Lovers Lane is a FREE exhibition of paintings by fourteen artists whose work luxuriates in form, and the mystifying Dionysian approach to painting 

Oceans Apart Gallery, situated in Salford and founded two years ago by Keith Ashcroft and Jenny Eden, display contemporary paintings. 

 LOVERS LANE opened on Friday 30th April and runs till Sunday 30th May 12-4pm daily, by appointment only by email oceansapartgallery@gmail.com 

The art in the show reflects sensual human nature, tearing down the walls of the subject unifying nature and man:  

Keith Ashcroft said: “The emotional aspects of painting and human nature. We are all part of nature. The work is quite fluid. That is just my personal view on painting. The overarching theme of the show is reference to human nature and painting 

Curator and Artist Zac Bradley coined the title “Lovers Lane” which captures the essence of the exhibition.  Keith comments: “The title is quite scandalous but my interpretation of it was we were kind of looking at Dionisis as a starting point so the sensual, spontaneous, emotional. It’s quite a catchy title and we are all for pushing the boundaries out.” 

The meaning of the show doesn’t follow one message, it’s more about an approach to painting rather than a single meaning so the idea of spontaneity and the artists in the show were selected by Zac and me not with having a theme as such in mind but more a kind of feel for the work and the kind of approach to making work which seemed to appeal to us.” 

The Lovers Lane exhibition features a range of artists from up and down the country. Oceans Apart tend to have one or two international artists, the show features New York based artist, B.Chehayeb 

Keith said: “I’ve been patrolling Chehsyeb’s work for quite some time. She has been making some fantastic work consistently.” 

 

Copyright Oceans apart: facebook

Is cultural regeneration in Salford important to you as a Gallery? 

 Oceans Apart aims to create new audiences and support the cultural regeneration of the area Keith elaborates: “One of the reasons we started the gallery is because we felt frustrated by lack of representation for contemporary painters. More generally it tends to be the bigger city galleries and it is difficult to get your work in those and there’s little independent contemporary ambition for forward thinking painting galleries.”   

“We are all for inclusive connecting and engaging with the public art is for everyone we are right on the border of town”

Why are you a painting specific gallery? 

 “We feel that painting is quite broad, and it encompasses a lot, in different approaches painting its expanded painting. Because there is not anything like that in Salford or Manchester, even a gallery that is solely paintings. Its gives us an identity as a gallery, it also makes things simpler for us in terms of what we are looking for. Both partners mew and jenny who run the space are both painters, so we are just commenting on contemporary painting and engaging with other painters and artists and instigating a dialogue and discourse” 

David R Newton @newtondavidr ‘Dion Darkness / The Light of Other Days’ (2021), Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 25cm
Lovers Lane, curated with Zac Bradley @zaccbradley

Oceans Apart Gallery are adapting to the ever-changing landscapes of the art scene post lockdown in that instead of having a preview they are having a finissage, a closing private viewing. 

All the artists are invited on the 28th of May after revising the national situation with a social distancing system in place. 

LOVERS LANE opens on Friday 30th April and continues to Sunday 30th May, 12-4pm daily, by appointment only – please email oceansapartgallery@gmail.com. 

There will be a socially distanced Finissage on Friday 28th May 6-9pm.
Oceans Apart – OA Studios – 24-26 King Street – Salford – M3 7D

 

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