2013    fixtures and fittings    kestle barton

foreword    dr ryya bread

A layered location replete with human histories and memories, place has width as well as depth. It is about connections, what surrounds it, what formed it, what happened there, what will happen there. – Lucy Lippard

Fixtures and Fittings will be the first exhibition of the season for Kestle Barton and will feature approximately twenty new paintings by Jessica Cooper created in response to the themes and scenes to be found at Kestle Barton.

Fixtures and Fittings focuses on the reconstructive materials, the architecture and the grounds of Kestle Barton, as told through the paintings by Jessica Cooper. The artist has spent time in the domestic spaces of the converted barns that now serve as holiday apartments; the working unseen places used by staff; the fields and footpaths that surround the structures and the beautiful areas enjoyed by the visitors – namely the exhibition space and the adjacent garden open to the public from Easter – November.

Jessica Cooper is a native to Cornwall, based in West Penwith, she is an active member of the Newlyn Society of Artists. Her painting practice is heavily informed by her daily drawings in her sketchbooks that record the objects and elements that surround her in life and bring meaning to her paintings. This new collection is in keeping with the elegant, minimal style that Cooper is known for. Humour and painterly sophistication are saturated into seemingly sparse compositions that rely on precise placement of line and colour for their strong impact. Familiar motifs from her repertoire reappear here through her exploration of Kestle Barton – an interest in both the interior and exterior of these unique house structures: chairs, kitchen utensils, mugs and teapots, metal rooftops and hidden corners. The gardens of Kestle Barton have also proved an irresistible subject, bringing bright colours and playful patterns into the collection.