Country:
Categories:
Jealous are delighted to welcome Sara Pope for her very first solo exhibition at Jealous Gallery. #Gorgeous will feature the artists’ trademark seductive lips through a wide range of media including brand new neon light works, original pieces and new limited edition prints, made at Jealous Print Studio which will revealed at the exhibition.
Sara’s new body of work to be featured in the exhibition will aim to seduce. Lips and mouths in emotive poses are painted to a polished perfection: a version of reality, more perfect than real.
‘We are surrounded by a visual stream of persuasion, through advertising, Instagram and social media, we experience repeated appeals to our unconscious desires. The more seductive the image, the greater the response. This has led to the rise of image perfectionism, where the boundaries between what’s real and what is created are becoming ever more blurred. Through the perspective of many years’ experience working in fashion and magazines, I explore this theme.
The starting point is a makeup brush and a lipstick. I paint a models lips, then, using tricks and techniques of makeup and lighting, I begin the process of creating the perfect lips. I ask the model to express different emotions which I capture photographically; using these shots as inspiration I begin the artwork.
The painting process involves several layers of thin oil-diluted paint being overlaid, blending and smoothing the colours extensively at every stage. Emulating the stylistic slickness of advertising, the result is glossy, perfect and irresistible.
Exploring the language of pop culture, the inspiration for naming the artworks comes from the names of current lipstick shades.’
– Sara Pope
Contemporary artist Sara Pope is well known for her bold, seductive paintings of voluptuous lips. Taking inspiration from her experience working for several years in the fashion industry as a shoe designer, and in magazines as a designer and art director, Sara aims to capture the glamour and seductive power conveyed by the lips and mouth. Raising questions of beauty, consumerism, and the rise of image perfectionism Sara imitates the slickness of advertising, whilst provocatively subverting its themes.
All her paintings from this series start with a photographic shoot, a model and some make up. Sara is completely in control of each creative aspect, from the makeup, to the lighting and finally taking the photographs. Exploring the ideas of communication, she asks the model, to think of emotions, love, happiness or flirtation, which she captures photographically. Using the photos as a starting point she paints each piece by layering several thin layers of oil paint. A translucent, glass like quality results, achieving a, ‘polished’ version of reality. Sara is also known for her portraits, most notably having a portrait of the Pope accepted into the Vatican collection. Sara works in series’ or ‘collections’, painting a body of work with common stylistic elements and colour palette, as with seasonal collections in fashion.
Sara Pope’s work is rapidly gaining attention, and she currently exhibits with several galleries in the UK , and abroad. She is looking forward to two solo shows this year, with Jealous Gallery in London and with Lilford Gallery in Folkestone during the Folkestone Triennial.
Jealous is a Contemporary Screenprint Studio, Gallery and Publisher based in Crouch End and East London’s creative hub of Shoreditch.
Established in 2008, we are known for our collaborative approach to producing high quality limited edition prints with many illustrators, graduates and established artists. Our editions can be seen at many of the art fairs we attend including The London Original Print Fair (LOPF) at The Royal Academy, The London Art Fair, Moniker and the AAF internationally.
Our diverse educational programme includes working with primary schools on site specific art projects whilst the Jealous Prize invites MA’s from London’s art colleges to make an all expenses paid edition with Jealous. These editions are then shown at the many art fairs we attend and form part of the V&A’s permanent print collection.
Our client work includes White Cube, Saatchi Gallery, The Fine Art Society, Pentagram, Why Not Associates, Graphic Thought Facility, The British Film Institute and the V&A, to name but a few.
Our recent projects include publishing Charming Baker’s new editions with Paul Stolper Gallery to coincide with his S2 Sotheby’s Mayfair solo show. We have worked with street artist Ben Eine and The Big Issue, designing three collectable covers to celebrate their 200 millionth copy and created editions for their commemorative issue whilst hosting a televised event in our Shoreditch space with founder Lord John Bird. We have worked with Gemma Peppé, the force behind Art on A Postcard, a project raising desperately needed funds for The Hepatitis C Trust, publishing charity editions and as a result, presented 'The Best Of Art on a Postcard 2016' show in our Shoreditich space with David Shrigley, Gavin Turk, Ray Richardson, The Connor Brothers, amongst many others.
Jealous Gallery
