Passion is the new exhibition from Arundel artist Andy Waite

Opening times are 11am-4pm daily at 54 Tarrant Street, Arundel, BN18 9DN; other times by appointment:email: [email protected]; 07570 807954; www.andywaite.net

Andy explained: “The title of this new exhibition Passion refers to both passion in the contemporary sense and anguish in the biblical, both being states of mind that artists go through when creativity pulls and the consequential vulnerability when offering their inner selves to the gaze of the wider world.

“With this new collection, I sense that there’s been another shift in my approach. It’s always something of a revelation when a new body of work is completed and you start to hang the work you’ve been immersed in for many weeks. I’ve started to work with different colour combinations which I’ve found both exhilarating and revealing while my exploration of the abstract continues to grow, although still loosely rooted in landscape. The paintings are no longer about specific places with physical locations; they’re places derived from instinct and the imagination, allowing greater freedom of expression.

“With this new liberty, I’m also increasingly aware that as a writer of poetry, the titles of my paintings play an important role, sparking a feeling or an emotion and which sometimes arrive during the creative process while others may take a while, but slowly the two become inextricably entwined, and always with a poetic nuance.

“My paintings are my life blood and it’s my way of connecting to the unseen and unknowable. They are about trying to make sense of my world and simultaneously getting away from it, and perhaps the closest I could be to having a religion; it’s both other-worldly and completely grounding. I tend to spend most of my time in the confines of my studio, a self-imposed obsessive necessity, and from that isolation comes a desire to connect with people too, and when they resonate with what I do, it is naturally an uplifting moment.

“I am always happy to show at home and it’s something I have become very comfortable with since I’ve been exhibiting in this way for 35 years now, starting when Arundel Gallery Trail was first established in 1989 and I now put on two additional shows a year, one at Christmas and one in the spring.

“With the rise of art trails across the country, more and more artists are taking the opportunity to show work from their studios. It can be notoriously difficult to be taken on by galleries and so open house provides a valuable alternative, and I like to combine the best of both worlds, being fortunate enough to be represented by several galleries further afield who will occasionally offer to exhibit my work.

"I am also showing at the Affordable Art Fair, Hampstead with Noon Powell Fine Art from May 9-12.”