Girls at Play

New paintings and drawings

by Derek Marks

13 January - 6 February 2011

Opening Reception: Thursday 13 January, 2011 | 6.30 to 9.30pm

Derek Marks, Girls Dangling III: Silent Separation, Oil on canvas, 2010

Girls at Play, new paintings and drawings by Derek Marks, can be divided into three

themes: girls dangling, girls drawing and girls making pacts; each representing

something of the cloistered worlds of privacy and uniformity.

The subjects portrayed are not aware or even interested in the viewer, but only in their

activities and, to varying degrees, each other. These images do not only represent play

but are playful.

Often the girls faces are averted from view and their individuality hidden with uniform

clothing. While at the same time, there is a powerful sense of society and of belonging,

reinforced by the compactness of the groupings. The work becomes conversations

about identity, both singular and group.

This playfulness is also found in the execution of the work – colour separates one part

of the body from another with no visible flesh to make the link, but the construction

Derek Marks, Girls: Inseparable III, Charcoal, 2010

of the body is such, that one is left with no doubt of the understanding of human

anatomy underpinning such decisions. What appears absent at first, makes itself quite

present in time.

These are sensual works paying homage to the charm and beauty of youth – evoking

strong references to a more innocent state of being, while displaying an absolute joy in

the art of image making and painting.

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For further information, text or images, please contact António Capelão.

Bicha Gallery, 7 Gabriel’s Wharf, South Bank, London SE1 9PP

Gallery +44 (0)20 7928 0083 | E antonio@bicha.co.uk | www.bicha.co.uk

Open Tuesday through Sunday from 11am till 7pm

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Bicha represents living contemporary artists from the UK and around the world

– working in sculpture, ceramics, drawing, illustration, painting, photography,

printmaking, etching and metal work.

Bicha Gallery | Girls at Play | 13 November -6 February, 2011

New paintings and drawings by Derek Marks

020 7928 0083, 7 Gabriel’s Wharf, South Bank, London SE1 9PP | 11 am - 7pm Tues-Sun

Tube: Waterloo, Embankment, Covent Garden, Southwark.