Art in London - Five at 5

Gallery 5

5 Blenheim Crescent
Notting Hill W11 2EE
T: +44 (0)20 8998 7923
M: +44 (0)7795 074843
peter@west-eleven.com

Five at 5

Sophy Smith Patricia Ogundero David Cottingham Suzanne Roles Andrzej Roszczak

September 22nd-29th 2008 Daily 11am to 6pm

Private Views: Tuesday September 23rd and Friday September 26th - 6pm to 10pm

“My imagination is flooded by my own reality and that of the people around me,” says Sophy Smith, who, along with being much in demand as a psychic to celebrity clientele, is rapidly carving a name for herself in the London art world. She will be joined at Gallery 5 this September by four equally exciting and emerging artists - Patricia Ogundero, David Cottingham, Suzanne Roles and Andrzej Roszczak. Together, they will offer a mouth-watering array of vibrant abstracts, figurative and conceptual works which will truly cater for every taste.

“My work as a psychic allows me to go beyond my perception of the world,” says Sophy, “unravelling as many layers as those I form on canvas. With a visceral need to escape everyday sensations, I let the unconscious be my guide.”

Sophy graduated from Chelsea College of Art in 2005 with a BA Hons in Fine Art and Theory. Her work attempts to capture the movement of time and space in 21st century London, while acknowledging the impossibility of such a task. In her new work, layered images of buildings, rooms and landscapes create a spiritual space - boundless through its endless and impenetrable form.

“The process is dichotomous,” she says. “I need to find solace while revelling in the presence of form. These overlapping emotions adhere to both the real and the illusory. They find expression through work that is characterised by a strong palette and dynamic brush strokes. I want the viewer to live for a brief moment in the painting. I want my work to appear unfinished, to resonate with life, with a quality of simply existing."

Since leaving college, Sophy has been working from her studio in Chelsea as both an artist and psychic, generating an increasing demand for portraits, abstract paintings and private readings. In the past few years she has been commissioned to create artworks for musicians and designers, and in 2007 EMI asked her to paint a series of large-scale portraits for a special charity auction held in London. Among the commissions Sophy is currently working on are portraits of Nancy Dell'Olio and Hilary Pilkerton. She has four exhibitions in London this summer, including a group show at Chelsea Future Space in October.

www.chelseafuturespace.org/blowmyskirtup

www.sophysmith.co.uk

Sophy Smith - Dolores

Patricia Ogundero - Nude Study

Patricia Ogundero's paintings capture the living, transforming the ordinary into the unique and shedding new light on familiar surroundings.

She offers us a unique insight into multiple facets of our everyday lives, reflecting the vibrant colours of the world around us. They are infused all at once with joy, love, sorrow and a sense of well-being. The works are contemporary, with refashioned African and European style, combining to create a technique which is truly the artist's own. Patricia's works are widely shown in public and private collections across Nigeria and the UK. She runs her own studio and also teaches Fine Art.

With a combination of strong abstracts and figurative work, Patricia has exhibited widely in London and Middlesex over the last two years and this summer held a major solo exhibition at the Commonwealth Club in Northumberland Avenue. Her work has been accepted at the National Gallery of Art in Lagos and can also be found in the collections of Elf Petroleum and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital in Oxford.

www.patriciaogundero.com

David Cottingham - The River and The Moon

David Cottingham - Australian Earth

David Cottingham graduated from St Martin's School of Art in London, where he studied with William Tucker, Phillip King RA and Sir Anthony Caro. Since leaving college, he has developed a large body of work, both figurative and abstract, exhibiting in New York, Chicago, London and Rome. Commissions this year include work from his London Light Series for Cartlidge Morland in the City of London.

David is Vice President of the Hesketh Hubbard Art Society, affiliated to the Federation of British Artists. His work ranges from landscape-influenced abstract paintings to large dance works on canvas. These pieces are inspired by contemporary and classical dancers, music, photography and sculpture. The acrylic abstract paintings owe their influence to landscapes, cities, spaces, memories and the emotional power of colour and light. They are created by dragging and dripping the paint, as well as using the brush. These works reveal overlaid glazed areas where planes, levels, horizons and depths are combined to create an intense colour experience. Like David’s figure paintings, they are both rhythmical in form and improvisational in style.

They are generally grouped in series, each containing work influenced by different landscapes. The London Light Series is attempting to express the revelation of light falling on buildings and the river. David has also recently returned from a trip to Australia and begun a new series of abstract paintings - Australian Earth - inspired by that extraordinary landscape.

“I believe in the art of painting and drawing as a vehicle for a poetic and evocative expression of the world,” says David, “and for me, with their diversity, the abstract and figurative traditions still resonate and seek new paths in the 21st century. “

David’s recent exhibitions include the 2008 Cork Street International Open and Gallery 286 earlier this year. In 2007 he exhibited at CastelloS.Severa, Rome, curated by Barbara Goebels-Cattaneo and also at the SaLon Gallery in London. Other shows include Salon Prive Arti Visive, Rome in 2006; Finestra Art Space, Chicago in 2005 and Agora Gallery, New York in 2004. He lives and works in West London.

www.cottingham-art.co.uk

Suzanne Roles - Raspberries

Suzanne Roles - Pumpkin Pieces

Suzanne Roles studied painting and printmaking at Camberwell School of Art from 1979-83 and spent a further year on a part-time extended study of printmaking.

She has held numerous solo exhibitions and has participated widely in various group shows throughout the UK. Her work is regularly seen at the Affordable Art Fairs, not only in London but also in Melbourne and New York. She was also shortlisted for the John Moores Exhibition, Liverpool in 2006.

Suzanne’s delicate still-lifes of fruit are exquisitely executed and she excels in endowing her subject matter with a sensuous and tactile quality which has seen her work avidly snapped up by collectors with an eye for quality and uniqueness.

“My still lives are based upon aerial photographs taken using natural light to create dramatic shadows,” she says, “therefore exploring my main interests of space, colour and texture. Oil paint is particularly suitable for recreating the rich and voluptuous nature of fruit. I also enjoy working in different scales from small monotypes on paper to 6ft canvases.”

www.suzanne-roles.co.uk

Andrzej Roszczak - Lady Dior

Andrzej Roszczak - Lady Dior Head

Andrzej Roszczak - also known as EnGi - was born in Krotoszyn in 1974 and now lives and works in Warsaw. Having exhibited widely in Poland and abroad, he received an award of distinction at the Art Salon Egeria ‘96.

“I am inspired by things that are somehow dear to me,” he says. “Photographs, film shots, newspaper titles, covers of magazines, illustrations, events, situations, memories, fears... all this affects the message of my paintings. In a sense, paintings that I create reflect me and my sensitivity to external stimuli. Frequently I am attracted to the longing for something that has passed - something that I saw, like a movie. I like the audience for my work to travel in time to events in previous eras. My field of interest also includes realism in pop-culture. I often wonder whether pop-culture can be real? Why does it affect our behaviour and the choices we make so much? Why does it happen?”

Andrzej will display works from his new Dior series, through his London agent, Magdalena Kruszewska.

www.en-gi.com

Five at 5 is a spectacular staging of five rising stars whose work is sure to be in much demand in the coming years. It is a show not to be missed by serious collectors with an eye for investment.

Five at 5
September 22 to 29 2008 Daily 11am to 6pm
Private Views: Tuesday September 23 & Friday September 26: 6pm to 10pm

Gallery 5
5 Blenheim Crescent Notting Hill W11 2EE
Tel: 020 8998 7923 / 07795 074843