Cheerful Camouflage - an exhibition of paintings by Steve Pratt

The Gallery at Birdwood House in Totnes is hosting “Cheerful Camouflage”, an exhibition of paintings by Zimbabwean-born artist Steve Pratt, from Monday 29th September to Saturday 4th October.

The work on display presents a highly personal, bittersweet vision arising from the perspective of dispossession and exile from Zimbabwe. He draws inspiration from elements of the African artistic heritage that were a familiar scene to an artist growing up in rural Zimbabwe, where the geometric simplicity and structural strength of traditional African design and the expressive power and mystery of ancient Zimbabwean rock paintings had an enduring influence on his development. Pratt’s paintings acknowledge these influences but ultimately it is through his own vision that he explores the uneasy relationship between exuberance and despair in the African experience. The artist largely avoids direct literal representation in favour of simplified and at times ambiguous detail that is often integrated witha decorative pattern, and he uses these apparently innocent patterns as a smokescreen or “cheerful camouflage” to dark tragedy.

Based near Totnes, Pratt describes himself as an expressionist in his approach to painting. He works in oils on canvas, using both brush and palette knife. He studied fine art at the Rhodes University School of Art in Grahamstown, South Africa and has exhibited in numerous national and group exhibitions in Zimbabwe and South Africa since the 1970s, with solo exhibitions in Zimbabwe and England. His work is represented in the public collection of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.

The Gallery at Birdwood House is situated at 44 High Street, Totnes TQ9 5NP. Open Monday to Friday 10-30am to 4-30pm and Saturday 10-30am to 2-30pm.

For more information visit http://www.steve-pratt.co.uk/