Outside In and Cerno Capital are pleased to present Outside In: Discover, an exhibition celebrating artwork by three Outside In artists.

Outside In was founded in 2006 at Pallant House Gallery and became an independent charity in 2016 following a highly successful decade. The award-winning charity works to provide a platform for people who face significant barriers to the art world whether due to health, disability, social circumstances or isolation, and currently supports 2,600 artists.

We were able to collaborate with Outside In for this exhibition, displaying colourful works that are varied in style and representative of artists from diverse backgrounds reflecting Outside In’s inclusive ethos. All three exhibiting artists create work with strong, vibrant imagery, each with a very unique and distinct practice.

Nnena Kalu works in an obsessive and determined way to develop a range of work with an underlying approach of a systematic layering. In the works on display, she uses repetitive lines which she draws in circular motion, responding to the rhythm and noise of creating the work. Once she has applied a painted background, she creates repeated lines with a circular motion, frequently following the same route to create heavily worked into vortex shapes and forms, often with the line shifting allowing a new pattern to emerge. She often keeps her eyes shut while drawing, allowing the line to flow through her arm.

In contrast, Rakibul Chowdhury creates intricate crowd scenes depicting his favourite celebrities and film stars. He uses fine pens and paint to focus on complex figurative compositions exploring the relationship between everyday life and popular culture. Whilst he often reflects back to childhood memories and images that film him with joy, he also allows for death and sadness to seep into his landscapes of people creating a celebration of life.

The theme of Jasna’s work is often religious spiritual experiences. She starts creating her work with a monoprint, before layering with graphic paint, watercolour, ink, acrylic, collage and egg tempera to depict story-like scenes which include themes of religion, spirituality and mortality.

Although the artists have a very different approach to creating, their air practice is an internal part of all of their lives. After being introduced to Outside In last year, we are delighted to continue to support them in their mission, as well as manage their charitable endowment that will continue to support their work and artists for many years to come.

Leave a Reply