Changing Tides

‘Changing Tides’ is a solo show of work by multi-disciplinary artist Simone Brewster and is an official Kensington and Chelsea Artist Week 2024 event. The exhibition is curated by James Marshall and is presented by Portobello Road's J/M Gallery. It will also coincide with a display in Knightsbridge of Brewster's large scale public sculpture project, Spirit of Place, as a key headline in the acclaimed KCAW Art Trail.

Changing Tides follows on from Brewster's show-stopping year in 2023, as the Special Commission for the London Design Festival; as a NOW Gallery summer solo artist, and with acquisitions from the V&A and Smithsonian museum. The title captures this specific moment in Brewster's practice, when her sculptural and three dimensional work opens a dialogue with her painting.

Brewster’s work often offers a playfulness to viewers, inviting them to reflect on themes and associations we often attribute to simple shape and colour. Pulling you into the canvas she leads you to question if these forms connote concepts such as gender, race, or body image?

Through this exhibition, attendees are invited to reflect on their inner landscapes and the shapes that echo our cherished memories, evoke our childhood, mirror our natural environment, or resonate with our intimate relationships. Brewster's paintings, far from the constraints of conventional representations, encourage viewers to delve into the familiar yet often unnamed organic shapes that exist beyond definition. Rejecting the idea of using ‘named’ shapes, Brewster underlines the profound familiarity that comes with experiencing these forms, as well as the emotional sentiment, value, and comfort they hold.

Both the artist and the curator are known for their heavily multi-disciplined approach. In Changing Tides, this takes a literal sense within the exhibition, with a constantly changing display. The show runs from 19 June - 25 June at J/M Gallery, 230 Portobello Road.