Sax Impey 'Storm

S A X I M P E Y S TO R M

S A X I M P E Y S TO R M

Beyond the shadow of the sh ipI watched the water-snakes :They moved in tracks of sh in ing white ,And when they reared, the e l f i sh l ightFel l o f f in hoar y f lakes .

With in the shadow of the sh ipI watched their r ich att ire :B lue , g lossy green, and ve lvet b lack ,They coi led and swam; and ever y trackWas a f lash of golden f i re .

The Rime of The Ancient Mar iner by Samuel Tay lor Coler idge , 1798

In conversat ion pr ior to Impey’s last exhib i t ion, ‘Voyage’ , he spoke of h is per iodic urge to escape to sea : “21st Centur y mass communicat ion, the re lent less , to ta l , bana l , vap id ted ium o f the s eem in g need to commun i c a t e , o r be communicated to, a l l the t ime , d isappears out there on the ocean. A mind can breathe , and obser ve , and ref lect , away from the shr i l l desperat ion of a cu l ture that , hav ing forgotten that i t i s better to say nothing than something about nothing , invents ever-new ways to f i l l ever y s ing le space with less and less . So a cer ta in empathy with ear l ier travelers ensues : the sea is st i l l the sea , as i t ever was , d irect and uncompl icated…” This exhib i t ion of fers us an expanded perspect ive ; th is col lect ion of pa int ings tru ly are a ref lect ion of man’s ins ign i f icance in the face of the formidable might of nature where the sea transforms from place of refuge and nur ture to a p lace of male f ic reverence .

When stood in front of these h igh ly complex, phys i ca l and emot iona l works , the v i car ious exper ience is majest ic - a profound recognit ion of g lor y ensues - one enters another rea lm. As ‘Hel l ’ was a muse for Mi l ton or Dante – the sea becomes a tab leau where transgress ion can take p lace . These pa int ings are the c losest that I have seen in some t ime to ear l ier pa int ings re lat ing to re l ig ious epiphany. For me they are modern a l tar p ieces to the might of Nature i tse l f .

Perhaps we can learn modesty and acceptance of a greater sense of order from the dominance of the natura l world captured so emphat ica l ly with in the pa int ings of th is exhib i t ion – perhaps they can ser ve as a reminder, at an impor tant t ime , of a greater force than ourse lves at work.

Joseph Clarke . 2011

Introduct ion

For me the potent ia l of ar t i s i ts ab i l i ty to remind us o f , or draw in to quest ion , the presence or absence of impor tant human truths : honesty, mora l i ty and humi l i ty among them. Through ar t (at i ts most authent ic) we can address and take refuge .

I am writ ing th is introduct ion at a t ime of re lat ive turbulence with in our society - London and other major c i t ies in the UK have been gr ipped by r iots , we reel from corrupt ion with in the media and perpe tua l economic tu rmo i l and con fu s ion i s preva lent . When dwel l ing on such negat i ve examples o f 21s t Centur y accompl i shment , i t comes as no surpr ise that the way that many of us l ive our l ives in the West has come in to quest ion. A col lect ive ego has created a scenar io where we cannot help but focus on a ser ies of genuine d i lemmas. I t seems topica l , re levant and benef ic ia l then to focus on my f i rst statement .

Tak ing i n sp i r a t ion f rom Sax Impey ’s d i rec t exper ience of a storm encountered dur ing a 36 hour per iod in the winter of 2009 whi lst sa i l ing to Por tuga l f rom Ire land, th is exhib i t ion takes us on a pass ionate journey towards humi l i ty. He descr ibes a d i f ferent sea to any he had exper ienced before , and though the Ir ish Sea is notor ious in i ts reputat ion as v io lent and temperamenta l , on th is occas ion i t was tru ly ‘awe insp ir ing ’ . Impey was ver y consc ious of behold ing something awesome , as the storm gradual ly bui l t and revea led i tse l f over i ts durat ion. Whi lst on the dawn watch he was ab le to c lose ly obser ve the change of l ight in the midst of the storm from the hours of darkness to the grey daybreak and d i l igent ly bear witness to the breath-tak ing immensity of the swel ls and sk ies around h im.

Microcosm

oi l and mixed media on pane l

122 x 122 cm

before the largest of these pa int ings I could fee l the spray on my face , sme l l the sa l t w ind on the n ight . Most impor tant ly though, I could fee l the sea ’s movement .

For any ar t i s t work ing wi th the sea as the i r sub jec t there i s an essent i a l paradox to be overcome . Unl ike a mounta in landscape , a spread o f rura l f i e lds , the sky l ine o f a c i ty, even the ca lmest of seas i s never st i l l . I ts s ing le e lement is cont inuous and constant , and yet ever changing . How then, to capture that protean f lu id i ty, that react ive moment when l ight and water work of f each other to create , just for a second, a v is ion deser v ing of evocat ion? I don’t have the answer to that quest ion but I see i t pract iced in Sax’s ‘Storm’ pa int ings . Somehow with in these frames the tectonic s l id ing of g iant sur face waves , the st irr ing of a wind-harr ied current , the rushing of a dawn surge of water, the sett l ing a f termath of a ca lm are a l l not so much as captured as suggested. Which is , o f course , much better. I t i s in suggest ion that the power of ar t l ies , in as Chekov once sa id , ‘ask ing the r ight quest ions ’ . And that i s where for me Sax’s work f inds i ts most potent achievement . In drawing upon h is l ived exper ience of the sea not s imply to ‘ te l l ’ us about i t , or even to ‘show’ i t to us , but rather to create images at once phys ica l and abstract ; images which have enough body to make us fee l but a lso enough l ight , space and unknowingness to make us th ink .

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The pa int ings of Sax Impey’s ‘Storm’ carr y the charge of rescued images ; res idues of a sur v ivor ’s witness imbued with the knowledge that the sea , however much we might forget i t , i s a wi lderness . For many years now Sax has chosen to spend ha l f h is year trave l l ing into that wi lderness , par t ly for work, par t ly to escape ‘ the cacophony, the babble of the 21st centur y.’ When he returns he remembers . Working in h is Por thmeor studio with the ocean (and somet imes i ts waves) at h is window, Sax uses the v iew before h im not as h is subject but as a conduit , a sensory vesse l to transpor t h im back to h is t ime a lone on the open ocean.

Looking through th is exhib i t ion I became aware that a l though an e lement of Sax’s mot ivat ion in tak ing to the sea is to exchange a world of communicat ion for a world of communion on h is return there is , undeniab ly, a des ire to communicate . To te l l , to bear a gospel- l ike witness to what has been learnt and exper ienced out of s ight of land. In ‘Storm’ th is i s more true than ever, the progress ion of the work char t ing a d iscernable narrat ive of a storm in the Ir ish sea . Through these panels we are taken there too, into that space of the awful and the awesome where the presence of the indiv idua l i s reduced a lmost to nothingness , where t ime is at once forever and yet a lso, in the face of morta l danger, so unbearably l imited and prec ious . The sca l e o f th i s new work a d d s t o t h i s s e n s e o f t o t a l i m m e r s i o n . S t a n d i n g

Sax Impey ‘Storm’ by Owen Sheers

‘…and the memory of those appointed to the grey sh ips – batt lesh ip, merchantman, trawler – contr ibut ing their share to the ages ’ pavement of Br i t i sh bone on the sea f loor ’

From Defence of the Is lands by T.S . E l iot .

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7

Ris ing Sea (1)

o i l and mixed media on pane l

61 x 122 cm

Ris ing Sea (2)


100 x 100 cm

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9

10

Spray


100 x 100 cm

11

Char t ( I r i sh Sea)

o i l and mixed media on hydropgr aph ic char t on pane l

104 x 72 cm

12

13

Char t (White Water)


72 x 119 cm

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15

Char t (Cel t ic Sea)


72 x 107 cm

16

Fa l l ing L ight


61 x 122 cm

17

Wind and Sea Increas ing


100 x 100 cm

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19

20

Stern L ight , Break ing Wave (1)


100 x 100 cm

21

Stern L ight , Break ing Wave (2)


61 x 122 cm

22

23

24

Bones of Drowned Sa i lor s


122 x 183 cm

25

Night , Wind NW F9


122 x 183 cm

26

27

28

Night in the Cel t ic Sea (1)


153 x 153 cm

29

Night in the Cel t ic Sea (2)


153 x 153 cm

30

31

Ver y Rough , NW F9-10 (1)


40 x 40 cm

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40 x 40 cm

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40 x 40 cm



40 x 40 cm

Ris ing L ight (1)


61 x 92 cm

34

Ris ing L ight (2)


61 x 96 cm

35

36

Ris ing L ight (3)


122 x 183 cm

37

After the Dawn, F10 (Starboard)


122 x 244 cm

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39

40

After the Dawn, F10 (Por t)


122 x 244 cm

41

After the Dawn, F10 (Look ing Forward)


122 x 183 cm

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SAX IMPEY

1969 Born Penzance, Cornwall

1988-91 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Newport

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2011 Storm, Millennium

2009 Voyage, Millennium

2007 Sea, New Millennium Gallery, St Ives

2005 Catena, One0Two Gallery, London

2004 Events, New Millennium Gallery, St Ives

2002 Labyrinths, New Millennium Gallery, St Ives

2000 Transition, Newlyn Art Gallery

SELECTED MIXED EXHIBITIONS

2011 Mixed Winter, Millennium

London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington

2010 Mixed Winter, Millennium


2009 Mixed Winter, Millennium, St. Ives


2008 Drawing Show, NSA, Exchange, Penzance

2007 Art Now Cornwall, Tate St Ives

The St Ives School 1997-2007, Howard Gardens Gallery, Cardiff

2006 Fragments, Cafe Gallery Projects, London

Fragments, Tom Thompson Gallery, Owen Sound, Canada

2003 Starting a Collection, Art First Contemporary Art, London

2002 Constructed, Newlyn Art Gallery

2001 Sax Impey, Richard Nott, Ged Quinn, Fermyn Woods, Northats

2000 Ark 2000, Dilston Grove Church, London

1999 The New St Ives Artists, Maidstone Museum and Art Gallery

1998 Common Ground: Sax Impey and Richard Nott, Book Gallery, St Ives

1997 Kunstbrucke, Dock 11, Berlin

Landmarks, Cafe Gallery Projects, London

1996 Drawing Towards the End of a Century, Newlyn Art Gallery

RESIDENCIES AND COLLABORATIONS

2008 with Red Earth: ‘Longshore Drift’, Suffolk

2007 with Red Earth: ‘Enclosure’, Dorset

2005 with Red Earth: ‘Vanishing Point’, Birling Gap, Sussex

with Red Earth: ‘Jalan’, Trafalgar Square, London

with Red Earth: ‘Geograph – Trace’, Birling Gap, Sussex

2004 with Jony Easterby: Samphire Tower, Samphire Hoe, Dover

1997 Kunstbrucke, Berlin

COLLECTIONS

Arts Council Collection

Warwick University

The Connaught Hotel

Terence Disdale Design

Travelex

Private collections worldwide

PUBLICATIONS AND SELECTED PRESS

2011 Storm, Millennium

2010 Art of the Sea (In Pictures), Owen Sheers, BBC4

2009 Voyage, Millennium

2007 Art Now Cornwall, Susan Daniel-McElroy, Tate Publishing

Sea, New Millennium Gallery

New Face of Cornish Art, Laura Gascoigne, The Times

2006 On the Very Edge of the Ocean, Ben Tufnell, Tate Publishing

2004 Events, New Millennium Gallery

2002 Arts Council Collection Acquisitions, 1989-2002

ARTNSA, NSA Publications

Labyrinths, New Millennium Gallery

2001 Behind the Canvas, S Brittain / S Cook

1998 The Dictionary of Artists in Britain Since 1945, D Buckman

1996 Drawing Towards the End of a Century, NSA Publications

Another View: Art in St Ives, Marion Whybrow

Published by Millennium to coincide with the exhibition ‘Storm’ by Sax Impey

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers

Photography of work by Graham Gaunt (www.grahamgaunt.com)Portrait photography by Mark Noall (www.photographer-st-ives-cornwall.co.uk)‘Sax Impey - Storm’ Introduction by Owen Sheers © Owen Sheers

Printed by Active Colour (www.activecolour.co.uk)

ISBN 978-1-905772-47-6

S t r e e t - a n - P o lS t . I v e s C o r n w a l l0 1 7 3 6 7 9 3 1 2 1m a i l @ m i l l e n n i u m g a l l e r y. c o . u kw w w . m i l l e n n i u m g a l l e r y. c o . u k

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Sax Impey 'Storm