Artist, Designer and Educator Simone Brewster is showing across Kensington and Chelsea over the summer vie the KCAW Art Trail – and at the same time is presenting a solo exhibition at the J/M Gallery.
Changing Tides follows Brewster’s show-stopping year in 2023, as the Special Commission for the London Design Festival; as a NOW Gallery summer solo artist, and with major acquisitions from the V&A and Smithsonian Museum, Washington. Being dubbed by the New York Times in a feature last year as a ‘hands on maker’ – the title Changing Tides captures this specific moment in Brewster’s practice, where her intricate sculptural and three-dimensional work opens a dialogue with her painting.
We think we’re very precise, controlled humans… whereas in reality we’re quite messy on the inside, and that’s where the beauty comes from.
Internal landscapes have been a recurring theme in Simone Brewster’s work. The juxtaposition between our presented visual self and our inner world can often be confusing, varying and nerving. Through aging, bodily change, sexuality and gender – our outer self is often not a reflection of our inward emotional landscapes.
So how does one make visual depictions of the ‘inner self’? Through exploring colour, line and form and abstractly playing with our innate understanding of the figurative, Brewster takes the audience on a tour of the hidden self. Do the shapes and forms feel somewhat comforting, recognisable even? Do the contrasts suggest harmony, or discord? Do the paintings depict a sense of confidence, yet longing?
This new body of work sees a further step away from the figurative, with a surrendering of total of control. In this exhibition the canvases displayed are a mark of Brewster’s relinquishment, with some taking nearly a year to complete. Rather than planning forms and lines (as demonstrated in previous paper work), Brewster seeks to understand her own internal landscape through this new technique of painting, with some works being an act of self-portraiture. The viewer may question their own internal landscape, whilst others may simply appreciate a sense of familiarity and comfort. The certainty is that all can exercise their semiotic understanding of shape and form through the unnamed yet familiar shapes present in these paintings.
Brewster’s work often offers a playfulness to viewers, inviting them to reflect on themes and associations we often attribute to simple shape and colour. Pulling you into the canvas she leads you to question if these forms connote concepts such as gender, race, or body image?
Through this exhibition, attendees are invited to reflect on their inner landscapes and the shapes that echo our cherished memories, evoke our childhood, mirror our natural environment, or resonate with our intimate relationships. Brewster’s paintings, far from the constraints of conventional representations, encourage viewers to delve into the familiar yet often unnamed organic shapes that exist beyond definition. Rejecting the idea of using ‘named’ shapes, Brewster underlines the profound familiarity that comes with experiencing these forms, as well as the emotional sentiment, value, and comfort they hold.
Changing Tides is curated by James Marshall
Simone Brewster, Changing Tides, 19th – 25th June, 2024, J/M Gallery
The exhibition coincides with Brewster’s unveiling of the new Spirit of Place in Hoopers Court, Basil Street, Knightsbridge.
