Rapid Eye Movements

Rapid Eye Movements

A group exhibition including new works by Iwan Lewis, Molly Martin, Polina Pak and Morgan Wills.

Opening Reception: Friday 12th July, 6-8pm
Please note the gallery will be closed for the summer break from 29th July - 11th August.

View list of works

Exhibition text by Sammi Gale

Using imagined narratives and dreams as a conceptual starting point, the exhibition brings together artists who paint mostly from memories and imagination. The photographic sources that have been used or referred to in the making of these paintings have been jumbled up and collaged, detaching the painted scenes from their origins.

Much like half-remembered moments the perspective of the imagery is warped - the actions of the figures are unclear, and the physical forms themselves are distorted and perverted.

By painting scenes and their inhabitants from memory, the artists explore how figures can be rendered expressively rather than naturalistically. Their posture and gestures give an impression of mood and intention, while also referring to the artists' autobiographical experiences.

Artist Biographies

Iwan Lewis (b. 1980, North Wales) lives and works in Ynys Môn, Anglesey, Wales. He graduated from MA Painting at Royal College of Art, London in 2011 and BA Fine Art at UWIC, Cardiff in 2002. Lewis has exhibited extensively for the last two decades. A selection of his recent group exhibitions include: ‘A Closed Door, A Den’, Arusha Gallery, UK, 2023; ‘LLE’, Kingsgate Project Space, London, 2023; ‘Overspill’, Terrace Gallery, London, 2022; ‘Blink and You’ll Miss It Art’, Safe House, London, 2022, and ‘Your Foot In My Face and Other Tectonic Strategies’, Kingsgate Project Space, London, 2021. Recent solo exhibitions include: ’Radical Lethargy’, Sid Motion Gallery, 2022; ‘Tonnau O Gariad’, BayArt, Cardiff, 2021 and ‘Annwn’, Sid Motion Gallery, 2020.  Lewis was awarded First Prize in Painting, Welsh Artist of the Year, 2012. His work is in various international private and public collections including Soho House and The Government Art Collection. Lewis is co-founder of the artist-led space STUDIO CYBI, established in 2016, which has received Arts Council of Wales funding and The Artes Mundi Venice10 commission in 2023.

Molly Martin (b. 1991) lives and works in London. She graduates from MA Fine Art at City & Guilds Art School this year, 2024 - and completed a BA in Illustration at Falmouth University College of Art in 2014. Her selected group exhibitions include: ‘Works on Paper 6’, Blue Shop Gallery, London, 2024; ‘Poison’, OHSH Projects, London, 2023; ‘Felt Cute, Might Delete Later’, Arusha Gallery, London, 2023; ‘Gathering Swallows’, TALO Gallery, London, 2023, and ‘Royal Academy Summer Exhibition’, London, 2023. A solo exhibition, ‘Go Way Back’ was hosted at Do Design in Madrid in 2019. Her residencies include: ‘Artist in Residence’, Rabley Gallery, 2023/24 and ‘Artist in Residence’, Lower Coxbridge House, 2019.

Polina Pak (b. 1997, Khabarovsk, Russia) lives and works in London. She received a BA in Fine Art (Painting) from City and Guilds of London Art in 2020. A selection of her recent exhibitions include: ’Self-Portraits’ GRIMM Gallery, New York, USA, 2024; 'Warmest wishes', Painters Painting Paintings, online, 2023; 'Undusted Corners', Cromwell Place, London, 2023; 'Spectrum, Better Go South', Stuttgart, Germany 2022; 'I felt that’, The Tub, London, 2022 and ‘Oh my! What a lovely basket of fruit!’, London, 2022.

Morgan Wills (b. 1992) lives and works in London. Wills graduated from BA Painting at Wimbledon College of Art in 2014. His solo exhibitions include: ‘ Tableaux’, Sid Motion Gallery, 2023; ’A Garden’, Sid Motion Gallery, 2020; ‘OFF-SITE: Bosse & Baum X Sid Motion Gallery’, London (part of the London Collective Online, VorticXR), 2019; ‘Sunday Art Fair’, London, 2019; ‘But, What if…?’ and ’12 Conversations’, Sid Motion Gallery, 2019 and 2016 and ‘Wisdom Tooth’, Unit 1 Gallery Workshop, London (2017, following a three-month studio residency). His group exhibitions have included: ‘Cornershop Art Fair, London, 2023; ‘Love is the Devil: Studies after Francis Bacon', Marlborough Gallery, London, 2022; ‘PPP On Paper’, Painters Painting Paintings, online, 2021; ‘Hyper Mesh’, Assembly Point, London, 2019; ‘John Moores Painting Prize’, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 2018; ‘Got it for Cheap’, Fisher Parrish Gallery, Brooklyn, 2018; ‘Play on Repeat’, Sid Motion Gallery, 2018; ‘you see me like a U.F.O.’ Marcelle Joseph Projects, Ascot, 2016; ‘ING Discerning Eye’, (selected by Sacha Craddock), Mall Galleries, London, 2016; ‘Sorry About Last Night’, The Washington, Sheffield, 2016; ‘Bloomberg New Contemporaries’, 2015, ICA, London and Backlit Gallery, Nottingham.