Jane Andrews

Anyone who knows Jane Andrews’ paintings might think she would be an odd duck of sorts. Twisted figures in fantasy worlds look almost like characters from a child’s nightmare. Neither dark nor troubled, Jane is an upbeat person with a very positive outlook on life. Talking to East, she agreed her work has an element of the grotesque, but preferred to think about her paintings as more psychological. ‘There’s magic realism. There’s humour. I do have a propensity for mellow drama, but I tend to use humour to get through difficult things.’

Hastings’ Weekend Gallery is currently exhibiting a collection of Jane’s paintings entitled ‘Station of the Skirt,’ created over a two year period after the artist learned of a family illness. They depict surreal type creatures with a recurring study of the folds of a skirt. Confinement, struggle and loneliness resonate in each painting. Andrew’s style is very unique, it’s not the usual lot of landscape watercolours one expects to see at a small gallery exhibition. How did she develop her style? ‘When I studied art, I admired Louise Bourgeois and the Scottish artist Stephen Campbell, but you need to find your own voice, and it does take time because you’re looking at other work. To find something that is truly yours however, really does take time.’ Andrews’ unusual images have won her a strong fan base, including a recent successful show at the gallery@oxo, South Bank, London. In 2001 she won the Emerging Artist Prize at the Limner Gallery in New York.

Weekend Gallery, 86 High Street, Hastings | 3 July - 8 August.

View Larger Map