WINTER EXHIBITION LOWRY HOTEL

'COMME CA ART WINTER EXHIBITION'

at The Lowry Hotel

REBECCA DAVY, JOHN HAMILTON, OLGA MUN, MATTHEW SHUTT & FAY WATANABE PRITCHARD

Lowry Hotel, 50 Dearmans Place, Salford, Manchester, M3 5LH

Exhibition Dates: 13.11.25 - 13.01.26

We are ending the 2025 Art Exhibition Programme with 5 artists who have worked with Comme Ca Art over a period spanning 25 Years. The exhibition brings together five very different artists who all use paint as their primary art medium. With Matthew Shutt's small paintings depicting NYC to Olga Mun's gloriously large mythical paintings, we hope you enjoy the works as much as we enjoy working with the artists.

REBECCA DAVY

Rebecca Davy’s primary concern when creating her artworks is the act of painting itself. Her focus is on what she describes as “the seductiveness and sensuousness of pushing paint on canvas”. She is particularly attracted to painting the colourful, the ephemeral and the kitsch, constructing paintings with a strong element of light and colour that satisfies both the subject and its medium.

For her, sticky and colourful things such as sweets and icing are good subjects for the visceral qualities of paint. Bringing these two elements together produces a new realm between kitsch and the hyper real, paintings that flow into being from the artist’s imagination.

Rebecca Davy is a Manchester-based artist. Since completing her MA in Fine Art in 2006, she has taken part in exhibitions abroad, and featured in exhibitions in London and Liverpool.

JOHN HAMILTON

The use of stories in John Hamilton's work has always been important. Sometimes he illustrates the story directly in his paintings. For other work the story will give John a starting point, which then develops into a series of drawings and ideas. From this other ideas develop and the story starts to become insignificant, creating a new story by the time the painting is complete. The work is very theatrical and often the canvas is the stage.

The characters in his works are liked and disliked in equal measures. Some people want to cuddle and hug them, while others find them sinister and do not feel comfortable with them. Depending on your view of the character, what is happening in the pictures appears differently.This often makes the subject matter ambiguous. John loves the idea that one painting can create completely opposite feelings depending on your opinion of the character. Good/ Bad, Warm/Cold, Loving/Sinister, Protective/Threatening.

John's work includes painting in oil and acrylic, printmaking and large-scale drawing and collages. He completed his Masters degree in Children Book Illustration in 2012. John's first book was published by Manchester Museum. His second two books and third book, out in February, are published by the Natural History Museum.

John is a founder member of Rogue Artists Studios in Manchester City Centre, where he continues to work, and which now houses over 90 artists.He has exhibited widely across the UK and in USA and has work in Private collections across UK, USA, Germany, Australia, Cyprus.

OLGA MUN

Olga Mun is a figurative abstract painter who has recently completed an MA in Fine Art at The University of Salford. She recently won the prestigious AXA Art Prize UK 2023, where she was awarded £10,000 for her outstanding figurative art piece titled "IMPOSSIBLE PAINTING" (Cat no.62). The prize was awarded by a panel of judges including Jennifer Schipf, Mark Hampson, and Rachel Hobkirk, recognising her exceptional talent and contribution to contemporary art.

"My painting practice explores the vastness of the human condition, often this story and the intention of work is a consistent essence on one canvas. I convey my thoughts about humanity with such a depth that it causes an internal study of life, the environment, history and human activity and interaction. The work isn’t purely figurative, it plays with abstraction. It uses elements like almost abstract figures, transformative forms, gestural strokes, and infinite colour blending for each shape represented." Olga Mun

Olga's work is intellectually underpinned by the philosophies of Paul Ricoeur, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Jean Baudrillard, and Slavoj Zizek, which significantly enrich my paintings. These philosophical frameworks challenge traditional views of how art and culture are perceived and interpreted, encouraging a reevaluation of aesthetic judgement. By engaging with these thoughts, her art serves as a channel for examining the tension between individual subjectivity and broader societal narratives, offering a unique space for reflection and dialogue within each viewer.

In Olga's art, the exploration of colour, layering, motifs, and patterns serves not only to enhance the aesthetic of a space but also to reflect and critique the world around us. Each piece she creates represents a complex interplay of beauty, thought, and critique. Her artwork calls for greater visibility and reevaluation of women's roles in art and culture, making a decisive impact on contemporary art discourse.

MATTHEW SHUTT

Matthew Shutt's paintings can be perceived upon viewing as two styles of aesthetic representation. From afar they emulate certain realism akin to the photographic source that the subject was taken from. On closer inspection a form of abstraction is represented through a series of lines and fragmented markings. Both styles confront the viewer from different vantage points and create differing responses. As opposite as the styles are, they are united by the messages they are trying to portray both from the artist's subject matter and also from the viewers personal interpretation, both interdependent on each other.

Matthew's New York retro style paintings are dedicated to urban life in and around New York City (and the US in general) at the time he was born in the 1970s and growing up in the 80s and early 90s.

The work is about his perception of life when he was younger and the love and affection the artist had for everything New York City despite never going there. This perception of hope and a unique atmosphere influenced through film, television and music is observed through aged photographs in those eras but viewed in the present day with the objectivity of the real life situation back in time. Images of austerity and decay, grime, crime, graffiti, drugs and an excess in establishments offering adult entertainment, littered the streets of New York. Yet all Matthew saw was freedom, expressionism, hope and inspiration.

"In my paintings I like to combine all aspects of reality and actual realism and objectivity of the original photograph but I strive to give them the atmosphere, excitement and different perception they would have had if I had viewed them as a child." Matthew Shutt

FAY WATANABE PRITCHARD

Fay’s work, embraces quietude and light. Using diluted pigments on calico, she creates translucent, layered surfaces that invite natural light to interact with more grounded forms. Her colour palettes warm hues set against airy cool tones evoke a sense of mystery and nostalgia. The process is meditative and intuitive, unfolding through mark-making that reveals perspectives unforeseen at the outset.Fay's painting searches for harmony, echoing ancient philosophical insights into the patterned and interconnected nature of the universe and, by extension, ourselves.

The exhibition is open daily from 10:00 - 22:00 and is on the first floor of the Lowry Hotel.

PLEASE CONTACT COMME CA ART DEALERS FOR ANY ENQUIRIES.

CLAIRE TURNER | claire@commecaart.com | T: +44 (0) 161 273 5495