View Art Gallery

Pareidolia is the innate ability recognise faces or objects in objects... Does what you see change depending on the orientation of Ananda's work?

"I am based in the real visual universe, collective and common to everyone, but I bring in my personal parallel universe of my dreams and deja vus into my creations. I use a language of its own that approaches pareidolia (the psycho-cognitive phenomenon in which individuals assign forms in random data of non-relational origins). From unintentional free gestures, I create pictorial and graphic structures in which I seek to rescue and recognise forms of beings and places I visualise or imagine." - Ananda Kuhn

"To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it" - Charlie Chaplin

Max says: Don't let life turn you into a lemon! YOU DESERVE BETTER!

Max Middlewood’s unique painting style creates its own mini universe, filled with emotion and intensity. There is often a mix of serious, thought provoking subject matter with humour and irony. Originally used as a way to cope with physical and mental illness, his work explores everything he experiences, incorporating figuration, symbolism, text and abstraction, all mashed together to form a sense of organised chaos.

Ages by Ananda Kuhn

“Like the universe, everything starts from the chaos. In a chaotic system, small changes can cause large-scale effects. My dreams and memories are my sources of the searching-finding recognizable shapes game. Sharing dots without connecting them. There are shapes of things to come that have been gone. Mutations, imperfect copies from/for recollections. Creating new places and new landscapes. Time + space mental travels. Past, present and future associated by an amalgamation of gestures and synapsis. What I respond to in my artwork is the struggle against my limitations. It's in the act of making things and creating my work that I figure out who I am.” - Ananda Kuhn

My Wild One by Ceinwen Birrell

The contrast between acid green and deep purple in broad strokes makes this painting so striking! The woman's face is hidden behind a chaotic mess of black curls, with a kitten gathered in her skirts and bolts of energy exploding all around her. My interpretation is of a witch, an embodiment of feminine power that colludes with nature that some might see as dangerous and others as deeply instinctive. What do you think about this painting and the progression between the versions of it?

“My hopes and dreams and desires are inextricably tangled up amongst the places and people that have been beside me on my life’s journey and in fact are inseparable from the complex web of my ancestors and their communities’ lives and life choices. This body of work embodies my family, my community and my history, reimagined through my own lens- through my own unconscious filter.” - Ceinwen Birrell

75 years ago, a revolutionary healthcare system was born – the National Health Service! In its 75th year, let's celebrate and recognize all the amazing work the NHS has done for our communities over the years. From groundbreaking innovations, to providing healthcare to everyone, to simply being a source of comfort and care – the NHS has left an incomparable impact on our lives. What impact has the NHS had on your life?
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Final places are available for our Poetry Evening to celebrate 75 years of the NHS on Wednesday, 5th July. Published poet, retired midwife Helen Shepherd, and neonatologist Beth Osmond will headline our readings. We are delighted to host this evening alongside our current exhibition The Self, a perfect opportunity to reflect on our lives and appreciate the support and security that the NHS provides!

Are you coming to the private view tomorrow?

Art has the power to show us who we are. Get ready to be inspired!
Opening night of THE SELF is this Thursday, or see us on weekends until September 10th. See you there!

Experience the power of words with Edson Burton and emerging poets performing this Thursday. Edson is a fantastic talent and has built a reputation, locally and nationally, as a poet and writer for theatre, radio & screen. Change your perspective of poetry at our very first poetry reading event!

Tim Burgess works with poets to interpret their work in a completely unique way. He uses authentic imagery to cast much-needed light on mental health issues and seeks to evoke an empathic response. Take some time to look at his work and take in the accompanying poetry in our current Visual Poetry exhibition!

Take your creative writing skills to the next level and join acclaimed poet Robert Walton for an Ekphrastic Poetry Workshop! Learn to express yourself through creative writing and explore the relationship between art and words. Let's get inspired and engage more with art and the world around us!

Here's a sneak preview of some of the artwork in our new exhibition, VISUAL POETRY, opening April 20th.
DM to be added to the guest list for the private view at 6.30pm.

New exhibition, VISUAL POETRY, opening April 20th. DM to add name(s) to the guest list for the private view at 6.30pm.

We've all been to a gallery and read the descriptions accompanying the artwork. Sometimes it's a load of rubbish, but it can also enrich our experience of a piece of art or make us look at it entirely differently.
..But have you heard of ekphrastic poetry?
Ekphrasis is a literary illustration of artwork. This merging of visual and verbal creates an entirely new artform...

Does your perception of the painting change after you've read the accompanying poems?

Some beautiful quotes from the father of abstraction, Wassily Kandinsky, used to celebrate work in our group show, Cacophony.
Exhibiting until April 9th, visit us on weekends for an unmissable abstract experience!

Stunning drawing to music on our gallery windows by at the packed private view of our new exhibition, CACOPHONY. Photos by

Thank you B24/7 for this wonderful review

View Art Gallery hosts exhibition of 'visual jazz' CACOPHONY features work from artists inspired by music

The orientation of an artwork can completely change its meaning.
This beautiful life drawing by Rodger Williams is an excellent example...
What's your favourite?

It's the final weekend of the OUT OF THE DARK exhibition. As we prepare to take down the show on Sunday evening (15th), we will likely be in a generous mood, so pop in for a bargain. There's still a few stunning pieces available.

Who's lurking behind your Christmas tree? Sinister and playful Christmas paintings by Caroline Watson. We are now closed for Christmas and re-open on January 7th. Wishing everyone health and happiness for 2023.

WHAT DOES TABOO MEAN TO YOU?

We realised that the deadline was too short to really explore this topic, we've extended to the end of January!

Evening opening on Thursday, 5-8pm. Join us for a Christmas drink at our Bristol gallery and see the high-impact OUT OF THE DARK exhibition. Described as "beautifully disturbing and strangely engaging", this is a show not to be missed.

"The subjects recall the raw emotional states of childhood which we learn to mask later in life. I draw from my own direct experiences but reshuffle and re-present them in an attempt to recapture the atmosphere of a remembered event or situation and the intensity of the feeling around it. My hope is that the work conveys some of the anxieties and frustrations that are part of the human condition. Humour, too, is often in the work - life being, at least in part, ridiculous.”

We can't stop examining Matt Harman's paintings that are exhibiting in OUT OF THE DARK at the moment. More faces and objects surface, the longer you look... What do you see? Do they evoke a childhood memory?

We are completely blown away by Caroline Watson's creations, they truly have a life of their own. Her paintings, seen here, depict her puppets in their various guises. Come and meet them in OUT OF THE DARK at View Art Gallery open weekends on the lead up to Christmas.

“Inspired by memory, dreams and childhood and coloured by an interest in history, folklore and science, my work explores imagination, and takes me on a journey into the infinite world and weird spaces of the psyche. By using a sort of dream logic, I aim to capture something of the emotive and transient qualities experienced on this adventure.”