ART SCENE Good companions the works of Carolyn Bew

Carolyn Bew is a British artist working as a painter and printmaker. Her prints use the traditional etching and aquatint process that goes back to the 15th Century. She is indebted to mark-making and gesture, always returning to an expressionistic handling of materials.

One can’t help smiling when you see Carolyn’s art; it oscillates between dark and light, like the moon and sun. Her work depicts people and animals – often in absurd or unsettling situations. The animus is concerned with the dynamic and emotionally charged landscape of childhood, the complexity of relationships and the sense of self.

Her works focus on three areas, drawing, painting and print. Her drawings are approached by digging deep psychologically to birth her paintings and prints. Carolyn says her drawings are a physical manifestation of thought. In contrast, her paintings are observational sketches of an idealised world that she cannot separate from her original conceptual source.

Carolyn employs symbolism and metaphor as a way of storytelling. When viewing her works, celebration, friendship and community, either in relationship with animals or one another, spring to mind.

Her paintings are reminiscent of the late Beryl Cook’s humorous paintings depicting people in pubs, abluting or sunbathing. Like Beryl’s paintings, they are amusing, with elements of light heartiness. Yet, Carolyn’s brush strokes are freer, adding drama, and there is always theatre in her pieces, revealing different aspects of our characters. Although playful energy often emanates from her paintings, there can be a deeper conversation and message to be had, revealing an undercurrent of moodiness or unease.

Th is discomfort is evidently seen in her prints which often feel rebellious and can confront us with power struggles and inequalities. She visually references the works of feminist philosopher Julia Kristeva. Julia’s Intertextuality Theory proposes that everything we read passes through a series of coded fi lters rather than via a presumed direct route from the writer’s intention to the reader. Like the visual arts, what you see is not always what the artist meant.

Carolyn’s work has been shown in group and solo shows across the UK and is held in private collections worldwide. Her artworks can be seen and enjoyed at Kellie Miller Arts Brighton.

Her paintings are reminiscent of the late Beryl Cook’s humorous paintings

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By TESS DE KLERK