JOHN BATESON – Painting in is in John’s blood. Both his mother and grandmother were artists and it was from them that he first learned how to paint and draw. After doing a degree in Drama at Manchester University he returned to Brixton where he began working as an occupational therapist, painting in his spare time. Many of his pictures aim to capture something of bustle, business and colour that characterise this area and include places like Brockwell Park and Brixton Market.
For some years now he has also been making lino cut prints developing a technique that he likens to creating a parch work quilt. Lino cut prints also allow the use of bright colours which when set against dark lines is similar in effect to stain glass. www.johnbatesonpaintings.co.uk or Instagram @johnbatesonartist
CHRIS CHRISTODOULOU’s work explores the subconscious and vivid landscape of dreams. By using the subconscious space, Chris interprets and makes tangigle deeply hidden feelings. Chris’s recent drypoint prints are inspired by a 3 year, 150m long Epic charcoal drawing, ‘The Odyssey’ exhibited at the Corpus Christi Church, Brixton, last year, which explores memory through the artists dreams.
The new long print is made up of connected images, each one bringing together Chris’s vivid dreams with current affairs, news and happenings, mixed with family memories and the experience of living and working in the city. This storyboard-like approach explores themes of memory, loss, love and death. For this exhibition individual dry point prints are presented from the larger longer print. They include: ‘Girlfriend in a wheelchair’, ‘Maggie’ and ‘Dark Horizon’.
Among several Academic achievements Chris’s latest was a Masters in Special Art Projects at London Met University, 2016. Instagram @c.christodoulou
