Mayfair exhibition at Catherine Best jewellery studio

  • Beatrice Garcia

This exhibition was inspired by a trip to Northern Italy where I was mesmerized by some of the decaying frescos on the Capella della Scrovegni in Padova. Inspired by medieval painter Giotto's palette I painted two layers of paint onto a canvas (the first being a metallic layer); and then sanded down the top layer thus allowing elements of the base metallic layer to shine through. The effect was to create paintings which appeared much older than they were, thus mirroring the charm of the frescos in that Italian chapel. My second muse for this exhibition was the Japanese concept of Kintsugi whereby they repair broken objects with gold as they believe that your cracks and your experiences you more valuable. It has once been famously said that buildings are the soul of civilization and given that our capacity for creative thought separates us from our primate ancestors I wanted a paintings to also reflect this. Exhibition is on at 1b Albemarle Street, Mayfair till the 28th of November. Opening times: Monday- Friday 10am-6pm and Saturdays 10am-5pm