Wendy Brooke-Smith Press Release
August 2015
ACRYLICS AND OILS ON WATER
FROM CANARY WHARF TO CONSTABLE COUNTRY
Water is the unifying theme of Wendy Brooke-Smith’s forthcoming exhibition, entitled
New Paintings: Still Water, which runs from Monday 2nd to Saturday 7th November
2015 at Gallery Different, 14 Percy Street, London W1T 1DR.
This wide-ranging solo exhibition celebrates the bare elements of landscape: colour,
shape, structure, light, energy - and water.
Isle of Dogs Eastward, 2014, 102 x 92cm, acrylic on canvas
Thames Wharf Aerial, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 140 x 100cm
Wendy Brooke-Smith draws inspiration from transience and contrast in contemporary
British landscape, both urban and rural: her paintings are strongly planted in the ‘here and
now’, yet mindful of layers of history and artistic precedent. Thus when the artist
presents us with familiar landmarks she simultaneously challenges us to look beyond
cultural cliches and iconography to what we really see and feel, not what we know, or
‘ought to see’.
Continuing the theme of her sell-out solo exhibition at the Menier Gallery in 2012, this
new body of Brooke-Smith’s work includes several paintings of the River Thames, such as
Shard to O2, her panorama from Greenwich Observatory, as well as pieces inspired by
her native River Stour which forms the border between Essex and Suffolk.
Shard to O2: View from Greenwich Observatory, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 102 x 183cm (diptych)
Of her approach to painting, Wendy Brooke-Smith says: “As an artist, I am aware of our
need to engage with landscape, to come to terms with, and ‘understand’ it, rather than
simply to observe from a distance or through a metaphorical car window. Constable or
Turner may have stood on the very same spot, but this is irrelevant unless we can find
our own response to the landscape before us. So foreground detail is often important
to me as a way of connecting with the reality of where we stand - a way of belonging”.
Flatford Series: Millstream, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 120 x 150cm
In the Flatford Series of large paintings, the artist uses striking reflections to focus
attention not on the heritage of the location but on our personal experience of the
For press enquiries about the exhibition, comment, text or images, please contact:
Wendy Brooke-Smith (wendy.brookesmith@gmail.com)
Tel: 07740 799869
Stour Valley Freight, 2014, oil on canvas, 40 x 50cm
Bankside Pier East Study, 2014, charcoal on paper, 76 x 95cm
Charcoal drawings are integral to Brooke-Smith’s process, as initial observations, and
then as more developed ideas for paintings in the studio. Several of these drawings are
included in the exhibition, together with smaller paintings and mixed media works on
paper.
Wendy Brooke-Smith graduated from UCS in 2008 with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art. She
has since exhibited in several solo shows and her work is held in private and corporate
collections throughout the UK, including Hill Dickinson, UCS and Associated British Ports.
NOTES TO EDITORS
EXHIBITION DATES: Monday 2 - Saturday 7 November 2015
LOCATION: Gallery Different, 14 Percy Street, London W1T 1DR
PUBLIC OPENING HOURS: Monday 2 November 10.30am - 6pm (Preview Day)
Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 November 10.30am - 6pm
Thursday 5 November 10.30am - 8pm
Friday 6 November 10.30am - 6pm
Saturday 7 November 11am - 5pm