2013
EXHIBITION FOREWORD :
In a nebulous chancy realm of mist and fog, wet eyes straining in the moisture laden air, perceiving dim and dangerous shapes, portents and wraiths, rivulets of light on eye, and which world are they in, and which world are we in now.
Perception and imagination create this world in equal measure, outside of time and place, our small circle within the fog. Stories tell of the fog that traps, of doomed ships still sailing in that other world - this becomes, easily, remarkably, an unfanciful idea within the grey veil. Sail on, sail on.
An eventual lightening, a glimmer, a breaking through, and a clearing -
one hundred million scintillating droplets give form to air, shining like cobwebs in a sparkling dew
Idly musing on the parameters and possibilities allowed by this strange attractor, as a sphere of (mostly) burning hydrogen some 8 light minutes distant throws its dancing light upon these shifting waters
Sax Impey
ONLINE CATALOGUE (click below) :
INTRODUCTION :
Sax Impey was born in Penzance, Cornwall in 1969. He completed a BA(Hons) Fine Art at Newport in 1991 and returned to Cornwall in 1994.
Since 2005 he has produced work derived almost exclusively from experiences at sea. A qualified RYA Yachtmaster, he has sailed many thousands of nautical miles delivering yachts at sea in many parts of the world.
‘The Light and the Veil’ is based upon specific experiences encountered during a sea voyage off the Iberian Coast in 2011.
Impey’s extensive trips at sea have had a profound impact on his life and subsequent development as an artist. Reconnecting to nature through this powerful element has the almost inescapable effect of calling to question some of life’s existential questions. This epiphanic moment of realisation, of revelation, is at the core of Impey’s oeuvre. ..
Since 2005 he has produced work derived almost exclusively from experiences at sea. A qualified RYA Yachtmaster, he has sailed many thousands of nautical miles delivering yachts at sea in many parts of the world.
‘The Light and the Veil’ is based upon specific experiences encountered during a sea voyage off the Iberian Coast in 2011.
Impey’s extensive trips at sea have had a profound impact on his life and subsequent development as an artist. Reconnecting to nature through this powerful element has the almost inescapable effect of calling to question some of life’s existential questions. This epiphanic moment of realisation, of revelation, is at the core of Impey’s oeuvre. ..
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Reflecting on and capturing personal moments and making them universal, Impey’s work reaffirms the importance of introspection and confrontation, found specifically when surrounded by the natural world; “A mind can breathe, and observe, and reflect, away from the shrill desperation of a culture that, having forgotten that it is better to say nothing than something about nothing, invents ever new ways to fill every single space with less and less.”
Sax Impey has occupied no.8 Porthmeor Studios since 2003, part of an historic studio complex overlooking Porthmeor beach in St Ives.
He has been exhibiting with Millennium Gallery since 2002, where he has continued to have major solo exhibitions. In 2007 his work was selected for the ‘Art Now Cornwall’ exhibition at the Tate St Ives where he was placed on the cover of the associated publication, the same year he was heralded in The Times as one of the ‘New Faces of Cornish Art’.
In 2010 Impey featured in the Owen Sheers, BBC4 Documentary ‘Art of the Sea (In Pictures)’ alongside Anish Kapoor, J M W Turner, Martin Parr and Maggie Hambling among others. In 2012 he was elected an Academician of The RWA.
Whilst maintaining a solo studio practice Impey has also engaged in numerous collaborative projects, including film, theatre, performance and installation works. His paintings are in numerous collections including The Arts Council, Warwick University, The Connaught Hotel and other private collections worldwide.