Featured Artist – Bernard Swift

Bernard Swift exhibition opens at Chocolate Factory Gallery

Collage Arts and Karamel are pleased to be kicking off this year’s series of exhibitions with a selection of works by Bernard Swift. An artist whose style is instantly recognisable but ever difficult to categorise, Bernard’s work contains echoes of bawdy seaside postcards, imposing soviet propaganda posters, and magnificent stained glass friezes, with an occasional loving yet sarcastic nod to the classics of the old masters. But, with a sensibility that could draw comparisons to Velazquez, it’s the fine details and their hidden gems that really give these impressive pieces their unique charm. Whether they’re nostalgic stills of New England beaches, or dense biblical parodies transported to a heaving modern Britain, each painting has its own distinct story, and each character their own personality and purpose. No public figure or archetype is safe from Bernard’s satirical brush and careful observers may even see friends and neighbours among those mercilessly, yet joyfully caricatured.

Exhibition runs until 23 March 2012 at the Gallery in Karamel restaurant, 4 Coburg Road, London N22 6UJ.

Open Monday to Friday from 10 ’til 4pm and Friday/Saturday evenings from 6 ’til 10pm.

The Private View is on Thursday 1st March from 6.30 to 8.30pm.