Underland

MARYANNE HAWES
JUNE 2020

Art can provide hope and connection, be the light we need to see in the world when times feel dark or uncertain. And we as creatives are inventive, we use chaos to fuel us, limitations to redefine new ways of seeing. The lights in the gallery have not been turned off, we shine bright, we are still a space for your minds and hearts to gather, even if not physically right now. 

And so, we have never been more proud or happy to be showing this fresh, dynamic and optimistic work by Maryanne Hawes, for Underland. 

‘The abstract paintings of Maryanne Hawes show a convergence of interior and exterior landscapes. Her work is intuitive, sensitive to the resonance of place, often representing what we can’t see as much as what we can see. In her colour palette and expressive marks one can pick out the explosion of sea-spray on a cluster of rock, and equally a feeling of excitement, serenity, even levity, in the brush-marks…’  - Kate Reeve-Edwards (Art writer - ‘Approaching Wonderland’)

Maryanne Hawes

An outgoing introvert, a seeker of quiet spaces in a busy world and a self-taught painter, Maryanne is an ambassador for positivity, compassion and empathy in the art world and beyond. With successful careers in Garden Design and Portrait Photography behind her, she now paints full time and lives and works between the lower Wye Valley and her family’s homeland, Cornwall.

"As a fervent amateur psychologist, I’ve always been in awe of the vibrant and shifting landscapes of the mind. I’m captivated by the influence of what we can’t see – how the unseen energies of people, spaces and places affect how we perceive the world, and how this energy contributes to a complex and changing emotional topography. I’ve discovered how making and exploring art can be a way of mapping and navigating these ‘interior landscapes.’

As I explore this psychological territory through colour, shape and line I find enigmatic, half-imagined forms, echoes of a dream or a childhood memory; abstract images moulded by thoughts, values, beliefs and experiences, as well as often reflecting the seen –or felt- environment. My process is intuitive and meditative, an unfolding of thought in shape and colour.  To paraphrase Roy Lichtenstein, decisions are made at the end of my brush.’

‘I seek a conscious relationship with my own Self through painting and a resolution of a piece often feels like a homecoming- yet to a place I’ve never been before; a celebration of the transience of our lives."