Exhibition - Ian and Jo Welsh

Farleys Barn Gallery, an annexe of Farley Farmhouse in Chiddingly, is hosting an exhibition of interesting artworks produced by the husband and wife team Ian and Jo Welsh. “Jo’s work is very much in keeping with the surrealist nature of the setting”, says Ian [it was the home to Roland Penrose and Lee Miller and houses hundreds of surrealist artworks]. “It was born out of an interest in the figure, but a reluctance to produce academic life studies. While it was not directly informed by surrealism, it has become more surrealist as it has progressed. She is primarily a print-maker, who produces etchings and digitally co-ordinated prints, collages and low and medium depth relief work in boxes, of which ‘Does my Bum Look Big in This?’ is an example”.

Ian’s work can be better described as ‘super-realism’. “I’m interested in looking at water,” he says. “It’s a kind of scientific viewpoint analysing what I’m looking at and making works from that analysis. It involves putting 150 layers of mostly transparent lacquer onto a support board, to produce the effect of water when viewed from above. They appear to be three-dimensional, but are at most one millimetre thick”. He has been working on the process for 20 years - each piece takes up to three years to make. The exhibition, part of the Brighton Festival, will be open and can be viewed in conjunction with a visit to the wonderful treasures of Farley Farm, including works by Picasso, Man Ray and Joan Miró. AL