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The British Invasion

No, we’re not talking about music. This isn’t an ode to The Kinks or an inquiry into the rise of the Beatles. We’re dealing with the here and now–the rockstars of the canvas and the icons of sculpture.

Let us take you on a tour of four contemporary British artists that will be displaying works in our upcoming 12th Annual Fête Exhibition: Jeremy Houghton, Claire Brewster, Peter Haslam Fox, and Heather Jansch. These are some of Diehl Gallery’s most significant artists, and their works are attracting attention across continents.

Jeremy Houghton - Poshly Painted Sporting Coverage

Houghton’s name likely rings a bell; he’s been named one of the most collectible sporting artists of our time. With a litany of residencies that include 2008’s London Fashion Week, the 2012 Olympics, Highgrove in 2013, Windsor Castle in 2014, and Goodwood in 2015, he is poised to become a historical reference point for contemporary art in the 21st Century.

Houghton has spent the last year as the artist in residence for the Land Rover Ben Ainslie Racing Team–documenting their intense training leading up to the 2017 America’s Cup. The resulting pieces are, well, bloody fantastic. This May, we hosted a private exhibit of Houghton’s paintings in NY and, as his sole United States representative gallery, we can tell you that interest in his work is incredibly high.

“I like getting between the reality and perception. My canvases reflect my preference to be on the edge and lurk unseen in the shadows. I like to shape the space between things, where bodies linger, shimmer and take flight.  The bird in flight is the motif that ties my work’s development together.”

We are honored to be working so closely with Jeremy Houghton as his following continues to expand throughout the U.S. Houghton’s newest works will be on display in our gallery not once, but twice this Summer, starting with the 12th Annual Fête, opening reception July 1, and followed by his solo exhibit “Good Sport”, opening reception August 18.

* Interesting tidbit—the word “posh” is rumored to have come from “port out, starboard home”, a phrase used by the upper class on early voyages from England to India to reference the most desirable (and expensive) cabin accommodations. We thought it a fitting way to describe the artist who has spent the last year intimately acquainted with the port, starboard, bow, stern, and every angle around and in between.

Claire Brewster - Carving Into Cartography

Claire Brewster describes her work as “capturing the essence of nature in everyday materials.” From old maps and atlases, she carves awesomely intricate images of birds, flowers, foliage, insects … a sampling of nature’s offerings. The pieces, when displayed, cast shadows, create movement, and bring life back to the two dimensional scaled drawings from which they are created.

Brewster grew up in Lincolnshire, England and has been creating art for as long as she can remember. Her interest in art shepherded her to Spain and Romania before landing her in London, where she has been living and working for the last 20 years.

Through the course of her career, her work has been featured in numerous galleries, museums, and exhibitions across Europe, the U.S., and Australia. Financial Times described her pieces as “exquisitely ethereal” and her pieces have appeared in Elle Decor, Vogue, World of Interiors and Marie-Claire Maison, among others.

Brewster notes “My birds, insects and flowers transcend borders and pass freely between countries with scant regard for rules of immigration or the effects of biodiversity.”

Thank goodness for that because a flock of her new works are en route to our doorstep at Diehl Gallery, where they will be exhibited in both the Fête Exhibition, starting July 1 AND her solo exhibition: Claire Brewster, a Conference of Birds, starting September 9.

PS - This piece is called “Going to America.” Cheers!

Peter Haslam Fox - Softly Stretching Scale

Painter Peter Haslam Fox is a London based figurative artist admired for his unique, contemporary approach to watercolor painting. Informed by a study of Chinese landscape painting, Haslam Fox approaches large paper canvases with reverence for the white boundaries and a patient uncovering of the subject’s details.

“So, the way I paint my style, is that I paint largely in very delicate colors. I use the white of the paper as my starting point and then I build very light shades around the white of the paper … because it’s delicate, I try to push it scale wise as big as possible so I don’t get too stuck in it–stuck in the detail of things. When you’re painting very lightly, you don’t want to get too obsessed with reproducing something you’ve just seen; you want to kind of go with it a bit.”

Of working with watercolor, he says, “There’s something about not being able to go backwards. It sort of celebrates really knowing what you’re doing and I think that’s kind of appealing.”

Fox has been attracting collectors on both sides of the Atlantic, perhaps it is the scale that appeals to American collectors … or the delicacy with which he adorns the massive, white, paper canvasses.

In 2008, he won the Sunday Times, Royal Watercolour Society Young Artist Award and has since enjoyed notable success at Art Toronto, Canada’s international fair for modern and contemporary art. ‘Art of England’ magazine described his paintings as “exquisite pieces of contemporary portraiture.”

Below are two of the pieces we’ll be showing in our Fête Exhibition. Remember, in the land of watercolor, these delicate beauties are HUGE!

Heather Jansch - The Perseverance of Passion

We could actually delve into music here, as Heather Jansch’s late husband, Bert Jansch, was considered one of the most influential musicians of all time, a key player in the British folk music revival of the 1960’s. He was an important part of her career as an artist. After his death in 2011, Heather wrote and published a memoir of their time together.

For this post, we’re talking about the British Invasion in relationship to contemporary art in the United States. And we’re talking Heather Jansch, the Diehl Gallery represented artist and sculptor.

“From the beginning my twin passions were drawing and horses, my hero was Leonardo da Vinci, and my dreams were of becoming an artist living in a wooded valley with clear flowing water at my door and horses grazing all around.”

Always drawn to horses, Heather bred them, drew them, and sculpted them in an array of mediums. It wasn’t until she started working with driftwood that her career as an artist finally reached a gallop.

In 1999, her life-size driftwood horses garnered her an invite to take part in ‘The Shape of The Century’ - 100 years of sculpture in Britain at Canary Wharf. From this exhibit, her work was discovered by Eden Project founder Tim Smit, who invited her to become a resident artist and subsequently purchased what is now lovingly referred to as the Eden Horse. Of Heather, Tim says she is “a genius … rightly considered one of our country’s finest artists.”

Jansch now lives in a wooded valley with a clear flowing stream, grazing horses, and a sculpture garden that she opens to the public twice a year to raise money for charity. Passion is a powerful entity. When it meets the right channels, there is a sort of untangling that occurs and we instead get to weave from the recesses of our desires.

Join us July 1 for the Opening Reception of our 12th Annual Fête Exhibition at Diehl Gallery where “The British Invasion” will be in full swing! It promises to take the biscuit for Summer 2016 art indulgence in Jackson Hole.