Kate Bland installation at Heywood Hill

20 November, 2014

In a special collaboration with Heywood Hill artist Kate Bland has installed two art works on the ground and lower floors of our shop. 

Kate’s miniature oil paintings, meticulous, colourful distillations, are each a response to a place she has stopped to study and draw, be it a London street or a place she has visited abroad. Often it is a building that catches her eye, a preoccupation with architecture stemming from curiosity about the places people inhabit, private lives concealed by the gaze of outward facing windows, front doors and shutters.

It is this act of looking, discovery and escape that informs Kate’s approach to the installation. Rather than a traditional hang, the paintings are accommodated within their own bespoke gallery space, hand-crafted wooden boxes, illuminated from within, complete with a spy-hole through which visitors can look. The boxes sit comfortably amidst our shelves, gently emitted light beckoning the inquisitive to engage in a playful act of hide-and-seek.

Through each opening the eye beholds a secret room, a quiet space that both conceals the painting to outsiders and reveals it to those who look within. It is her hope that like escaping into a book, the boxes create a pocket in time, for a few moments stripping away the clutter and distraction of everyday, allowing for an intimate dialogue between viewer and the work.

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Since completing a degree in Fine Art Kate has combined her career as an artist with a busy job working as a book publicist. She has exhibited regularly on the Isle of Wight, illustrated books  and creates digital collages of houses, buildings and streets around London. She loves her job in publishing, the variety and creativity of the industry providing a constant source of inspiration through books, people and places. Her most recent exhibition, Miniature Salon, was hosted by The Proud Archivist Gallery in Shoreditch.

To see further examples of Kate’s work visit  www.katebland.com