Popular Sussex artist Sarah Money announces solo exhibition in Lewes

Following on from the success of her inaugural solo show, Star Brewery Gallery are hosting an exhibition of the latest works by Sussex artist Sarah Money. A former dancer and mime artist, Sarah Money’s sculptures and paintings are filled with a fluid rhythm, as she explores the movement of the human form. Her work brings in her experience in dance through the lines and brushstrokes, with a loose and free technique that is risk-taking as she explores colour and texture and its relationship to emotion.

“I experience the combined qualities of movement, texture and colour as I work”, she says, “allowing my emotions to play their part. It is simply the essence of my subject in that moment in time that I am trying to capture.”

This closeness to movement and the workings of the human body are evident in her sculptural practice. While her portrait heads are created directly from the model, her figures emerge from observational life drawing and her imagination. She uses heavy-grogged clay and once the pieces have been hollowed out, they are biscuit-fired, then stone-fired and glazed or painted.

The use of turquoise is inspired by the artist’s travels to Arizona, spending time within the Navaho community. Other colours reflect her interest in the aesthetics of antiquity: “like the figures have been unearthed, or they have been underwater for a long time.”

Money’s paintings have an equally physical presence. She uses a palette knife, and even her fingers, to load paint onto the canvas, repeatedly scraping back and adding more layers. This produces an energetic and vivid impasto. The process is a wholly intuitive one: these are not still life flowers, but what she describes as “the idea of a flower” conjured from memory and imagination.

Sarah Money’s work is held in private collections in the UK and the US.

Star Brewery Gallery is a visual arts exhibition space with a history of hosting exhibitions by national and international artists. It showcases both established and up-and-coming talented artists, photographers and makers.​ The gallery is situated in the centre of Lewes, the vibrant county town of East Sussex.

Sarah Money: An Exhibition of My Paintings and Sculptures, 2022 – 2024 is open 1-9 June 2024 at Star Brewery Gallery, Castle Ditch Lane (off Fisher Street), Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1YJ. For more information visit: https://www.sarahmoneyartist.co.uk