Brighton’s Arty: Mapping it out

Serendipity. Don’t you just love it! For a long time now the Dane and I have wanted to create a map showing Brighton’s arty shops and galleries. We’ve always admired Drink in Brighton’s cartographical masterpiece. (And we’ve had plenty of opportunities given the many hours – nay days – we while away in the city’s hostelries.) We had a go at commissioning one once. And delightful though it was, perhaps a tad too much artistic licence (or beer) was taken by its creator, and the missing streets and several wrong turns rendered it of little practical use. So I nearly fell off my chair when I saw the artwork sent to us by Phil Dobson for his pages in Brighton’s Artists 2015. It’s just the most brilliant seagull’s eye view of Brighton. And he’s very kindly given us permission to annotate a monotone version to open our chapter on Galleries & Shops. Perfect!

Another submission that spread a lot of happiness in the house of Krog this week was from the divinely talented Yvonne Coomber. She calls her work ‘a celebration of all that’s good in the world’. Her evocative, dreamy, rainbow-drenched paintings sing of wild, tumbling hedgerows, tangled meadowlands, open moorlands and magical forests. What’s more they literally sparkle with joy due to the mixture of materials she uses. Oils, inks, glosses, acrylics, glazes, fine glitter and gold leaf are applied by the artist in a multitude of layers for a result that takes the viewer – in Yvonne’s words – to ‘a place where paint smiles’.

If you can’t wait for our new book to be published to be transported to this effervescent wonderland, head to ART5 Gallery on Bartholomews. It’s a super artspace, super welcoming and represents an enticingly diverse selection of artists – including Yvonne. See for yourself!
www.artymagazines.com
Follow us: @brightonsarty