We were delighted to collaborate with esteemed interior design studio Russell Sage to curate an art collection for the newly refurbished Gordon Ramsay restaurant, The River Restaurant at the Savoy Hotel.  With an exceptional art-deco interior, we responded to the brief of a muted colour palette, abstract forms and some metallic finishes throughout.  We presented a dynamic collection of artists whose practice explores expressions of abstraction and captures these elements.  The artists featured were Aisling Drennan, Bruce French, Caroline, Kate Burns, Laura Wickstead, M.Clark and Sylvia Hommert.

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About the artists

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Aisling Drennan

Aisling Drennan is a contemporary abstract painter based in London, who studied at Fine Art at Central St Martins.  Her work is rooted in the material curiosities and playfulness of oil paint.  Currently, her painting practise is concerned with stone wall formations, drawn to their heaviness of form yet lightness of appearance. Studies of stone walls are abstracted and etched into layers of paintwork- constructed, deconstructed, scratched, rubbed and finally reapplied to form a new skin and begin the process over; a method of finding and losing the painting until visually robust.

 

Bruce French

French’s compositions have a static, voyeuristic enveloping quality that is contrasted with the fluid lines of the figures and their physicality. By stripping away any distinguishing features, Bruce creates elemental, linear images that have a universal resonance and emotive appeal. Drawn from life French’s observations manifest into faceless, figurative forms, emotionally charged, androgynous and anonymous. French’s paintings are a pictorial record of the human condition, French states “The images are not necessarily about a particular person but are about enabling an emotive empathy – an instinctive humanistic understanding.”

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Caroline Popham

Caroline Popham is a British artist living and working in London. She studied Fine Art at the Chelsea College of Art, London, graduating in 2016 with a postgraduate diploma. Her work engages deeply with the aesthetics of minimalism and abstraction. Popham creates compositions with multilayered narratives that represent her way of seeing and creating her own visual language. 

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Kate Burns

Based in London, Kate Burns uses the language of abstraction to create considered compositions that strive to achieve an 'enigmatic beauty'.  The process of painting allows the artist to explore thoughts and emotions and provides a journey of discovery into a more sub-conscious and intuitive way of making.  

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Laura Wickstead

Laura Wickstead is a self-taught artist based in London. Laura creates abstract pieces that are studies of shapes and structures. By examining both form and colour, she often uses soft and muted tones to create dreamlike abstractions whilst pairing these with geometric shapes. She produces her work using acrylic paint and pastel pencils to create art that celebrates expression and imperfection. 

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M.Clark

M. Clark creates dynamic conversations between constancy and chaos by sculpting malleable metals. As light interacts with the textures and shapes in the artwork, the reflective surfaces creates diffuse patterns producing a shifting luminosity that is unique to her work. 
Clark’s creative process includes constant experimentation with materials. Each piece is created in her New York City studio over many weeks using a specialised technique that the artist has developed. 

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Sylvia Hommert

Sylvia Hommert was born in Los Angeles and now resides on Shelter Island in New York. Hommert's focus is on light and its reflections, how it interacts and influences environments. Hommert experiments with a range of mediums including pigment, beeswax, holographic paper and glitter on birch panels to capture this ephemeral and iridescent quality. The colors subtly shift as the natural light moves across the surface of the works. Hommert builds up layers of materials from the opaque to the translucent or transparent. She uses a flame to burn away certain areas to create depth and texture. Exposing these elements holds a certain mystery and creates intriguing textures and colors. The panels have a pristine resin finish which reflect the light and enhances the glittering and sparkly effect beneath. Hommert studied at the Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles and has shown extensively in the US, Europe and Asia.

 

​Project executed through A Space for Art.