ENCHANTED
Matthew Burrows, Denise de Cordova, James Fisher, Tom Hammick, Graeme Todd
9 November - 8 December 2007

Enchanted could be described as an exhibition of landscapes and of people in the landscape, for it has been a consistent pursuit in art to investigate the human relationship to place and space.

The show brings together four painters and a sculptor, all of whom make reference to the real world in their images, yet none who work in a traditional sense of representing and revealing the terra firma. By different means each explores the metaphoric implications of the human presence, transforming things we recognise into images that are far more complex than their pictorial starting points.

Matthew Burrow's 'Up Down' is an imaginary place - a Utopian world, governed by a strict and ascendant hierarchy, its inhabitants living in cities whose architecture resembles the structure of a playground. Denise de Cordova's sculptures distort the scale of the natural world to create strange and disconcerting fictions. James Fisher's figures are borrowed from the pages of Thomas Hardy and Henry James; their features eroded by patterns that encroach across the surface of the paintings. Tom Hammick transforms a family's beach walk into an image of mysterious, nocturnal beauty, or paints a hillside circus as if seen in a fairy tale. Graeme Todd's gothic landscapes play with the space and distance of mountain ranges, their surfaces a lattice of intricate marks and varnished patinas.

Matthew Burrows was a prize-winner in the John Moores 24 exhibition in 2006 and is currently exhibiting in 'Faith' at Dean Clough, Halifax. Denise De Cordova held her first solo exhibition with the Eagle Gallery 'Re-Reader in September this year. James Fisher showed in 'Cities and Eyes' at Aldeburgh Music 2007 and his painting 'I Live in Fear' was purchased by the Jerwood Foundation for their permanent collection. Tom Hammick has just held a sucessful solo show with Page and Strange Gallery, Nova Scotia, Canada. Graeme Todd exhibits regularly internationally and is represented by Mummery & Schnelle, London.

Gallery news:

Julia Farrer was this year's main prize winner at the Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour competition.

James Fisher's painting "I Live in Fear" has recently been acquired by The Jerwood Foundation for their permanent collection, following its inclusion in the exhibition "Cities and Eyes" curated by Emma Hill for Aldeburgh Music 2007.
A fully illustrated catalogue "The Invisible City" is available from the gallery, price £6.50.

Terry Smith is showing a video and sound work from his project "Broken Voices" as part of the exhibition "Triple Echo" at the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea from 29 September to January 2008.

For further information or images please contact Emma Hill or Bridget Symonds at the Eagle Gallery on 020 7833 2674 or email : emmahilleagle@aol.com