Sarah Pickstone
Plath
2011
Oil and acrylic
on canvas
200 × 230 cm /
6ft 6 3/4 × 7ft 6 1/2 ins
Price on application
Our Work of the Month is 'Plath' by Sarah Pickstone and is selected from the current exhibition in the Gallery at Roche Court. Pickstone won the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize in 2012, which was established in 1957 and remains the most important prize of its kind; previous first prize winners include Patrick Heron; David Hockney; Richard Hamilton; John Hoyland; Lisa Milroy; Peter Doig and Keith Coventry amongst others.
Winning the John Moores Painting Prize has established Sarah Pickstone as one of the most interesting painters of her generation. Her painting of 'Plath' is taken from the 'Writers Series', an on-going group of paintings in which Pickstone explores literature, place and perception. She has found inspiration in the many writers associated with Regent's Park in London at different times throughout history, from George Eliot, Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield to Stevie Smith, Angela Carter and, of course, Sylvia Plath. Pickstone considers the importance of Regent's Park as either an actual presence in fiction or as a background to various writers' lives. However she does not represent the reality of the Park in her paintings, nor does she seek to illustrate scenes from an author's life or their books. Instead, Pickstone evokes the atmosphere of the Park as a magical and creative place which blends together public, private, external and psychological worlds. And whilst writers and the Park are her subjects, Pickstone's overriding interest is in human connections, the forces of the natural world, memory, imagination and representation.
Sarah Pickstone lives and works in London. She studied at the Royal Academy Schools and subsequently won a scholarship to the British School at Rome. The Writers Series is her first exhibition with the New Art Centre and continues to 12 May.
For further details about the exhibition and other available works, please click here.
Sarah Pickstone and Ali Smith will be in conversation at Roche Court on Monday 3 June, as part of the Ageas Salisbury International Arts Festival. Tickets are available from www.salisburyfestival.co.uk.