Magic escaping reality: Two outstanding new graduate artists

The past few weeks I've been visiting the degree shows across the UK, it’s been great to be on the road – reconnecting with tutors and meeting new artists. It's always special meeting artists at degree shows, seeing them invigilating their show, sitting quietly by their work - despite the fact that not very many people tend to visit the shows outside of the private view (I’m not sure why that is), it is clear how important their work and the degree show is to them. The show represents the culmination of their efforts to date and their hopes and aspirations for the future. Not many of these young artists are likely to go on to make a living from their work and so this is a critical stage for them. Some pretty special new graduates have crossed my path this year. Today I’d like to introduce you to two of them - Mark Bletcher and Emma Louise Grady.

Newcastle graduate, Mark Bletcher is an extraordinarily exciting young talent. His work is a self-professed symposium of: ’Modern Magical Realism. ’ Bletcher cites Japanese author, Haruki Marakami as one of his most significant influences, which is unsurprising when Murakami can be found saying: ’Whatever it is you're seeking won't come in the form you're expecting.’ This quote seems to define the prismatic marks made in Bletcher’s work, which continually challenges the routine perceptions of reality in new, unanticipated ways. Bletcher has developed his own trademark style - when constructing his work, the artist sits his canvases within a wide, flat, wooden frame. A nod to Hodgkins? Certainly akin to the signature, painted frame motif used by Howard Hodgkin in his abstract paintings. Like Hodgkin, Bletcher paints his frames, perhaps in direct reference to the focal subject of his work: magic escaping reality. Mark has been shortlisted for the Woon Foundation Prize 2019 (Announcement for the prizes 4th July).

Demonstrating her own daring is Dundee’s queen of vibrancy, Emma-Louise Grady. Each intricate dot or dash committed to her canvas, harmonises as a group of marks and appears to breathe and come alive before our very eyes. Her work has the same hypnotic quality as the dot-paintings seen in the artwork of Australia’s indigenous Aboriginal people. It is as though, this young artist has taken inspiration from an ancient technique and transformed it to create something utterly new and original… Something uniquely hers. Emma-Louise sold very well at her degree show and so we have just 2 pieces available for sale.

The Deep by Emma-Louise Grady SOLD