“I hope that the imagery in this new body of work reflects an empathetic story of a truth about the human condition in today’s world. If a painting of a group of workers, an empty room, or a figure in the dark, can evoke a response that reflects what is happening in real life, then the creation of this painting is justified.  The story of each painting can, and I hope, will, be interpreted and embellished upon by the viewer… and may not be what I intended.” - James Gemmill

 

“I try to avoid ambiguity in real life, but that is what I like about painting.  I can relay the chain of events that lead to the painting: from sources, to process, to result; but it is up to the individual how to perceive each painting.  I borrow and steal from my past, my memories, photographs, film stills, to create something new.  I am an unreliable narrator – so the interpretation is left up to the viewer.”  - Gavin Lockheart

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ABOUT JAMES GEMMILL

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Oxfordshire-based artist James Gemmill has a wide-ranging artistic career, working in film, television, and design, as well as in the more traditional context of gallery artist.  He has been commissioned large works in the cinematic world, including the recreation of sections of the Louvre gallery for “The Da Vinci Code”; the theatrical set of the film “Anna Karenina”, the reproductions for “The Last Vermeer”, and “Glass Onion: A knives out mystery” just to name a few.  James studied at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City and at the University of Boston; after which he received a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art in London. His work is held in a number of prestigious collections in different countries. Most recently, Gemmill’s work was exhibited at The Mall in London, at Old Brompton Gallery, South West London, and at New College Oxford, as part of Oxford Festival of the Arts – with whom he has established an ongoing partnership.  

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ABOUT GAVIN LOCKHEART

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Gavin Lockheart was born in the Midlands between picturesque countryside and the heavy industry of the Black Country. His paintings sit mostly within a generalised landscape genre but often with further imagery apparent on the surfaces; figures, faces, flowers, vehicles, buildings, drawn from a lifetime of taking pictures, not so much an imagined world as a reconstructed one. Rural features appear incongruously in the city; figures seem out of place in their environment, though seeping into it. The use of multi layered imagery throws the understanding of depth out of focus and sets up a scenario where the surface functions both as screen and as window.  Gavin studied at St. Martin’s and has shown in the U.S and Europe and in 2007 completed a nine story wall installation in Manchester. He lives and works in London.  Some of Gavin’s work can be viewed, by appointment, at the Artist Room, Great Chapel Street, Soho.