The third joint exhibition by artists Darren Lewis and Ross Andrews opens at the Pie Factory Gallery in Margate next week.
Thrills and Spills follows their successful previous exhibitions titled ‘Sand, Sea and Light’ in 2016 and ‘In and Out the Sea’ in 2017. The exhibition ‘Sand , Sea and Light’ gained BBC interest.
Thrills and Spills brings together all the fun experiences and aspects of the Thanet coastline.
Darren depicts, with traditional methods of oil paint, the Thrills of the obvious fun seeking activities within Margate’s Dreamland amusement park. These include past childhood memories of white knuckle rides at the height of its success in the then named Bembom Brothers during the 1980s.
As one of Britain’s oldest seaside resorts, Margate has already enjoyed two centuries in the spotlight as a place for fun seeking excitement and has been welcoming day trippers and holidaymakers since the early 1700s.
But Dreamland is not the only thrill-seeking experience on offer, many come to the town to experience and observe the famous Margate light and jaw dropping sunsets which Darren records in his paintings. The thrill of being within the landscape, be it, a theme park ride, a sunset illuminating Margate’s serene harbour or a cliff top view of the expansive sea and sand, is captured in Darren’s paintings.
Ross offers extreme photography to record the power of the sea at its most exhilarating, capturing the thrills of being in our waters from a unique viewpoint. Ross experiences his own version of white knuckle rides by physically immersing himself within the power of the sea providing unique imagery as he rides the waves and spills surrounding us.
Some pieces can take more than two years to capture and with a very small window of opportunity, all of the elements have to simultaneously come together.
Ross also uses the natural environment as his canvas to produce sand art patterns on a monolithic scale using a rake and a stick. Most of Ross’ work is done on a freestyle basis, often with no prior planning.
The two artists sometimes use the same subject matter but from very different approaches, perspectives and disciplines.
Thrills and Spills is at Pie Factory Gallery in Broad Street from September 14-25.