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Patsy McArthur: Invigorate

Past exhibition
3 - 20 May 2023
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Artworks
  • Patsy McArthur Golden Hour Charcoal on paper 45 x 56 "
    Patsy McArthur
    Golden Hour
    Charcoal on paper
    45 x 56 "
  • Patsy McArthur Glide Charcoal on paper 45 x 30 "
    Patsy McArthur
    Glide
    Charcoal on paper
    45 x 30 "
  • Patsy McArthur Open Water Study Charcoal on paper 12.5 x 16.5 "
    Patsy McArthur
    Open Water Study
    Charcoal on paper
    12.5 x 16.5 "
    Sold
  • Patsy McArthur Echo Charcoal on paper 41 x 41 "
    Patsy McArthur
    Echo
    Charcoal on paper
    41 x 41 "
    Sold
  • Patsy McArthur Night Swim Ink and charcoal on paper 25 x 22.5 "
    Patsy McArthur
    Night Swim
    Ink and charcoal on paper
    25 x 22.5 "
    Sold
  • Patsy McArthur Towards the Pier Charcoal on paper 28 x 34.5 "
    Patsy McArthur
    Towards the Pier
    Charcoal on paper
    28 x 34.5 "
  • Patsy McArthur Lookout Graphite, charcoal, gesso and glue on paper 27.5 x 16 "
    Patsy McArthur
    Lookout
    Graphite, charcoal, gesso and glue on paper
    27.5 x 16 "
    Sold
  • Patsy McArthur Vista Charcoal on paper 30 x 20 "
    Patsy McArthur
    Vista
    Charcoal on paper
    30 x 20 "
  • Patsy McArthur Infinity Pool at Dusk Charcoal on paper 28 x 36 "
    Patsy McArthur
    Infinity Pool at Dusk
    Charcoal on paper
    28 x 36 "
  • Patsy McArthur Sanctum Charcoal on paper 31.5 x 23.5 "
    Patsy McArthur
    Sanctum
    Charcoal on paper
    31.5 x 23.5 "
  • Patsy McArthur Pathfinders Charcoal on paper 25 x 38.5 "
    Patsy McArthur
    Pathfinders
    Charcoal on paper
    25 x 38.5 "
  • Patsy McArthur Upstream Charcoal on paper 34 x 34 "
    Patsy McArthur
    Upstream
    Charcoal on paper
    34 x 34 "
  • Patsy McArthur Up, Up and Away Charcoal on paper 16.5 x 12.5 "
    Patsy McArthur
    Up, Up and Away
    Charcoal on paper
    16.5 x 12.5 "
    Sold
  • Patsy McArthur Contemplation Study Charcoal on paper 12.5 x 16.5 "
    Patsy McArthur
    Contemplation Study
    Charcoal on paper
    12.5 x 16.5 "
    Sold
  • Patsy McArthur The Mountaineer Charcoal on paper 31.5 x 23.5 "
    Patsy McArthur
    The Mountaineer
    Charcoal on paper
    31.5 x 23.5 "
  • Patsy McArthur The Lake Charcoal and gesso on paper 27.5 x 20 "
    Patsy McArthur
    The Lake
    Charcoal and gesso on paper
    27.5 x 20 "
  • Patsy McArthur Waterway Charcoal on paper 46 x 51.5 "
    Patsy McArthur
    Waterway
    Charcoal on paper
    46 x 51.5 "
About
Patsy McArthur, Invigorate
The phenomenon of wild swimming has exploded in recent years, enjoyed as a way to escape the confines of lockdown, to disconnect and spend time with your thoughts, or to take refuge from a scorching summer’s day. Either in groups or alone, we venture into seas, rivers, lakes, and ponds. To be in water is to inhabit an alternative dimension, one in which the forces that govern our relationships to the world — gravity, temperature, speed, and sound — are playfully distorted. Far away from the shore, with the earth no longer under our feet, we are weightless, buoyant, free.
 
For Patsy McArthur, whose Brighton studio gazes out toward the sea, swimmers are a familiar presence. While the Scottish artist has regularly incorporated swimmers and divers into her drawings, this is the first body of work to present them exclusively. Charcoal, her preferred medium, lends itself with astonishing efficacy to distilling the effects of light and movement on the water’s surface. It is, in the artist’s words, “great for drawing movement, as you can blur it and move around so easily. I like the tension and challenge that comes from trying to capture something that’s wet and fluid in a bone-dry medium.”
 
These figures, and their watery contexts, are drawn from McArthur’s experiences, from the sea close to her home in Brighton, to a lap pool in Lisbon and a spa in the Alps. She begins each composition by loosely consulting her own photos and videos for a sense of light and contrast. Her talent for life drawing quickly moves in, and the references fall away to make room for sensations that escape the camera — sensations, such as rhythm and texture, that can only be imparted by the artist’s hand. Indeed, the subtle gradients between white surface and black charcoal prove equal to a vast array of vivid colour paints in their expressive potential.
 
The shape of water, as Patsy McArthur teaches us, is less a fixed, observable phenomenon than a tangible result of imposing light with dark, mass with space, and form with flow. As we grapple with it for ourselves — ducking waves in a choppy sea, swimming lap after lap in a community pool, or plumbing the cool depths of a faraway lake — we undergo, “a sense of renewal, a hopeful sense that after the experience we’re going to be somehow slightly changed, slightly different.”
 
List of Artworks Exhibited
Catalogue
  • Patsy McArthur

    Patsy McArthur

    Invigorate Harpenden, 2023 Read more
Film
Installation
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  • Patsy McArthur

    Patsy McArthur

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