Event type: Exhibition

German illustrator Severus Heyn brings his first public exhibition, “Consuming me” to Liverpool Arts Bar.

The artist otherwise known as @queerartisan creates bold and often explicit images, in a fun and colourful way to explore themes of intimacy, desire, heartbreak and conformity.

This collection of work, curated by Laura McCann, offers thoughts on how we consume and are consumed in modern society.

Kathleen Guthrie and John Cecil Stephenson were key figures of 20th century British modernism. Married from 1942 until Stephenson’s death in 1965, this exhibition will be the first time that their work has been exhibited side-by-side.

Though Guthrie and Stephenson were both established and successful artists prior to their marriage, this exhibition explores the development of their individual styles under each other’s influence.

The exhibition will be open 25th January – 8th April 2023 in Galleries 4 & 5. For full visiting information check our Visit Us page.

About The Artists:

Kathleen Guthrie (1905-1981) exhibited widely from the 1930s onwards. Following her marriage to Stephenson in 1942 her work moved increasingly towards abstraction. Guthrie also wrote and illustrated children’s books, most notably The Magic Button to the Moon which was published in 1958, and during the 1960s impressed with her work in silk screen printing.

Stephenson (1889-1965) took on Walter Sickert’s studio at 6 Mall Studios, Hampstead in 1919, where he was later joined by Herbert Read, Barbara Hepworth, and Henry Moore. From 1922 until 1955 he was Head of Art at the Northern Polytechnic on Holloway Road.

Stephenson began making his predominantly abstract work in the 1930s, exhibiting widely – though during the Second World War he returned to figurative work, making paintings of the Blitz. A series of strokes Stephenson suffered in 1958 left him unable to move or talk. Partly for this reason he is today less well-known than many of his contemporaries, despite being a key figure in the development of abstract art in Britain.

Stephenson’s work was re-visited by Guthrie in her screen prints of his paintings, including Egg Tempera 1936 and Egg Tempera 1937.

Image courtesy of Liss Llewellyn Fine Art

Featuring Amanda Oliphant, Chris Routledge, Simon Cooper and Samantha Danford Jones

“The sea is as near as we come to another world.” – Anne Stevenson

High tides and rolling waves – take in the wonder of our ‘blue world’ through paintings and photographs in “The Sea”. The great beauty of the deep can represent many things; endless possibilities, brewing storms, a calm horizon, or a place of pollution – the artists in this exhibition take on some of these concepts in their artwork.

Chris Routledge – “These cyanotype prints, of Whitehaven and Maryport harbours, are early works from a larger and ongoing series about the Cumbrian coast. These towns were once important ports, but were overtaken two centuries ago by better-connected cities like Liverpool and Bristol. Harbours are always interesting, outward-looking places, but like the past, the sea keeps melancholy secrets.

I spent several hours standing with my large format camera looking out to sea and thinking about all the people who have come and gone through these harbour entrances, of fortunes made and lost, and lives changed forever.”

Amanda Oliphant – “Painting the landscape presents endless challenges, with constant changing weather, light and atmosphere, whether it is on the Wirral Peninsula or along visiting coastlines, I am always being driven by the elements that collide everyday but also by the peaceful serenity of a place, never two days being the same.”

Samantha Danford Jones – “The sea holds an immeasurable presence to me, with a depth and impenetrable life of its own; I have the utmost respect for her mystery which is both powerfully tremendous and fascinating. I have lived near or on the sea my entire life; for me, the flow of the ocean represents freedom, peace, solitude, sensuality and life.

I am always keen to raise awareness and encourage conservation of the ocean by supporting and following organisations such as Mission Blue, led by the legendary Dr Sylvia Earle who campaigns to protect swathes of ocean designated  ‘Hope Spots’, around the world, Greenpeace who put huge boulders in the sea to stop trawlers dragging netting and over fishing,  Zero Plastic Waste, coral gardeners who are re planting coral around the globe or divers planting mangroves to help protect low lying coastal areas from flood and devastation.”

Simon Cooper – “With these paintings, I’m not truly sure as to what they represent; do they describe better now than then, a situation so dreadful and devastatingly life-levelling that it was extremely difficult to paint whilst experiencing, or do they show what is happening now and which continues to happen every day – that of life flooding in at every opportunity?

They definitely show a massive change of direction within myself and within my art; instead of a frozen moment in time, an ‘Eno-esque’ ambient mood of momentary stillness & stasis that has saturated my work since the mid-1980’s, these new works show movement, albeit upon stormy and tempestuous waters, with swell that threatens to capsize and swallow at any and every moment. My trajectory is altered, destination unknown – yet the content clearly shows a new and very real way forward…”

All artworks are for sale.

Join dot-art for the Private View of the exhibition on Thursday 2nd February from 5pm-7pm.

All welcome, but you must register here: https://TheSeaPV.eventbrite.co.uk

The dot-art Gallery can be found at 14 Queen Avenue, Castle Street, Liverpool, L2 4TX (just 5 minutes’ walk from Liverpool One).

Opening times: Tuesday – Saturday, 10am-6pm

The exhibition runs 3rd February – 25th March 2023.