Among the large stable of skilled artists represented by Principle Gallery, are many who live and work abroad. This August, the gallery’s Charleston, South Carolina, location is showcasing a carefully curated selection of 20-plus works by their international talent in a show titled Around the World.
Colin Fraser, Cascade, egg tempera on panel, 43 x 59"
Colin Fraser was born in Scotland but has lived in Sweden for the last 40 years, a country that has influenced his work, especially its light, culture and design aesthetic. Fraser paints primarily in egg tempera, with a focus on still lifes and interiors that often afford a glimpse of a landscape. “The work’s main subject is always a feeling or mood, and the objects and places in my work are always personal to me and with which I have some kind of emotional connection,” says Fraser. “Light is fleeting and transient as are the objects and places in my work. The evanescence of the moment stirs an excitement in me. It’s like the need to hold onto something which will inevitably change—and soon.”
Rosso, Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Really Matters, oil, gold leaf and spray paint on panel, 31 x 31"
Cascade, an atmospheric depiction of a Swedish coastline, is a bit of an anomaly for the artist, who doesn’t typically paint seascapes. “It’s an almost conceptual theme developed from the idea that a painting is never a snapshot in time,” Fraser says. “A painting is a bit like going into a capsule of arrested time, where the clock hasn’t stopped but time is ongoing. The light defining the movement of the water and the sea-scarred shore aren’t illustrations of what the place looks like, but hopefully more about how it can feel to be there.”
Figurative artist Anna Wypych lives in Poland, which she describes as a “beautiful country with people who have big and brave hearts, and a high level of sensitivity,” qualities that suffuse her work. “At the heart of each piece is a person and their emotions, their inner world captured in a symbolic realm,” says Wypych.
Anna Wypych, Red, oil on canvas, 36 x 28"
Her piece Red draws on the power, strength and passion associated with the color, which saturates the backdrop and other elements of the slightly surreal portrait. “This painting is about starting a new chapter in life, learning new skills, learning new things about yourself, experiencing new emotions, and observing all this with hope and a positive attitude,” she says. “It is as if you thought you were complete, but then suddenly you develop and discover that your world was 2D, and now you start to become 3D.”
Canadian artist France Jodoin’s semi-abstracted works often reflect the environment of the country’s Pacific and Atlantic coasts. “Water is found in basically all my paintings, whether it is in the form of waves, dew, wet pavements or simply mist,” says Jodoin, adding that the true influence is the journey of her ancestors who emigrated to North America in 1666. “My paintings reflect their travels across the ocean; they could be interpreted as memories of times past, of places once inhabited or visited.”
France Jodoin, Light between Shutters and a Sparrow in the Sound of the Gutters, oil on linen, 48 x 72"
Jodoin paints a broad array of subject matter, including architectural works like Light Between Shutters and a Sparrow in the Sound of the Gutters, inspired by an old, abandoned manor she stumbled upon while traveling in Ireland.
She says, “As I was painting this image, I imagined the people who once walked through the hallways, looked out the windows to see the pastures freshly cut; I imagined what the stones felt like under my hand as I walked below the windows and I imagined a time past when there were no radios, no cars but silence all around.
“Even though [my] subjects vary…I often say that I paint variations on the same theme: timelessness.”
Around the World opens on August 2 with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. and runs through the end of the month. —
Principle Gallery 125 Meeting Street • Charleston, SC 29401 • (843) 727-4500 • www.principlegallery.com
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