unSTILL Lives 3: Gina Southgate at Beaucatcher exhibiting her latest landscapes, abstracts, and live gig paintings.

Artist Gina Southgate should be familiar to locals, by name and paintings. Her work has frequently been exhibited around the borough in venues as diverse as Clissold Park House and The Vortex. Her third exhibition of works at Beaucatcher Hair Salon is currently on display. With live music from Vera Jonas Duo Gina opened the exhibition, bucking the trend of the reclusive artist with the declaration that her favorite time - the best bit of her occupation is exhibiting. 

Gina' s work features vibrant colours and motion, she says she paints live and does not go back to re-work the images once they have been captured, which accounts for the immediacy and energy in her work. Her abtracts are pleasing animated images in bold colour.

She divides her art into three categories: landscapes, gig paintings and abstracts, each of which she says she enjoys equally. I think my personal favorites are her music paintings. The concept of visually capturing and evoking a live perfoming musician and the creation of sound is fascinating; Gina has focused on this subject matter for many years. Her first solo exhibition of gig paintings at was London’s Jazz Café in 1988 and she has worked as resident artist at a number of music festivals and events.

A selection of Gina's landscapes and abstracts can also be seen in the current exhibition. The Broadstairs horizon was raising a good deal of approval at the launch party. Don't miss the painting of the Beaucatcher stylists, a study of the hairdressers at work on their own artistic creations.

During December Gina will be Beaucatcher artist in residence spending time in the salon painting ‘live hairdressing’ on a small scale. Her appearances will focus on weekdays and late evenings, they’ll be random but if you would really like her to paint your appointment, request it when you book and she will do her best to paint you. She won’t charge, but if you like the results, the painting will be available to purchase.Gina will also be in charge of the Beaucatcher holiday window displays for which she is creating site-specific light installation.

The exhibiton will continue through January 2012. Gina also has an ongoing exhibition of live gig images at the Vortex, and a couple of pieces in Ryans bar and her work 'A winter walk with David S. Ware' is currently in the window of the N16 pop up gallery on Albion Rd.

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southgateprints.weebly.com



Bryony Hegarty