A new exhibition by Ottery artist Richard Kaye opens at The Malthouse Gallery in Lyme Regis in August.
The collection of drawings, paintings and prints features strong compositions and angular forms, creating bold, distinctive images.
Mr Kaye is inspired by modern structures and architecture. His 2018 exhibition, at the same gallery, featured a series of prints depicting station roofs, telegraph poles, trees, scaffolding, communication masts and cranes. It attracted a lot of interest, and brought in twice the revenue the gallery had expected.
In the last few years he has started to work on a larger scale, with screen prints that he hand tints using watercolour. The most recent focus on brutalist architecture and modern buildings. The colours he is using now have moved away from the more subdued pastel tones towards a brighter complementary range, as well as neons. The angular, edgy and bold neon images inspired him to start a streetwear clothing brand called 2_Brutal.
Most recently painting has been his main focus, and he has become totally immersed in creating a series of abstract landscapes focusing closely on colour balance and composition to engage the viewer. The landscapes are heavily influenced by the surrounding area, especially the coastline, seaside towns and cliffs around Lyme Regis. Golden Cap features clearly in one of the works being shown.
He has also recently completed a small series of drawings of brutalist architecture, focusing mainly on stairways. These are very detailed and realistic, which pushed him to break into new techniques within pencil drawing.
Richard Kaye has lived in Ottery St. Mary for more than 15 years, moving down from London to bring his two children up in Devon, close to his parents, who lived in Lyme Regis. He has a deep love of the area, having lived in both Lyme Regis and Bridport as a young man.
Before moving back down to Devon, he had a career in music, which involved a year touring the world with the rock band Ash as their scratch DJ. During this time he played on the main stage at Glastonbury and appeared on Top of the Pops.
His exhibition runs from Friday, August 14 until Wednesday, August 26. The gallery will be open from 10.30am until 4.30pm.
Read more about Richard Kaye’s former music career here: Ottery DJ-turned-artist Richard Kaye holds exhibition in Lyme Regis
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