Julie Cooper is exhibiting a series of gentle and calming abstract oil paintings. Julie has said of the work that she will be exhibiting "Perhaps rather perversely under the circumstances, the most recent paintings were made with a lighter, brighter palette than much of my previous work.
During the strange year of 2020 the studio was my happy place instead of one where I would increasingly strive to make paintings that expressed my anxieties and bewilderment about the state of the world. It takes a pandemic, where everything is way beyond one's control, to free up the mind and find joy!
Most of this work is informed by local landscapes, the garden or interior still life but after many evolutions the paintings can become abstracted to such a degree that little if nothing of that nature is discernible. However, in some, the odd motif or hint of figuration remains. I do not feel this is essential though as abstract work has its own language.
As an artist, one hopes the viewer is able to engage, enjoy and perhaps even recognise or understand what is being said."
