Cathy's Art Diary

Beautiful exhibition at the Pontone Gallery of new work by Iain Faulkner. The works are evidently characteristic of his style of painting himself from the back looking out at landscape in the style of Caspar David Friedrich. In the case I gather all the views are of Lake Como. I love the hyper-real style with both figure and landscape highly focused and detailed. Closed 11 January 2025  

Ethereal exhibition at the Pontone Gallery of new work by Chris Rivers. These striking pieces examine the 12 signs of the Zodiac and the 4 elements representing them as imagined images of space. The Zodiac works all include a gold circle and stars added as blobs of metal giving them a textural quality. The paint is then expressively applied giving a sense of atmosphere. I notice a few had sold but it’s a shame they hadn’t been bought as a set as they work so well together. Closed 21 September 2024

Atmospheric exhibition at the Pontone Gallery of new paintings by the actor Timothy Spall. The works were based on real landscapes but had a surreal, sublime quality. I preferred the ones of views over water particularly this one of Birkenhead with a dramatic sky. I also loved one of an airplane trail across a sky entitled “The Healing Sky”. It was good to chat to the gallery owner about the work and Spall’s influences. Closes 23 December 2023 Review Times