SFSA 2022 Painting Open Exhibition

My 2020 painting ‘Look Both Ways’ will be making its first appearance in public on 1st Dec 2022. Previously only seen online, and on the wall of my studio, you can see it as part of the Second Floor Studios & Artists (SFSA)’s 2022 Painting Open exhibition at the 'no format Gallery'.

Look Both Ways. 2020. Acrylic on wood panel. 30.5cm x 30.5cm

The show features the work of 100 artists and is a celebration of painting on a small scale. All works are available to buy.

Open preview night: Thurs 1st Dec. 18:00-20:00

Opening times: 2nd-4th Dec, 7th-11th Dec 13:00-18:00

Studio NF01, Casting House, Moulding Lane (off Arklow Road), Deptford, London SE14 6BN. 8 minutes walk from New Cross station.

ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2022 - the show

A trip out to a packed artists’ preview night at The Mall Galleries was a fun affair. I discovered who had selected my paintings, saw many pieces of great work by others and found an opportunity for some goofy posing to the camera.

Mini Croydon 3 - selected by Gurinder Chadha. 🔴 SOLD

Mini Croydon 2 - selected by Kate Enters. 🔴 SOLD

Mini Croydon 4 - selected by Kate Enters. 🔴 SOLD

Mini Croydon 3 was chosen by film director Gurinder Chada. Mini Croydon 2 and Mini Croydon 4 were chosen by Kate Enters, director of ArtCan. The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition runs from 11th - 20th of November 2022 and will be available to view online until 31st December 2022. The works of all the artists are available to buy.

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I found it (and the red dot).

It’s hard to pose with your paintings when they are so small!

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I also had a nice preview piece about the exhibition from local Croydon publication Inside Croydon.

ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2022 selection

I'm happy to say that I've had three of my little paintings chosen for the 2022 ING Discerning Eye Exhibition. Each one is about 12.5 cm square in a frame so very compact. It runs from 11th-20th November at The Mall Galleries, London. More links and pics to follow, I expect.

“The 2022 ING Discerning Eye received close to 7,500 entries from more artists than ever before. The quantity and quality of submissions was outstanding, and yours caught the eye of our selectors to be exhibited at the Mall Galleries in November. Congratulations on this incredible achievement!”

— ING Discerning Eye Exhibition

The paintings selected for the exhibition are Mini Croydon 2, Mini Croydon 3 and Mini Croydon 4.

Spread - An Exhibition of Work by Turf Studio Members

‘Spread’ - An exhibition of work by Turf Studio members runs from 25th-28th May 2022 in the Turf Project Space (part of Turf Projects, 46-47 Trinity Court, Whitgift Centre, Croydon, CR0 1UQ). Opening times: 11am-5pm. Closing event Saturday 28th May: 2pm-5pm.

Featuring the work of Matt Bannister, Asha Fontenelle, Flora Hunt, Salina Jane, Desilver Johnson, Jhinuk Sarkar, Divya Sharma, Yolanda Shields, Katherine Smith, Miguel Sopena, Amy J Wilson and Daisy Young.

Audio description of the exhibition ‘Spread’ at the Turf Project Space.

‘Placeholder’, 2022. By Matt Bannister. Acrylic and graphite on canvas. Unframed dimensions: 40cm x 50cm.

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detail 1

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detail 2

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detail 3

I’ve got some thoughts about the work here. It’s more of a stream of notes, really, and I don’t want to spell it all out but it might give you an idea of my approach to creating the final painting:

PLACEHOLDER

The beauty of a sunset. The silhouettes of bare trees like nature’s own charcoal drawings. Space. Energy. Life. The dramatic and otherworldly effects of sunsets that still stun me. Time. Wonder from the familiar - a theatrical dusk in a local park. The wooden cube structures as figures, as 3D drawings, as illustrations of fragile human endeavour. As wild growth contained. Dead wood. Living trees. The handmade nature of all human efforts. Straight lines never stay straight. Creating a new scene from my thoughts. Temporary. Humans. Games. Stillness. Potential. Interaction. Influences - Magritte, Victor Willing, Cornelia Parker.

Fruit and Vegetable Prints for Foodies

Inspired by the petite monochrome watercolours I painted during Lockdown in 2020, these full colour fruit and vegetable digital prints are on sale via my Etsy shop.

Comprising an orange, an apple, a plum, a garlic bulb, a mushroom and a red onion, these are all reproductions of original monochrome paintings of mine, originally done in watercolour on small A6 pieces of card.

Some of the red painted watercolours I did of food. My favourites are now available to buy as prints in glorious technicolour.

I added the colours digitally afterwards specially for the A4 print versions. The digital prints on 310gsm Museum Heritage A4 size paper are available individually but also as in fruity or vegetable bundles of 3, as shown here. They are sold as signed and unframed here.