Deeson Gallery: Sarah Batt
As a painter I don’t think you ever reach a destination; you can never feel ‘good enough’, but can only strive to do the best you can do at that moment in time. For me it’s not so much about rules, or at least I am not conscious of them when I am making a painting. Some of my best paintings have evolved out of works which I thought were going to be a disaster! Perhaps it’s the ‘not knowing’ what will happen, which keeps it all fresh and exciting? Or the surprise when a bad painting comes good, once I’ve stopped being precious with it! When I paint, my goal is not to represent the subject as a camera would record it. Instead it is to express how I feel about its colour, form and light; the enjoyment of laying down paint on canvas and expressing something of myself in that process. For me it is as much about painting what I ‘see’ as what I ‘don’t’ see. The challenge is to make an ordinary subject come alive through the medium and be of interest to the viewer, while retaining a freshness and spontaneity in the painting. Subject matter may vary, but predominantly my interest lies within the human form and portraiture; perhaps because of my fascination with ‘the human condition’ on an emotional level.
Sarah continues to be mentored by one of Britain’s top painters, Hugo Grenville. “He has been invaluable as a tutor and very much shaped the way I paint today,” says Sarah. She has also modelled for Peter Kuhfeld and the late John Ward, with whom she drew on a number of occasions. Prior to this Sarah studied life drawing and portrait painting in Brugge, Belgium. In recent years she has gained a BA (Hons) in fine art, studying at both Canterbury College and Ashford School of Art and Design. Sarah has selected works in print with ‘The Art Group’, which is one of the largest art reproduction companies in the country and sells on a global scale.
Exhibitions
2004/5 South East Open Studio’s
2005 Passionately Pink Breast Cancer Calendar, Competition Winner
2006 The Great Art Fair – Alexandra Palace, London
2007 The Affordable Art Fair – Battersea, London
2008 The Brick Lane Gallery – London
2008 The Hampshire Art Show
2008 The Red Leaf Gallery Christmas Show – Tunbridge Wells
2009 The Affordable Art Fair
2009 The Kent & Sussex Art Show
2010 The Kent & Sussex Art Show
2010 The Impure Art Gallery Brighton
2010 The Hampshire Art Show
Galleries
The Red leaf Gallery, Tunbridge Wells; The Impure Art Gallery, Brighton;
BeManic, East Peckham.
Artist Q&A
If you were a Pantone colour, which one would you be?
I’d probably be pink – as I love all the different shades of it.
In the studio of which artist - dead or alive - would you like to be a fly on the wall?
I imagine that I would have liked to have been an artist in Paris in the late 19th Century, so perhaps someone like Toulouse Lautrec…I’m drawn to the Moulin Rouge.
Tell us something great you've just discovered?
Agave Nectar – a natural organic sweetener which has a low GI and comes from Mexico’s Blue Weber Agave plant.
What 3 words define your art?
Colourful, Painterly, Eclectic.
Name your top three dinner guests, famous or not, dead or not...
Marilyn Monroe, Madonna and someone to make me laugh…like Peter Kay
Which book or film do you wish you'd written?
I’m not a bookworm and I hardly ever watch films because I can’t sit still for long enough. So I can’t answer this one.
What's your favourite journey?
Anywhere that involves going to an airport and getting on a plane, I love the whole process!
How would you express yourself if there was no such thing as art?
I’d be a dancer.
If you were a superhero, which one would you be and why?
I don’t know if she counts as a super hero but I’d be Wonder Woman because she reminds me of my childhood, which sticks in my mind as being a magical time! I also remember thinking she seemed so glamorous!
Rock or Roll?
Rock