in out of the cold to going deeper into self-exploration of your inner nature to view what ‘lurks beneath’. Whether you see yourself in context of your surroundings, through a stylised view of personhood or as a glamorous movie star, we’re sure that she would agree that to pursue an intent study of navel-gazing, it at least should be pierced.
Works will be on show from the 1st of May. There will also be a collection of complementary contemporary accessories.
