Pulse & Flow Solo Exhibition 2012

NEW GALLERY  LONDON  92 Peckham Road  London  SE15 5PY

Open : Wed 16 –Sun 20 May 2012

Pulse & Flow is an exhibition at New Gallery London by London artist Sharon Drew of works that appear in Art Is…, a new musical feature film directed by Barry Bliss (Notes from the Underground, Godard & Others) and starring Emily Beecham (28 Weeks Later, The Calling), Paul McGann (Withnail and I, Doctor Who) and Gary Kemp (Spandau Ballet, The Krays). Composer Doug Berwick has written ten new songs for the film.

Drew, the art consultant for Art Is…, provides the paintings for the character of Lulu (Beecham), a talented artist struggling to cope with the pressures leading up to her first solo exhibition, with the final scenes being shot in Peckham at the New London Gallery.

It has been a fascinating experience to be adopted by the film world, says Drew. It truly is a parallel universe; I am the painter but the film is not about me. Artifice and reality have been constantly interchangeable. Seeing the film crew in action was captivating, especially those moments when everyone connects, when magic happens.

Light, space, colour and process are continuing preoccupations in Drew's work. Pulse & Flow brings together two series of works; one is characterised by the flowing red forms of diluted acrylic paint while the other features more ordered yet feisty patterned imagery.

Drew's paintings are shaped by the environments she experiences. She frequently travels from East London to West Cornwall. She says: I continue to be astonished and enthralled by the weather, energy, light and colour in these contrasting landscapes. The disparity and sometimes the parallels are the impetus for this work.

Bliss, commenting on Drew's paintings, adds: Surely the greatest gift an artist can bestow upon the world is that of allowing any viewer the freedom of interpretation – an unfettered flight of their imagination? Within each canvas created by Sharon Drew there exists this endless possibility.