top of page

EXHIBITIONS

This page lists any exhibitions I have been in or had as well as informing you of any upcoming exhibitions I am in.

PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS

The Fishermen's Chapel - New Rd, Leigh-on-Sea, Southend-on-Sea, SS9 2EA

September 2024 - November 2024

An exhibition of my artwork at The Fishermen's Chapel. The work exhibited is the full range of my art, from my drawings to my traditional paintings to my abstract art.​

This exhibition was open every weekend and was a great way to engage with my local community and have my artwork seen.

Demo valley (June 2023):

​​A solo exhibit within a group exhibition at the Peter De Wint Building, Lincoln. The idea began as a development of my previous exhibition. I wanted to create an environment that showcased the dark and heavy nature that depression creates. However, I wanted the subject matter to depict how mental health and physical health have a direct interplay with each other, so I began to research these ideas within art history. I read a book on Jean-Michel Basquiat that snowballed my interest into his style, New York graffiti in the 1980s and Neo-expressionism as an art movement.

 

This led to the conceptualisation of two painted walls, both covered in layers of eerie figures, evoking ideas of graffiti in the 1980s and a dark, foreboding alleyway – a claustrophobic experience to demonstrate the overbearing nature of the subject matter. I used dingy lights to illuminate the space, which was effective as I worked with technicians to make my space secluded into a dark corner in what was a bright, white walled gallery.

 

The environment was a success. Talking to audience members, they all said that the presentation and the art led them to understand the feelings at the core of the work, whilst also being made to feel uncomfortable, as if they were exploring someone’s dark and twisted mind. This exhibition helped me to understand the importance of subtleties to create storytelling using a constructed environment to elevate and build upon those subtleties.​​​​​​​

Locating Practice (January 2023):

A solo exhibit of my art at the Peter De Wint Building, Lincoln. After being in a car crash, my injuries meant I couldn’t paint the way I had previously and had to change up my style. I began researching Cubism, Pop art and Expressionism and explored these looser painting techniques. I began painting with ink as it flowed quickly and allowed me to quickly paint what I was feeling. This evolved into painting a large mural exploring my physicality, self-perception and mental health. At this time, I gauged an interest in Keith Haring and his minimalistic figures that told so much in so little.

 

This inspired my work to be loose and free. When I ran out of wall to paint, I began to paint on paper, conceptualising the viewer having to bend down and open these big scrolls of paper to see the artwork. This was to make people perform the tasks of bending and stretching, which caused me considerable pain, to then be confronted with an image representative of the pain I was experiencing. To encourage this, I created an audio loop, recording the sounds of paper being manipulated, the sound of crinkling paper telling the audience to interact with the work. I used audacity to develop the looped audio, altering the decibels and bass to make the audio more obvious, then hid two speakers within the pile of paper, playing on a constant loop. The exhibition was received well and stood as a basis for my next exhibition.

Photos of the exhibitons:
Perpetual echoes (wall 1) - Demo Valley
Perpetual echoes (wall 2) - Demo Valley
Intractable - Locating practice 1
Intractable - Locating practice 2
Intractable - Locating practice 3

Through the Looking Glass (May 2022):​

​​Solo artwork that was exhibited at the Blue Room (The Lawn, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN1 3BU).

​

A group of three others and I were to create an exhibition that was externalised from our university. All our group had previously studied the human psyche, so we began to research for a place in Lincoln that had a rich history with that theme. We quickly found The Lawn was a refurbished asylum and that it housed the Blue Room, which was an entertainment hall for the old residents of the asylum. We began to use the Lawn’s archive as well as the Lincolnshire Archive’s Record Office. Reading through patient information as well as information regarding the premises, we understood that the Lawn was revolutionary in changing how asylum ran and how the patients were treated, using rehabilitation methods instead of locking the patients up, which was radical forward thinking at the time.

 

I created a metaphoric installation, using a bed frame that resembled beds found in old asylums, then wrapping fishing line and shards of mirror to represent the restraints used in old asylums. This display then had a lighting rig illuminate it, making a beautiful, reflected display, representing the new age thinking the Lawn brought to the table and how it vastly improved the patients’ lives. I installed the environment myself.

​

To fill the space and create atmosphere, I created a looping audio that stated the patients’ names and why they were admitted to the Lawn. This was a subtle reminder of those who had lived there 100 years ago, but also commented on the reasons for admission, many seeming absurd in the modern day. The exhibition was a huge success, with many visiting telling us that it was a tasteful retelling of Lincoln’s history.

Bodies of Practice (2022)

Solo hang of my artwork Amelioration (2022), the works being gestural tellings of my grief after losing close family and coming to terms with mortality. The paintings were experimental for me at the time, trying out new techniques and mediums to create a new, different aesthetic than what I previously had done. 

Eclipse - Installation at the Blue Room

Video of the installation:

Amelioration - Bodies of Practice

Art fairs

Folk & Bespoke Craft fair
Leigh-on-sea, May 2024

I hosted a stall at the Folk & Bespoke craft fair on the 11th of May 2024, this being the first time I'd attended an art fair. With my art taking bold new directions I was excited to hear the public reception, recieving an overwhelmingly positive response, gaining great feedback and comments from those who attended. 

​

I also had prints made for the event, these were initially exclusive to the art fair but can now be found below!

Aston at the Folk & Bespoke craft fair
bottom of page