Artist statement
Recalling the shimmering late works of J.M.W. Turner, Penman Sweet manipulates oil paint with the subtlety of watercolour...
Annemarie Lopez 2012
Arts writer for Australian Art Review, The Sydney Magazine and The Week UK
...these are, quite simply, profound paintings.
Nicholas Usherwood, 2012
Author, Critic and Features Editor, Galleries Magazine
The handling of oil paint is evocative, startling and refreshing, challenging the distinctions between the painter’s and the photographer’s art, as well as between abstract and figurative image-making. Her forms suggest other forms, her structures other scales and ways of seeing; her scenes hint at other, yet vaster landscapes, of the world and of the mind.
Dr Sue Roe, 2007 Critic and author of ‘The Private Lives of the Impressionists’ and ‘Gwen John: A Life’
By using fine layers of oil paint the living qualities of paint take on their own characteristics independent of the subject, so that the subject is not the subject of these paintings. Instead, Anne Penman Sweet’s creations fulfil our need for “moments of stillness”.
Dr Angela Summerfield, 2008
Art Historian, Author and Art Critic for 'The Spectator'
I grew up in Australia where the power and scale of the landscape was a formative and lasting influence. Over the following years I travelled widely, firstly within Australia, and then throughout Asia, spending several years in India and later living in England and America. The early fascination with remote and wild places continues. I was and still am, drawn to the silence of the desert and the mountains, but now also to other places and other images that somehow capture the same sense of stillness, space and timelessness– old industrial sites on the edges of towns and cities, flat farmlands with huge skies, a lonely road in an empty landscape with a single set of headlights appearing from the gloom. The paintings themselves are not about any specific place, although I often use visual references in the early stages of the work – photographs, film stills, images from magazines. What I’m attempting to do through the depiction of these diverse and nameless places is to provide a space of resonance, of interiority and inner recognition – a moment of stillness. My abstract paintings are an extension of this exploration – seeking in a non-representational format, a bridge to the same experience.
Gallery representation:
Stephanie Hoppen Gallery Knightsbridge, London
Northcote Gallery Chelsea, London
Beaux Arts Bath, U.K
Qualifications and training
- 1978 Certificate of Advanced Studies (Post Graduate), St. Martins School of Art, London
- 1974 Certificate Fine Art, Claremont School Of Art, Perth, Australia
Solo exhibitions
- 2012 'Ocean Avatars', Stephanie Hoppen Gallery, Knightsbridge, London
- 2011 'Anne Penman Sweet: New Paintings', Stephanie Hoppen Gallery, London
- 2010 'The Industrial Sublime: Beauty in the Beast', Stephanie Hoppen Gallery, Knightsbridge, London
- 2008 'Superstructures' solo exhibition, Stephanie Hoppen Gallery, Knightsbridge, London
- 2008 'Episodes', Northcote Gallery, Kings Road, Chelsea, London
- 2007 'Across the Divide', Four Square Fine Arts, Lewes (more info)
- 2007 'Surface and Structure' solo show, Cupola Gallery, Sheffield (more info)
- 2005 'Pivotal Time' solo show, Alan Kluckow Gallery, Berkshire
- 2004 'Embracing Heaven and Earth' solo show, Cupola Gallery, Sheffield
Group exhibitions
- 2013 Gliding Giants, Stephanie Hoppen Gallery, London
- 2012 Art Antiques, London, Kensington Gardens, London
- 2009 Gallery Artists, Beaux Arts Bath, U.K
- 2009 Tankers - Ships and Superstructures, Stephanie Hoppen Gallery, Knightsbridge, London
- 2008 Summer Show, Medici Gallery, Cork Street, London
- 2008 FORM, Olympia, London
- 2007 Art for Life, Smithfield Gallery, London (more info)
- 2007 'Two Views', Stephanie Hoppen Gallery, London
- 2007 Group Show, Smithfield Gallery, London (more info)
- 2006 Group Show, inc Damien Hirst, Keith Coventry, Poussin Gallery, London
- 2006 'Dreamland', Chambers Gallery, London
- 2006 'Picture This', for War Child, inc. Damien Hirst, Peter Blake, Banksy,Taylor-Wood, The Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, London
- 2005 London Art Fair 2005, Business Design Centre, Islington, London
- 2004 'Scapes', Mark Jason Gallery, London
- 2004 'Breath of Fresh Air', Byard Art, Cambridge
- 2004 London Art Fair 2004, Business Design Centre, Islington, London
- 2003 Art London 2003, Chelsea, London
- 2003 Anne Penman Sweet and Alexandra Knubley, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
- 2003 'Paperwork', Vertigo Gallery, London
Curated projects
- 2007 'Small is Beautiful', Royal Academy Schools Gallery, London (more info)
Public commissions
- 2005 Commission for Chelsea Flower Show 2006, Chelsea Flower Show, London
Competitions, prizes and awards
- 2013 Finalist, Salon des Refuses, S.H Ervin Gallery, Sydney, Australia
- 2006 Shortlisted, Celeste Art Prize, London
Other
- 2012 London Art Fair 2012, Business Design Centre, London
- 2011 London Art Fair 2011, Business Design Centre, London
- 2010 Art London, Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London
- 2010 London Art Fair 2010, Business Design Centre, London
- 2009 Art London, Royal Hospital Chelsea, London
- 2009 London Art Fair 2009, Business Design Centre, London
- 2008 London Art Fair 2008, Business Design Centre, London
- 2007 Art London, Royal Hospital, Chelsea (more info)
- 2007 London Art Fair 2007, Business Design Centre, London
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