In this roundup, we highlight five innovative painters who are able to convey more than meets the eye
in their works. Discover painstakingly hand-crafted scenes that speak to a wide range of contemporary
issues, from explorations of mortality and decay to expressions of transient feelings.
Stephen Johnston
Limes in a Jar
Mortality was a common theme for the Old Masters, with their scenes of luxury and gluttony undercut by reminders of the grave. Limes in a Jar showcases how Stephen Johnston continues in this tradition. With recent pictures of food slowly decaying in jars, deconstructed cakes and roadkill, Johnston considers still life to be concerned with death as the materialistic icons have a sense of fleeting momentariness.
Ian Robinson
Rainbow Reading
Ian Robinson takes insight from the world of collection, revealing the qualities of the “stuff”
that we accumulate. He focuses on the themes of people’s passions, celebrating the
backstories behind the collections themselves, uncovering the care and passion associated
with key items and unearthing hidden characteristics of their owners.
Christopher Stott
Ampro Precision Projector
Christopher Stott’s clean representational oil paintings transform vintage objects into icons.
He depicts antique items like projectors, books and typewriters. As subjects, they have a built-in
narrative; they tell stories. By turning them into paintings, Stott asks the viewer to slow down
and perhaps even connect their own histories and stories together with the canvas.
Constance Regardsoe
Trapped Light
In Trapped Light, the figure and the light are enmeshed together in water and preserved in
the painting, the moment painstakingly recreated over many hours, like an insect in amber.
The use of a male model nods to the ubiquity of the female form, throughout western art
history and in contemporary paintings of figures in water.
Teresa Lawler
Haven 9: Beyond the Edge of the City
After training as a painter, Teresa Lawler spent time as an art director and has worked across
television and theatre. This background has had a strong influence on Lawler’s compositions,
which stand out for their cinematic aesthetic and frequent references to filmic imagery. Stylised
houses are inserted into fictitious landscapes, with cities only glimpsed in the far distance.
