[D]alemain is to present a solo exhibition of drawings and paintings by Beatrice Hasell-McCosh (b.1990) which will open to the public on Monday 24 April and runs until Saturday 6 May 2017.
Australian light, Scottish heat and Cumbrian weather have inspired the artist who is based between South London and The Lake District where she grew up. Her work is physically expressive and describes a love for chaotic order and tension mark making can produce. Naturally drawn to landscapes she always travels with paint and has become adept at packing lightly in order to work anywhere from Scottish lochs, on top of Cumbrian fells and on farms in the Australian bush.
Lately she has begun to paint portraits reflecting friends, family and other artists, showing a more peopled city life compared to her usually empty landscapes. Beatrice paints with a natural sociability and people who come to her studio for a drink or to look at a picture usually end up sitting for a couple of hours to be painted. These paintings reflect a conversational informal style of portraiture that she enjoys, with subjects sitting or reading sometimes in small groups.
“I paint from life in the main but also more recently from drawings. A year exploring London entirely focusing on the practise of drawing (primarily outside) has changed the way I work. If it’s impossible to paint from life because of time or light constraints I find it is equally successful to paint from a tonal image without the distraction of colour in front of you. I come away from The Royal Drawing School attracted to fluid and definite lines particularly in quick pencil drawings because of their simplicity and success in the conveying depth of an idea.”
Beatrice grew up at Dalemain on the edge of the Lake District. A BA degree in English and Classical Literature at Leeds was followed by a year at Leith School of Art in Edinburgh and a postgraduate drawing year at The Royal Drawing School, Shoreditch formerly The Princes Drawing School.
The show will run at two locations:
17th-22nd April 2017
The Coningsby Gallery, 30 Tottenham Street, Fitzrovia, London, W1T 4RJ
24th-6th May 2017
The Great Barn, Dalemain, Penrith, Cumbria, CA11 0HB
