'Up Close' with Caroline Burrarway, Andy Kinsman and Emma Tooth

About

When we decided to invite these three artists, each with a very distinct figurative style, to be thrown into the gallery arena together we expected big things at Signal. We have not been disappointed. This group of artists ooze quality, intensity and technical mastery beyond human belief and the show guarantees to be a stunning anthology of works, introducing newcomers Emma Tooth and Andy Kinsman whilst welcoming back Caroline Burraway. Caroline Burraway produces some of the most powerful oversized charcoal drawings you are likely to encounter. She has been mesmerised by human expressions from the very old and frail (often focusing on death) to the world weary, including recently, a wonderful reinterpretation of a famous photograph of the well-worn face of Samuel Beckett. The works are a marvel of smudges and ‘lines' that exist as striking monochrome portraits, approached with sincerity and gut wrenching emotion. Her work for the show will further demonstrate the unique power of her imagination. Caroline has shown with us for five years in solo exhibitions and amongst group shows. Andy Kinsman is a name relatively new to most in the art world. His wonderfully detailed portraits have a fluidity of technique that must be envied by many. His output so far has been mainly of commissioned portraits. He has a parallel career in the music industry (as a saxophonist) of which many of his early commissions were derived from. Associates, as well as former artistic subject matters, in the musical business include the band Kasabian and Noel Gallagher. He is currently working on a prestigious commission for the Royal Mail to produce a series of portraits of the English football team for a forthcoming collection of stamps. His work for ‘Up Close' will be a more personal exploration of feelings of alienation and isolation. Emma Tooth has taken on the challenge of producing works in the manner of some of the great names in European Art history. She replaces images of religious or mythological figures, with iconic contemporary imagery and social characters, such as the ‘Chav' or street-savvy break dancers (her inspiration for the works in the current show). These works have a moody pseudo-religious intensity, which is balanced by the often playful nature of the unexpectedly banal. So, when borrowing a pose from Bernini of St Sebastian, she has her tattooed figure gazing wistfully into his mobile phone. This will be Emma's first show with the gallery; she has shown extensively across the UK and in the USA. Her most recent solo shows were with Lazarides Gallery in London and Newcastle.