Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, and the latest Art Space exhibition, People and Landscapes, runs, very conveniently, up to December 18.
When I visited recently, I was escorted by curator Paul Hall through the front two rooms and into the back where the atmospheric watercolours of Sue McGonigle were on display under the sub-heading Hidden Spaces. They filled the room with images of wintry light, particularly light on water, very English landscapes. Stress relief indeed.
A study published last month by researchers at King’s College showed that viewing art reduces stress and boosts the body’s immune system. This exhibition at Croydon Art Space, at 41 Lower Addiscombe Road, seems to prove the point.
By contrast, particularly due to its proximity to McGonigle’s subtle landscapes, was Georgina Nicolaou’s Terrestrial with its bright colours and strange, perhaps extra-terrestrial, figures. Nicolaou herself was in the room when I visited and she is a passionate advocate of her own work, which is influenced by her origins in the conflict zone of Cyprus.
Last year, in the interior of a flat above her family’s drycleaning business on Lower Addiscombe Road, she painted scenes of warfare. The work she showed me of the wall paintings in the flat reminded me of Picasso’s Guernica and its depiction of the Basque victims of Luftwaffe bombardment during the Spanish Civil War. Yes, quite a contrast with McGonigle’s scenes of English tranquillity.
In Room 2, People and Land Views, the striking colours of Contemplation by Peter Clossick and Safe Traumas by Monica Mardare competed for attention with Richard Sorrell’s Beach, which evokes a very English seaside and its visitors. This already carried the little orange sticker of the already-sold painting.
In Room 1, Martin Cade’s antique-style vases are quite beautiful and, alongside them, the abstract glassware of Tracy Nicholls seems to get more and more interesting with every new exhibition. The light-filled, lace-like white glass sphere that greets you on entry to the exhibition is simply a wonder. I am always on best behaviour around Nicholls’ fragile work since I almost destroyed a piece of hers in a few years ago…
If you are stuck for an original (in the most literal sense) Christmas present, then you could do worse than pop into Croydon Art Space. There is no hard sell there, that is just not Paul Hall’s way.
You can book a visit via Eventbrite for Tuesdays 10am-2pm, Thursdays 3pm-7pm or Saturdays 10am-2pm. Even if you don’t buy something, it will be good for your immune system, which is very useful at this time of year.
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