I am very happy to announce friend and fellow artist Kerry Zacharia will be exhibiting her first central London solo art exhibition near St Paul’s Cathedral from the 20th March to Friday, 6th April.

The theme for this show is London, entitled “London in Different Dimensions”. This exhibition will be hosted by The Salvation Army at their International Headquarters within their Gallery 101 space. The Private Viewing will be held from 5:30pm to 8:30pm on the 21st March.

In this exhibition, Kerry aims to engage her audience in a very decisive way with her expressive and highly individual graphic line style, taking them on a journey through familiar urban scenes of this great City of London. They will experience how her everyday life, inspired by simple, uplifting and sometimes spiritual moments, has been turned into a unique collection of paintings. Her London art is deeper than the instant connection it forms, especially when closely observed her audience will be guided via the energy of her lines, allowing for any mysteries to unfold and connections to be formed, thus making the whole experience of viewing her art ‘different’.

Kerry was born and raised in North London and is of Greek-Cypriot ethnic origin. Creative talent was present in her as a child; however, her career took her on a different path. Her passion for art long remained and at the age of 53 she has managed to establish quite a following. As a self-taught artist, Kerry has not been influenced by any art training and relies on her own inspirations and inner vision to guide and develop her art practice. Her art is largely received as “different”, “energising” and “mysterious” and as her having a unique and recognisable style. Someone has described it as “Van Gogh from another dimension”.

In conjunction with this exhibition, Kerry will be running a fundraising event to raise awareness and money to help support the great work of The Salvation Army. People engaging in her fundraising event will not only be entitled to a generous discount on buying her original art, but will be helping Kerry raise even more money as her employer, Telereal Trillium, will ‘Charity Match’ her donations.

Kerry was happy to answer a few questions about the exhibition, her work and what’s planned for the future.

How long have you been a practicing artist?

I started painting with ink on painting around 2005 and took part in my first group exhibition in March 2014. I officially went public with my art on social media in October 2013.

Your work is very distinctive and appears to follow certain themes. Are there any artists who particularly inspire you?

I developed my own style over the years and recall early traits of my graphic linear style back to when I was at school but it wasn’t until I look to ink on paper that my style started to take shape evolve.

Being self-taught, my style is inspired from within and my everyday environments. I’ve always liked the old masters El Greco, Monet, Van Gogh, Seurat, Dali, Cezanne.

Many connect my art with Van Gogh but this happened naturally and not because I have studied his work or been particularly influenced by his art.

Please explain more about your work and the theme of the show?

Yes, I’ve entitled it “London in Different Dimensions” as the show not only captures the breadth of my London theme collection but also the different ways of looking at familiar urban scenes through a number of sub-sets.

These paintings have been naturally inspired by simple and sometimes spiritual moments that I have experienced in my everyday life. The viewer will certainly be transported via a unique artistic journey through this great city. Many of the paintings are inspired around the city because that is where I work and I always find spiritual inspiration when I’m near St Paul’s Cathedral. I’m absolutely delighted to be able to show these paintings just around the corner from there at The Salvation Army International Headquarters.

So what’s your connection with the Salvation Army?

It has been my main goal to get my London theme collection under one roof in a solo exhibition in central London and to combine it with the ‘art of giving’. It all fell into place when I became associated with The Salvation Army during a group show at their Gallery 101 space, September 2017. I have since become more familiar with the great work they do. I set up a fundraising campaign on ‘Just Giving’ to run in conjunction with my solo show to raise awareness and money in two key areas of their work, homelessness and modern-day slavery i.e. human trafficking.

I believe this is your first solo show in London?

This is my first solo show in central London. I also had a smaller similar themed solo show near to where I live in North London, June 2015.

What other plans do you have for 2018?

I’m currently working on a new body of art inspired by family and faith, which I hope to exhibit 2019/2020. I’ve no other planned shows although I would be looking for a suitable opportunity to exhibit a recent contemporary series, entitled ‘Open the Door’ later in the year.

The exhibition is at Gallery 101, The Salvation Army International Headquarters, 101 Queen Victoria Street, London, EC4V 4EH. Open Monday to Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm (closed Good Friday/Easter Monday). Nearest Stations: Blackfriars, Mansion House and St Paul’s. Click here for Gallery 101 details.  Kerry will be available most days at the show, contact Kerry to arrange an appointment.

 

Contact details: mobile 07976 742692; for all enquiries and to RSVP for Private View email kz64artist@googlemail.com; to learn more about Kerry Zacharia and her art practice visit www.artistkerryzacharia.com