Portico Modern

23rd February to 6th August 2013

Olga van Dijke

Studied: BA (Hons.) Fine Art, University of Kent, 2011. 

HND with Distinction Fine Art, South Kent College, 2010

Olga’s work is often elemental, using sensuous, romantic colours conveying a rich passion. The art works are vivid, expressionist paintings that communicate profound feelings to the viewer. The craft items are colourful and diverse.

The ever changing colours are the influence of the time of day, mood and subconscious. At all times her unframed canvasses are designed to integrate with the wall, others have a 3D effect whereby the forms interact with the space around them.

Rod McIntosh

Studied: Sculpture at Sheffield. Rod is an artist with his studio in rural Kent. He works between Kent and London as an exhibiting artist and consultant to the creative industries. He has maintained a dynamic practice alongside a successful Arts Management career. His work has transformed from figurative sculpture with a medico-anthropological starting point to works with minimal subject other than material, processes and an exploration of a visual language of marks.

As a mark maker he lies within a tradition of drawing. He is also a creative facilitator providing bespoke training across educational and business environments, he lectures and writes about artists professional practice.

Graham Carter

Graham Carter is one of the most exciting illustrators currently working in the UK. His client list is extensive and he has enjoyed successful campaigns with Aviva, Bupa, Orange, Waterstones, Visa and Monster.co.uk. His illustrations can also be spotted in editorial publications such as The New Scientist, The Guardian and The Sunday Times.

Over the last year he has become a Director with Animation Studio Ticktockrobot working on a variety of personal projects and commercial animations.

Graham has also become one of the UK's most prolific and collectable printmakers, with clients across the world. His ever expanding collection of limited edition Silkscreen & Giclee prints can be found exhibited in galleries worldwide.

His prints bring his own unique style of wit and humour to the public. They are visually arresting, enchanting, warming and nostalgic.

Matt Forester

Matt is self taught.  His Uberpainting brings landscapes to life in ways no one has ever explored before.

His watercolours unleash creativity and redefine many beloved British landscapes.  Pure watercolours. Pure revelation. Pure inspiration.

If it’s true that pictures speak louder than words – MJ Forster paintings may leave you speechless.   Speed and accuracy are needed to complete a watercolour in this style.  It’s important to remember that any mistake means the painting is a write off, it is impossible to correct a watercolour.  All the problems created by the composition have been solved by as much as 100 hours of preparation; the final execution of the painting is about 7 hours.

David Bennett

Studied: Leeds University in Graphics and Illustration then a masters in Natural History Illustration at the RCA.

From an early age he naturally took to painting and drawing, animals and birds being a recurring theme. After graduating David moved back to Yorkshire, where he now paints and draws full time.

His work has earned him many prestigious awards and placements on conservation projects in Alaska, Extremadura in Spain, Ireland, Scotland and the New Forest.

His project “Otter Shores” in May 2011formed a culmination of his work with these elusive animals, portraying observations and encounters on the wild and remote west coast of Scotland. Constantly subject to the dynamics of weather, light and season he illustrates their world, behaviour and habits.

Karen Jones

Studied: The London College of Printing. There she studied Graphic Design, specialising in illustration in her last year.

Karen Jones is an experienced, talented artist who creates dark and beautiful paintings touched with a modern, thought-provoking twist. Her works are story telling images for the 21st century.

Karen paints with gouache, a rich, dense watercolour which creates her trade mark velvety-flat illustrations. Her unique style and subject matter are a mixture of the real and the other worldly, the mysterious and the macabre. Her delicately rendered images capture the viewer’s imagination taking them on a journey into the literary world of history, literature, folklore and fairy-tale to discover the darker realms of the adult mind – love and death, possession and jealousy and the lightness of the human spirit. Speaking of an older time but with a modern voice, Karen Jones paintings are fascinating objects of desire.

Polly Finch

Studied: Self-Taught

Polly is fascinated by the challenge of telling a story with the paper whilst keeping it all in one piece. Each of her papercuts begins from a word, saying, image or story. She then freehand draws the image full size and starts cutting – although even then the story can still evolve and change during the cutting process. All of Polly’s papercuts are unique, although she may have themes that occasionally reoccur.

“I’ve been fascinated by paper since childhood – when my 70s collection of Snoopy stickers gradually amassed to a huge stock of all things paper – origami, handmade papers, notebooks, wrapping paper” - Polly