Myo St Paul's, One New Change: Anna F Macdonald, Hannah Maybank, Laura Jane Scott, Matt Dosa, Silvia Lerin & Sthenjwa Luthuli

ANNA F MACDONALD

Anna is a Minimalist Abstract Artist based in London, UK.

Her work delves into the importance of negative space and the Zen philosophy "Ma" - the spatial relationship between structural elements.  Her paintings and drawings incorporate Shibumi principles; a complex process not evident in the outcome, creating works of unobtrusive beauty.

Beginning by referencing tangible elements from nature, after careful observation Anna strips away all but the non-essential, working with gestural marks and elemental colour to capture the essence of the subject. This redaction of the superfluous encourages the observer to slow down and appreciate the tranquillity of the work.  Anna’s interpretation of Minimalism also incorporates influences from Abstract Expressionism, mid-century Abstraction and Japanese calligraphy with an inclination towards Constructivism.   Anna returned to her painting practice in 2017 and has been teaching Art in secondary education since 2004.  She currently lives in London dividing her time between painting, teaching, and coaching other Artists.

HANNAH MAYBANK

Hannah Maybank is a British artist best known for the ripped and distressed surfaces of her three dimensional paintings in acrylic. Her work is an exploration into the subject of decay and renewal. By using the physicality of paint, repetition, reaction and the subject of flora her works hold an implied or actual ‘life’ of their own beyond completion. She graduated from an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art, London, in 1999, following a BA (Hons) Fine Art from Liverpool John Moores University. She lives and works in London.

LAURA JANE SCOTT

Laura Jane Scott’s desire for formal simplicity through geometric form and striking use of colour has enabled her to produce a body of work where painting explores a model of architectural form and where the colour literally embodies a physical structure. The resulting work is a hybrid of painting and sculpture; a refined visual vocabulary of form and colour.

MATT DOSA

Matt Dosa is an abstract artist from North London. Spanning a variety of mediums — paintings, sculptures, prints and murals — his work captures a sense of bold playfulness, an echo of the city where he has lived and worked for over three decades.

‘I’m always searching for the thing that’s beautiful, in landscapes which might seem chaotic or ugly at first glance,’ says Matt. ‘There is a lot of energy in cities, a lot of tension, but also this feeling that, somehow, everything is just about hanging together. I draw a lot of inspiration from that.’ 

In 2023 Matt created ‘Play It Again’, the artwork concept for Universal Music’s renowned BRITs after party, following on from acclaimed artists Yinka Ilori and Attzs -]. His four-storey mural on the Brutalist spiral car park at The Mall, Wood Green – commissioned by the Mayor of London in 2022 –  saw him work with hundreds of members of the local community to co-create flags celebrating the diversity of the area.

As a muralist and public artist, he has produced commissions for Affordable Art Fair, the NHS, fabric London, Decca Records, Great Portland Estates, and the charities Centre Point and Single Homeless Project, amongst others.  Last year, Matt was funded by the Arts Council to expand his practice into screen printing and sculpture. His work continues to expand into these new mediums. 

SILVIA LERIN

Silvia Lerin is a Spanish visual artist based in London. She graduated with a BA (Hons) in Fine Arts from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain).  She made several solo exhibitions in Germany, Spain, and the UK, particular highlights were the ones she made in the Sophien-Edition Gallery in Berlin (Germany) and in the Outpost Gallery in Norwich (UK).

During all that time she has received numerous awards and grants, outstanding among others was the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant of New York in 2013 which brought her to London, where she decided to stay, and in 2017 she was awarded The Annex Collection Award in the UK.  There exist numerous artworks by her in various public buildings and many private collections throughout Spain and abroad.

STHENJWA  LUTHULI

Luthuli’s capacity to critically analyse the ever-shifting social landscape he grew up in has made him one of South Africa’s most sought after young artists. His creative voice draws attention to the restrictions that are still placed on the lives of ethnic minorities in South Africa. Sthenjwa elucidates the reality that, for many, life is about restrictions, about control, about being told what to do and how to do it.

Pattern, texture, and design are very important to his practice, both aesthetically and metaphorically: the surface of the works seem to shimmer and shift under the eye. The figures are headless: a symbolic gesture to the important connection between education and liberation. They are shackled by circumstance, their free will eroded by the abused powers of state and a lacking social infrastructure.