Art - Contrasting Elements at Four Square Fine Arts

I ask Sonia Crivello, who is opening up Four Square Fine Arts in Mount Place where the copying centre used to be, if Lewes really needs another art gallery. “Actually,” she says, “I think the more art galleries that there are in town, the more people are likely to come in and visit Lewes. And that will have a positive knock-on effect for a number of the town’s businesses.” It’s a good point: the Commercial Square area is fast becoming an artistic quarter, with the Star, HQ, Chalk, the Felix and now Four Square Fine Arts all within five minutes walk of one another. “I’ve been running a business representing artists by hiring galleries and attending art fairs for five years now,” she continues. “It is time to have a space to display some of their work in my home town of Lewes. The feedback so far, from other gallery owners to passers by, has been completely positive.”

Sonia does not specialise in local artists: her aim is to bring established names from other areas to the town. “In most shows I will mix fine artists and applied artists,” she says. Her first show features painter and print-maker Sally McGill, print-maker Manja Scott and ceramicist Sotis Filippides. All three are well-established artists: both the women have won the prestigious Julian Trevelyan Memorial Prize. Filippides moved to England from Greece 20 years ago having discovered the unusual qualities of the Stoke-on-Trent clay. He exhibits in the leading ceramics galleries in the UK. We will be reviewing the exhibition in next week’s edition of this webmag.