Christine Watson

Christine Watson’s solo exhibition at Gallery K in Nicosia features
an outstanding new collection of paintings and pastels that reflect the
geographic and architectural qualities of Greek islands. They reveal a new synthesis of the figurative and abstract aspects of her work.

The work in her first exhibition, in 1994, was entirely figurative, depicting the daily life of people in the markets and streets of Spain, Portugal and Greece. Gradually Watson’s canvasses became devoid of people; their environment became the subject matter – their houses, streets, alleyways and steps – leaving her to explore their geometric shapes, and the abstract elements of the spaces, light and shade, texture and colour.

Watson’s early work was abstract, influenced by artists John Hoyland, Patrick Heron and Gillian Ayres who were her inspirational tutors at the Slade. From them she also developed her uncompromisingly strong style, her clear bright palette and an under- standing of how to balance colours and space, shapes and shadows, and to see the beauty in simplicity.

For this exhibition Watson has created a collection that reflects the geographic and architectural qualities of Greek islands, where man and his environment – to a greater extent than elsewhere in Western Europe – are still in harmony with the slow rhythms of nature. She composes pictures that capture a moment in time, when the streets are empty of the people that have lived for many generations, behind those crumbling walls and peeling paint. But around each corner one senses their presence, just moments before or after they have slipped out of sight behind a door, through an archway, or down a flight of steps.

Watson has always avoided the fashionable hype of the ‘art scene’, intent of perfecting her considerable talent and striving for perfection in a classical sense. When she arrives at that point, she will undoubtedly move on to focus on the next painting. Creating another moment in time. Asked what motivates her she replies ‘It’s what I can do well; I’m driven, unless I paint I feel frustrated’.

A catalogue featuring many of the works accompanies the exhibition.

Opening Hours
Monday - Friday: 09:00 - 13:00 & 16:00 - 20:00
Saturday: 09:00 - 17:00