Exhibition: We Stood Around

The rendered vessels are a fascinating point of entry into the sorts of considerations mentioned earlier - the sculptural, the figurative, the pastoral, the autobiographical, and so on. We see about these forms the unmistakeable depiction of pastoral scenes in which flora, such as woodland or forestry might dominate. Or we see mark-making that carries with it resonances of denser, entangled undergrowth. At all times though, we as viewers are made aware that the paintings contain stories, possibly even secrets, to which we might only have partial access. As much as we look, as often as we look, there are ways in which these paintings withhold as much as they reveal. This is of course a wonderful and well-developed skill on the part of the artist, in creating memorable paintings that not only hold our attention, but remain with us as particularly vivid and entangled memories.

Eddie Chambers

An award winner at last year’s Exeter Contemporary show, Mahali O'Hare was also the recipient of The Rootstein Hopkins Artists award - presenting a solo exhibition at Spike Island. She will be showing work that relates to her childhood in Bude.