The Maas Gallery is presenting a suite of impactful new paintings and graphic works by artist Sarah Adams, her first major exhibition at their new gallery space in St James’s, and her ninth solo show in 16 years represented by Maas.
Sarah Adams’ works fuse faithful, detailed representation with bold and varying tiers of abstraction, celebrating the monumental splendour and hidden secrets of the coastline around Padstow, where she has lived and worked for the past 17 years.
Her collections have become renowned for the way they bring an intimate and personal perspective to the landscape and, typically, there are elements of surprise that make each collection unique in some way. This is no different.
‘This environment by its nature is constantly in flux, but it now faces fresh challenges. Painting it has always been a source of joy, but in addition there is an urgency to document what we too often take for granted’.
Sarah Adams
About the Artist
Sarah Adams was born in England in 1962, and grew up in Berkshire before moving to the Channel Isles in 1974. Her connection with Cornwall began in 1980, at Falmouth School of Art. She continued her studies at Cheltenham and the Royal College of Art, and has lived and painted in London, South India and then Jersey, where her focus turned to coastal landscape.
Since returning to live in Cornwall in 2005, the cliffs and rock formations of the North Coast have come to dominate Sarah’s paintings, as documented in the monograph, ‘A Sea View’, by the art historian Andrew Lambirth (published by Halstar, 2013).
The artist only exhibits in her studio in Padstow, and at The Maas Gallery, who have championed her work since Rupert Maas first encountered it in 2006.
The new collection includes the enigmatic drama of Welcombe Arch, a towering natural structure just beyond the Devon border, only fully revealed for a brief spell on an ultra-low spring tide. Reaching it requires a two-and-half hour clamber across difficult terrain, so, unsurprisingly, it’s a view few people have enjoyed. Equally unsurprising is the fact that her first visit was carefully planned over three years ago, and the finished work has been two years in the making.