Our latest Level Best Art Gallery Review explores ‘GESTURE’ by Wendy Fransella & Ella Johnston, written by Trainee Gallery Assistants Sophie, Saffron & Stephen D, with assistance from staff member Megan.
This exhibition is by two artists who are working together again – they have had a show here before. Wendy used to live in London, but now she lives in Colchester. Ella lived in London when she was a child, and she grew up there, but now she lives in Wivenhoe.
There are 20 pieces. You can see dark blue, red, purple and grey – in fact, we can see EVERY COLOUR! They are paintings made with brushes. They are all on canvas apart from one. There is a mixture of sizes, some small ones, and some big ones.
The room looks and feels good. Saffron says the room looks happy. She doesn’t do much painting, but she likes these ones. Both of the painters make abstract work. Wendy’s paintings look a little more like pictures of natural forms, maybe water, wind, or even animals and plants. Ella’s paintings look more like structures, buildings and cities. Stephen thinks one of them looks like a castle.
The paintings are abstract, so it is hard to know what they are about. Wendy says her paintings are about movement and expressing her feelings. Ella says her work changes meaning over time because she adds to them and alters them. Both artists make paintings about the act of painting.
Our favourite pieces:
Stephen likes the bigger ones – they make him want to do big paintings too. His favourite is ‘Kiss Me Quick, Squeeze Me Slow’. It’s very cool.
Sophie also says that she likes that one – the colours pop out. She can see white, blue, green, pink, yellow, and orange!
Saffron likes ‘Autumn Fruits’ by Wendy, because of the red. She also likes ‘Swifts’ because it looks like birds, sunshine and water. That one is also by Wendy.
The ones we don’t really like are the darker ones by Ella – they are a bit too dark.
You should come and see the show because:
“It’s amazing – it has lots of colour.”
“It’s gorgeous.”
“We think it’s great.”
We all agree that our Mums would like this exhibition! The colours are so vibrant. It’s epic – Wendy & Ella are legends!
