In the exhibition My Little Eye, Sarah Wallace is encouraging you to enter the exciting process of discovery and exploration. When fully connected to her subject, whether it be trees talking, sea-weedy rock pools or flower pods, Sarah’s work rejoices in colour and based on an entirely distinct visual language.
I grew up in the country – pear orchards, rows of lavender, Daphne buttercups, in spring I learned all the names of the bulbs. The garden was old and surrounded by a huge cyprus hedge, the perfect place to hide. A freeway covers my old garden now.
The works are usually reflections and not based on direct observation. I have always been interested in the interaction between the brain and the four senses – the visual, auditory, olfactory and kinaesthetic. Painting and creating work is my escape from noise, competing thoughts, a way of calming my mind, a time of regeneration.
I return to the orchard, the jungle, the dams and the willows in my dreams. Sometimes I am underwater amongst coral reefs in rockpools and watery seaweed-scapes.
I sometimes start work without any image in mind but as I load the brush with colour stems and growth appear. The process is immediate, spontaneous, and meditative. The colour is as important if not more than the evolving form.
I now have a new garden that was planted on bare soil. It is full, folding around me, huge leaves to hide under, Chinese dragon trees canopied, tall bamboos, orchids that I sit amongst before I start painting.
Sarah’s work is like a pictorial diary of images taken from her connection with nature and her imagination. My Little Eye celebrates the impulse of life, regeneration, energy, intuition, joy and the subliminal currents of air, sky, earth and water. The work is diverse and exciting; ink on canvas, mixed media on wood, oils, ceramics and installation pieces that take you into tiny moments of time.
Sarah Wallace, My Little Eye opens Saturday 28th October 2-4 pm.
Show runs 28 October – 11 November