Designer Desire: Marina Strocchi

Montage of Marina Strocchi artworks

This week’s featured Designer Desire artist hails from Down Under. Marina Strocchi (b. 1961) is a fine artist and printmaker working primarily with acrylic on linen.

Born in Melbourne to an Australian mother and Italian father, she has lived in Central Australia for many years – an environment that heavily informs her artistic practice.

She has exhibited internationally and her work is included in the collections of Art Gallery of Western Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria.

In her artist statement, she explains:

The surface of the painting is my main concern, along with the structure of the drawing. I try to suggest the qualities of nature in my lines and colours. The landscapes of the central and western deserts are currently my primary inspiration. I am also inspired by road trips to places elsewhere. I sometimes take a point of perspective that could be described as a sweeping bird’s eye view. I use the patterns of nature and a desert palette to recreate fragments of memory. I have memories that seem to slowly become part of the present in my work. The openness of nature is what most inspires me.

Her work sometimes comes up for auction and is also available to purchase from Art Images Gallery, Jan Murphy Gallery, Studio 5 and Australian Galleries.

Portrait of Marina Strocchicredit

Here’s Strocchi, showing some of her most recent works which were inspired by a 2019 residency she undertook in New York.

Designer Desire: Sian McGill

Montage of Sian McGill paintings

Born on St.David’s Day 1973 in Pontypool, Sian McGill is a fine artist working primarily in acrylic on board. She paints the most fabulous landscapes; often of Welsh hillsides, coastlines and vernacular architecture.

Her work is full of colour and movement; you can almost smell the DMS of the ocean, feel the mountain breeze on your face and hear the water in the stream flowing past!

She has had work selected for the Royal Cambrian Academy and regularly exhibits at galleries in Wales and Cornwall. You can purchase her work from various galleries & online outlets including Artsper, Attic Gallery, Wychwood Art Gallery and London Contemporary Art.

One day, we’d love to commission Sian to paint a portrait of our little cottage.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Sian McGill (@sianmcgill)

All image credits: Sian McGill©

Designer Desire: Martin John Fowler

Montage of Martin John Fowler paintings

Martin John Fowler is a fine artist working in the Yorkshire/Lincolnshire borders. He travels recording the wild coastal areas from the Scottish isles to the hidden coves of Cornwall. He was born and raised in the mining towns of South Yorkshire. He studied drawing and painting at Doncaster College of Art. He went on to study painting and printmaking at Sheffield College of Art, acquiring a BA (hons) in Fine Art.

We first noticed his work while walking past the window of  Oriel y Bont in Aberystwyth town centre. We really love his paintings; they’re forged using bright, primary colours and are full of movement. Most of the paintings we’ve chosen to include in our montage come from Fowler’s The Prevailing Sense of Change series:

Drawing and painting working on my ongoing project intensified by the prevailing sense of change in Coastal working ports from childhood memories to the present which record and reflect the constant change and adaptions of an entire way of life. Recording in sketches and paintings

Head to Martin John Fowler’s Instagram feed to view a huge selection of his portfolio.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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All images: Martin John Fowler ©

Designer Desire: Eoghan Bridge

Montage of Eoghan Bridge sculptures Portrait of Eoghan Bridgecredit

Eoghan Bridges (b. 1963) is an Edinburgh-born, Yorkshire-based artist. He’s a second generation sculptor working in a number of mediums, including bronze, ceramic, resin and aluminium.

His subject matter is often human and equine forms, regularly within the same piece.

I have no background involving horses and I don’t ride. But the horse has such a strong history in art, and its role in building and transport has been fundamental to civilisation.
I find the combination of horse and figure fascinating – it is the subtle composition, almost intuitive. I can express any feeling of emotion through the horse and rider.

Eoghan has endured many tragic experiences in his life, and these have infused into his work.

He sells via his own website and those of a number of galleries, including Kilmorack Gallery and Iona House Gallery.

Additional image credits:

Saatchi Art | Strathearn Gallery