Arcadia

An exhibition showcasing the imaginary idyllic paradise of Kate Richardson's paintings.

Empath

Nature is always close to my heart, and I am fortunate enough to live in the countryside. The natural environment has always inspired my works.

Recent evidence has shown that through the upheaval COVID-19, many of us have needed to be closer to nature. With this need comes a greater appreciation, and we are choosing to experience this in many forms.

One of the elements of the Japanese concept Wabi-Sabi, which I came to understand when I spent time there, was the notion of bringing the outside inside. I am instinctively drawn to artwork that represents nature. I feel it brings the spirit of nature into our environment and reminds us of the beauty of the world around us. It softens the built environment and balances the yin and yang in any space.

Kate Richardson approached me in 2018 to represent her, and we have been working together since. After the easing of the UK lockdown, she presented me with an impressive body of work of various styles, which I was keen to exhibit. My biggest challenge was selecting pieces to represent Kate and her story.

Kate Richardson is a rare artist who effortlessly flows between artistic genres. One can accredit her success to her talent, work ethic and her ability to produce her artworks prolifically. Raising at 5 am, she can be found painting in her pyjamas. At this time of day, there is a combination of a rested mind and body, but perhaps still with a toe in the 'twilight zone' of sleep/wakefulness. It is in the stillness of the morning that she is most creative.

For Kate, painting is a mediation. Like breathing, she needs to paint to stay in equilibrium – to live and to give meaning, to tone down the noise in this socially tricky time.

She aims to be aware of her ego; her purpose is to engage with the 'flow state' where she is in the zone, and the ego is rendered redundant. This is when she is wholly focussed, and time stands still. In this trance world, she creates works that she often doesn't recognise and questions whether she painted them.

Cetus

Kate says

"When my ego (whose sole purpose is survival of the sense of self) does inevitably return, the focus to paint is purely to attain immortality. Hoping that the essence of me will still be discussed, admired, scrutinised through my work, long after I'm dead."

With this in mind, the works I have selected for this exhibition are from three different styles. Kate's main priority for her abstract works is to turn the mind off and not to analyse. If she allows insecurities to taint this process, then the magic is lost.

In her landscape paintings, inspired by land and sea, she uses her symbolic wind-bent tree/s. There is always one that points in the direction of where she lives. These forlorn-looking trees signify dignity, strength and home, all depicted in a promised-land setting.

Kate's third style of works is a combination of abstract works and angels. These angelic forces occasionally make an appearance in her works. To include them adds an element of optimism, the unknown and the spirit realms to the collection.

Working with the synergy between Kates genres, this is the first solo showcase at the gallery. This body of work has been produced during COVID-19 lockdown and perfectly sums up the exhibition title 'Arcadia' - an unspoiled, harmonious wilderness, an imaginary idyllic paradise.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau perfectly describes what I experience when I see Kate's paintings.

"With imagery at once, extraordinary, fanciful and sublime, (s)he often conjured an ethereal universe of transcendent beauty — an idyllic and shimmering realm from which ugliness, poverty and pessimism were forever banned."

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825 – 1905)

Arcadia runs from 19th September to 5th October. If you would like an exclusive private viewing, please email us at gallery@kelliemillerarts.com

Poidhu