The Apollo Gallery is delighted to host Laura Medcalf’s solo exhibition, Where the Waters Merge, which showcases 14 large-scale works on paper, summarising the young artist’s creative journey over the past five years. During this time, Medcalf has refined her distinctive technique to a masterful level, that is rooted in the sensitive interplay between human and nature and the capturing of fleeting natural phenomena.
Medcalf creates her organic compositions, which explores the interplay of various shades of blue, by working with rocks, sand and plants found at the shores of freshwater and saltwater — including seas, oceans, and rivers — using the power of water and sunlight. Her experimental approach, fostering a symbiotic relationship with nature, also supports her meditative engagement with the painting process. Creating in some of the world’s most beautiful locations, she has the opportunity to live fully in the present moment, experiencing a deep sense of the here and now. Her works also celebrate the physical act of painting, with abstract expressionist elements highlighting the dynamism, energy, and momentum of the creative process.
The resulting pieces are shaped by guided serendipity, with the motifs’ character, the intensity of the mystical blue hues, and the surface textures being influenced by environmental factors: the type and quality of water, the strength of sunlight, and the quantity of minerals, rocks and botanical fragments.
The words of painter Jay Meuser resonate deeply with Medcalf’s work: “It is far better to capture the glorious spirit of the sea than to paint all of its tiny ripples.”
Zita SÁRVÁRI