Daniel Freaker exhibiting at Chichester’s Oxmarket

Gallery director Andrew Churchill said: “Since studying film Daniel Freaker has been exploring relationships between film and painting.

“The scenes he creates in his paintings are reminiscent of emotional films that have collectively inspired us and made us think about our own lives, what we have experienced and loved and lost.

“Like so many films that provoke sadness and joy, Freaker’s paintings provide a tension between those emotions through delicate moments that invoke a joy through the colours that celebrate the experience, but also lament its passing.

“Without a history or a future, dialogue or sounds, the paintings allow the audience to bring their own life to the paintings and share in a dialogue with their own experiences.”

Daniel lives and works in Portsmouth. He studied at Central St Martins, Camberwell and Slade schools of art. While there he explored the painterly qualities of print, video, film and photography. He now concentrates on painting, where it is possible to see the influences of his previous interests on the paintings in terms of cinematic composition and subjects.

“His work is informed by contemporaries such as Peter Doig, Luc Tuymans and Michael Armitage, sitting between the abstract and figurative spaces where the way paint is applied is equally as important as the image itself.”

Andrew added: “We are thrilled to have Daniel exhibiting with us this spring.

“His work masterfully blends both figurative and abstract elements in scenes that are both familiar and unnerving at the same time.

“Daniel’s work seems to be to be both utterly contemporary and, at the same time, timeless in its themes and atmosphere”.

“Daniel is based in Portsmouth and it is a particular pleasure to support an artist so local to us. As well as his paintings we will be exhibiting beautiful quality prints making his work widely affordable.

“The subjects are mostly individuals, couples or groups of people in order to provoke thoughts of relationships or isolation. The scenes remind the audience of something they can empathise with and the techniques and colour palette bring feelings of sentiment and longing with a contemporary twist of warmth and radiance. While many elements are true to reality and show traditional processes, some distortions, exaggerate the emotional significance of the moment: connection, loss, vulnerability, or loneliness. This juxtaposition between vibrance and darkness is what makes it memorable.

“The work combines elements of abstract and expressive mark making with figurative details. Some details are defined and clear where others are more suggestive and evocative.”