Arusha Gallery

The Mountain Lovers is a new body of paintings by John Abell (.abell). It is informed by a deep connection with the landscape and mountains of his home, the welsh language, and traditions of storytelling and religious devotion.

Created over the course of a year, these paintings are profoundly tied to spiritual devotion, with the mountain serving as a mother, lover, friend, and comforter. As an avid hiker, John dedicates much of his time to walking through the landscape. This is reflected in these new works, veering towards an abstract expressionist way of understanding its beauty and the connectedness of the nature, the body, and the soul that it carries.

The titles are all in Welsh, the language John uses in his day to day life. Like many languages, is intricately tied to the landscape of its origins. It was important to John to emphasise the rich poetry of the Welsh language and its profound connection to the land, and to elevate it within his work.

John Abell (1986, Cardiff, Wales) lives and works in Pontypridd, Wales.

The exhibition continues until 29th March 2025 at 6 Percy Street, W1T 1DQ London: Monday to Saturday 11am—6pm.

For enquiries please email [email protected]

Photography .graphy

As part of John Abell’s opening at Arusha Gallery, .stone.club and .abell will be in conversation about art, folklore, and magic.

Join us on Thursday, 13th March, 6–8pm for an evening of discussion, music, and a chance to see John’s latest work, Cariadon Y Mynydd: The Mountain Lovers.

No booking needed—Everyone welcome!

Georgina Clapham (b.1993, UK) is a painter and printmaker currently based in Los Angeles.
clapham

Through oil painting and printmaking Clapham engages with storytelling, depicting the body and its accoutrements, with a focus on female sexuality and the psyche.

Clapham’s paintings are an extension of the worlds she inhabits, growing up in Dorset, UK and her current home of Los Angeles, USA. Engaging colour as an immersive, symbolic and emotive force, she conjures synthetic hyper-realities that transport the viewer beyond time to an imaginary realm of possibility.

Artworks:

Bluebell Fairy, 2024
Oil on linen
105 x 80 cm

Foxglove, 2024
Oil on linen
40 x 30 cm

Female Gaze, 2023
Oil on linen
80 x 60 cm

The Wicked Witch of the Western, 2023
Oil on linen
102 x 72 cm

To enquire please email [email protected] or visit us at 6 Percy Street, London from Monday to Saturday 11am—6pm.

Xanthe Burdett (b. 1995)

Xanthe () is an artist from Devon living and working in London. Her practice is led by painting but also encompasses drawing and installation. She graduated from MA Painting at the Royal College of Art in 2024, and received her BA in Education, English and Drama at Cambridge University.

‘My work is concerned with the body in nature and the question of the body as nature. Through a personal mythology deeply rooted in place I am entangling bodies and stories into layered works where the line between the human and non-human wavers and stretches. The works, moving between extreme scales, push and pull as strange creatures rise to the surface through the layers of
glazing.

I think of my practice as a mesh, my paintings existing within a web extending outwards. One thread to the monumental hunting tapestries in the V&A, another to the way light dances across the fallen tree on the riverbank I grew up on. Paintings from museums, the way I felt when I first saw Anna Mendieta’s photographs after I heard the story of her death, the long cool shadows in the
woods.’

Artworks:

Squabble, 2024
Oil on board
17.8 x 12.7 cm

Dew Catcher, 2024
Oil on board
17.8 x 12.7 cm

Stay Here and Grow Hot with Waiting, 2024
Oil on board
17.8 x 12.7 cm

For inquiries please email [email protected] or visit the gallery at 6 Percy Street, W1T 1DQ London:
Mon—Sat 11–6pm

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