Circle Contemporary
London Art Fair 2020

CIRCLE’s distinct style is shaped by a tribe of artists and artisans who live and work in country and coastal places - in short, nature. We are a principled gallery that show paintings, prints, sculpture and fine crafts which are imbued with the integrity of the maker.

For the London Art Fair Projects we propose to show a selection of works by artists who live surrounded by an expanse of land and sea. From a city dwellers perspective, landscape inspired art practice is often dismissed as romantic and unquestioning. However, at CIRCLE we believe art born from a true dialogue with nature is life affirming, ever present and continually evolving.

Our artists come from Cornwall, Wales, France, Holland, Serbia, Egypt, and Australia. They are united by a global truth - the truth of immersion in, and reverence for, their natural landscape. Our artists are walkers, surfers, divers, botanists, geologists and bird watchers too. Ecological sustainability and green ethics are a part of daily life.
Sculptor Simon Gaiger lives in rural Wales and makes free forms and abstract furniture from fallen trees and abandoned metal, keeping the evidence of past use. Daniel Miles worked for Greenpeace for many years before making his slow meditative forms from recycled materials. John O Carroll’s wide angle gestural paintings arise from the years he spent in the big landscapes of Texas and the Western Sahara. Susan Bleakly’s careful, large abstract paintings flicker with the Atlantic light which she sees from her window. Adam Halls was born on his great grandfather’s farm on Bodmin moor where he still lives - his embroideries reflect deep intimacy with his land. Marie-Jose Robben’s small impasto oil paintings sing of flat windy coast walks in south Holland, a fresh take on the Dutch landscape tradition. Photographer Joni Sternbach roams the world’s beaches, particularly Hawaii, to document surf culture using large format film and early photographic processes, and Serbian Jelena Sredanović uses xylography to observe the surface of the globe - her large-scale vast blue woodcuts pay homage to the beauty, and fragility of our planet.

As you can see from the sample above, so many of our artists’ daily lives are inseparable from, and necessary to, their artistic expression. CIRCLE are committed to showing beautiful art that stems from living in harmony with nature. Environmental sustainability and climate change are the most pressing topics of our age - as a contemporary gallery we believe we are setting a good example.