Rosalind Davis
Graduate, BA Hons, Chelsea College of Art; MA, Royal College of Art
www.rosalinddavis.co.uk [email protected]

Rosalind Davis’ creates mixed media paintings incorporating paint, embroidery and print in works that explore the power and presence of post apocalyptic urban landscapes. The historical, social and political backgrounds of these landscapes are stitched and painted into a synthesis of architectural dimensions.

Meticulous stitches and brushstrokes seek to transform and repair the failing of modernity. The work is an examination, a documentation of the ideals of utopia and dystopia, of human experience and a reflection on the socio-political aspects of these urban developments and disintegration.

MANUELA DE LABORDE
Graduate, BA Hons, Intermedia; Edinburgh College of Art
www.manueladelaborde.com [email protected]

Manuela de Laborde’s concern when working is towards us: human beings, and our denied isolation from each other.
Unspoken sadness, worries, and insecurities are her inspiration but the work itself is their counterpoint: not grey but light-hearted. Fun, exploration, accidents, romance and idleness make it happen.
Laborde’s artworks are cheaply made for their banality is essential to contribute to the everyday. At the heart of her practice, is the desire to bridge her research covering big topics, such as celestial bodies, landscapes and melancholia, with the mundane and familiar. She does this, by altering simple materials, for example cellophane, to remind one of greater imagery, for example an Icescape.
Notions of perception and the concept behind works are of great importance; as a result Laborde’s work is strongly guided by curatorial decisions and is influenced by Minimalism.

Xiao-yang Li
MA Fine Art , Chelsea College of Art & Design
www.celesteprize.com/xiao-yang_li [email protected]

I frequently find inspiration in strange things which possess a certain mysterious sensation that I feel being emotionally connected to – such as a photograph of a little hatted monkey, the story of Latin American shamans, a pair of broken puppets, or an old dusty Chinese candle stand. I then start painting and drawing as a way of re-examining and re-imagining of these strange beings as if I were encountering them in person and that I were part of them.

Adam Walker
Graduate, BA Painting, Camberwell College of Arts
www.adamwalkerart.co.uk

I am interested in the intermediate space between painting and sculpture, and my work critiques and challenges the conventions, histories and assumptions of these disciplines. More recently I have sought in some works to break out of creating ‘art about art’ in order to engage with wider social and cultural concerns.
A perennial theme is that of loss, legacy and memorialisation. The new series of works I am currently developing (one of which is displayed here) continue to explore this issue, but take a step back closer to the traditional materials and processes of painting. All of my work seems to juxtapose a visceral perfomative, almost violent, aspect with a controlled, ordered restrained one (through grids and precise geometries), but this new series leans more towards respect, subtlety and delicacy than previous works.