Sarah Harvey
Location: London
Website: www.sarahharvey.co.uk I aim to produce paintings that arouse both a sense of well being and pleasure, whilst simultaneously suggesting notions of insecurity, fantasy and sexuality.
Entirely suspended by water, my figures are sometimes in perpetual motion and sometimes simply floating motionless and in limbo. Each paintings consists of about 20 – 30 glazes in order to denote the sense of water and to truly encapsulate the figure within. I am fascinated with the appearance of body contours that exaggerate under the magnification and distortion of the glassy water which surround my figures. Their forms are fragmented and further disfigured by the ripples and swirls created by the movement of the water, abstracting their appearance, often with implausible results. I am greatly influenced by Francis Bacons’ Carcus and crucifixion paintings, and of course by the work of Jenny Saville.
With this, I have become increasingly excited about the abstract elements in these works, and the interplay between light, colour and water. The emerging patterns are becoming more apparent and dominant, drawing the eye not only towards the main focal point of the human form, but also to the surrounding areas, which are of equal significance. The work is without a horizon line, so not to have any reference of anything solid to draw perspectives upon.
The process of reaching the final image I paint often involves piecing together multiple images in order to further manipulate and accentuate perspectives and distortions. I work from a number of images that either I have taken, or I have posed for, and these go through a long manner of manipulation before they are used, although much of my work is from my imagination also.
Exhibitions
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011 ‘Quiet World’ Collectors Contemporary, Singapore
2010 ‘The Pleasure Principle’ Sesame Gallery, London
2008 ‘Kaleidoscope Dreams’ Beaux Arts Gallery, Bath
2007 ‘Underlying Current’ Oisin Gallery, Dublin
2006 ‘Unseen things’ Sesame Gallery, London
2006 Paul Gullotti Gallery, Perth – Australia
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2011 Oisin Gallery, Dublin
2010 ‘The View’ Taylor Place London
2010 ‘CLUSTER [mingle]’ Stone Gallery Dublin
2010 KIAF 2010 represented by Sesame Korea
2010 Rarity Gallery Greece
2009 Wunder Kammer the Chamber of Sesame Gallery London
2009 Winter Exhibition Stone Gallery, Dublin
2009 Christmas Exhibition, Beaux Arts Bath
2009 UNTITLED 2 (summer 2009) Collectors Contemporary Singapore
2009 '12x12x122' BECA Gallery USA
2009 2021 Art Fair, represented by Beaux Arts Bath, London
2009 Group show. Sesame London
2009 ART DAEGU Represented by Sesame Korea
2009 Affordable Art Fair (Represented by SarahMyerscough) London
2009 London Art Fair. Represented by SarahMyerscough London
2009 Group show. Sesame London
2009 London Art Fair. Represented by Sarah Myerscough Gallery. London
2008 2021 British Art Fair. Represented by Beaux Arts Bath, London
2008 Art Toronto. Represented by Sarah Myerscough Gallery London, Toronto
2008 Artist's of Fame and Promise Beaux Arts Gallery. Bath
2008 'Liquid Light' Sesame Gallery. London
2008 Guild Hall 'Essex Paints London' London
2008 Sarah Myerscough Fine Art 'The Figure'. London
2008 London Art Fair Represented by Beaux Arts Gallery Bath
2008 & 2007 & 2005 'Open Studios' Bow Arts Trust London
2007 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. London
2007 Sesame Gallery Sarah Harvey & Miriam Jarrs London
2007 Nunnery Gallery 'Multicomplexificationalities' Curated by Roy Exley. London
2007 Manifest Gallery 'Magnitude SEVEN' Cincinnati, Ohio
2006 Christmas Exhibition Oisin Gallery, Dublin
2006 Melbourne and Sydney Art Fair - Gullotti Gallieries - Australia
2005 'In Search of Unseen Things',Sarah Harvey & Richard Somerville. Sesame London
2005 'Art in Mind', - La Viande Gallery, Hoxton, London
2005 'The Art of Love', The Oxo Gallery London
2004 'The Northern Graduate Show', Curwen Gallery London
2004 'Modus Operandi' Globe Gallery Newcastle
2004 'Exposure' Hatton Gallery Newcastle
2000 Chelsea School of Art final year show London
