Art Review: All Men By Nature Desire to Know

Words: Alex Inkley
Wednesday 15 February 2017
reading time: min, words

As their latest exhibition draws to a close, we implore you to have a look around...

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Curated by Joshua Lockwood at NTU’s Bonington Gallery, this small but fascinating exhibition explores nontraditional ways of creating art through the very traditional medium of painting.

The works by artists Stefania Batoeve, Flora Klein, Alan Michael, and Audrey Reynolds, all challenge conventional structures of painting, using figuration and abstraction to create snapshots of a story.  Each painting is self-contained as well as being part of a wider social discussion and will surely prompt the spectator into thinking about what they reflect in everyday life and in society at large. Although not immediately obvious, these paintings are all drawn from the artists’ personal life experiences and address topics like loneliness, family, and self-determination.

I was particularly enthralled with Batoeva’s two large canvases entitled Never Sleep Never Die I and II, with their broad gestural brush strokes and striking acrylic tones. The more I looked, the more I saw, until I realised that I was creating backstories for each piece springing from my own life.

This is defiantly a ‘seek and ye shall find’ exhibition; I would encourage you to spend some time considering each piece carefully to see what messages they hold for you, personally.   

All Men By Nature Desire to Know, Bonington Gallery, Friday 13 January - Friday 17 February, free.

Bonington Gallery website

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