Searching Minds

Searching Minds

A group exhibition including Carole Gibbons, Roy Oxlade and Max Wade

Opening Reception: 1 June 2024

Exhibition text by Emily Steer

Download list of works

Sid Motion Gallery presents an exhibition of works by Carole Gibbons, Roy Oxlade and Max Wade. The exhibition brings together three artists spanning different generations whose work sits on the edge of abstraction and figuration. Each artist will exhibit works on canvas and on paper, highlighting the importance of both mediums and the interplay between the materials and subject matter. The exhibition emerged out of discussions around the work of Carole Gibbons and how this pioneering work sits alongside her contemporaries and a younger generation of artists. The grouping is also a chance to exhibit Roy Oxlade and Max Wade together. Wade has been influenced by Oxlade’s work since his student years, and it is with great excitement that their works can be brought together. All three artist’s work reflect the changing stories and spatial environments of their time.

Carole Gibbons's work seems both instantly recognisable and distinctly original, freely referencing both art history and the beauty of daily life. Her work has shifted over the decades from mythological and folkloric subjects to more everyday themes: interiors, figures, still lifes. She explores concepts such as the ‘magic realism’ of everyday objects, through her use of ethereal colours and often literally blending the border between the frame and the canvas: subject and the world. Gibbons will revisit and rework paintings over long periods of time, imbuing the works with auratic quality. 

In the development of British art in the 20th century, Roy Oxlade was a pivotal figure. After gaining notoriety in the 1950s, he spent the next six decades creating paintings and other works on paper that drew inspiration from his observations of the real world. The basis of Oxlade's works were his studio and house in Kent, domesticity and ritual are recurring themes, which are expressed through consistent motifs such as lamps, jugs, scissors, and lemons that were chosen for their aesthetic and practical properties. Oxlade stressed the importance of drawing and how the medium does not need to be seen as preparatory works for works on canvas, and the act of mark making stands firmly by itself.  

Max Wade's sketchbooks are where he refines his technique and focuses on the shadows and spaces between objects, these act as the starting points for the canvases.  His collage works stand apart from his works on canvas.They are a method in which Wade can further explore his use of line and overlapping of  shapes and colours. Wade uses bold lines and brushwork, layering paint or paper atop one another often erasing the initial image. He produces areas of reflection where older mark-making interacts with newer strokes where every final image takes the viewer through portals, discovering different intersections. 

Presented together, their works show how there is beauty to be captured within the domesticity of everyday life. Whether that is painting household objects or grapes on the vine from further travels, these motifs and spontaneous brushwork are what make these artists distinct. Each artist takes great inspiration from music and poetry and these rhythms are confidently echoed in their work.

The works on paper included in the exhibition are framed by FRMD, who we now proudly partner with.

Artist Biographies

Carole Gibbons (b. 1935, Glasgow) lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland. She studied Fine Art Painting at Glasgow University. Gibbons’ solo exhibitions include; ‘Carole Gibbons’, White Column, New York, USA, 2024; ‘Carole Gibbons’, Celine, Glasgow, UK, 2023; ‘I Suppose in a Dream’ with Luke Samuel, Kupfer Gallery, London, UK, 2022; ‘Manderley’ at Gimpel Fils with Lucy Stein, London, UK, 2012; ‘Carole Gibbons Paintings’, Leeds City Art Centre, Leeds, UK, 1979; ‘Carole Gibbons - An Exhibition’, Third Eye Centre, Glasgow, UK, 1975 and ‘Modern Scottish Pictures’, The Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh, UK, 1969. Group exhibitions have included ‘Women in Revolt’, Tate Britain, London, UK, 2023; ‘Obscura Luz’, Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil; ‘Workaround’, Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow, UK; ‘Conversations’, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One), Edinburgh, UK, 2022. Gibbons’ work is owned by multiple collections including, Glasgow Museums, National Galleries of Scotland and Leeds Museums and Galleries.

Roy Oxlade (b. 1929 in London, UK, d. 2014 in Kent, UK) Oxlade’s solo exhibitions include; ‘Imagination Rooms: Pippa El-Kadhi Brown & Roy Oxlade’, New Normal projects at Cromwell Place, London, UK, 2023; ‘Roy Oxlade: Art & Instinct’, Alison Jacques Gallery, London, UK, in collaboration with London Collective and Vortic Collect, 2020; Alison Jacques Gallery, London, UK, ’Shine Out Fair Sun’, Hastings Contemporary, UK, 2019; ‘Roy Oxlade: Work from the 80s & 90s’, Alison Jacques Gallery, London, UK, 2018; Roy Oxlade and Rose Wylie Paintings’ (with Rose Wylie), Rutherford College, University of Kent, UK, 2006 and Hullo Lawrence, Hullo Leo’ (with Rose Wylie), Aberystwyth Arts Centre, touring to Wrexham Arts Centre, UK, 1998. Group exhibitions have included ‘Towards Night’, Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, UK ‘That’ll Teach You’, The Observer Building, Hastings, UK, 2016; ‘FLASHBACK: Celebrating 25 years of Exhibitions’, Art Space Gallery, London, UK, 2011; As It Seems: An Exhibition of Drawings’, Cheltenham Museum and Art Gallery, UK; Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Art, London, UK, 2002; ‘Rocks and Flesh’, Stephanie Burns Gallery, Canberra, Australia, 2001.

Max Wade (b. 1985, London) lives and works in London, UK. He studied Fine Art Painting at Brighton University. Wade’s recent solo exhibitions include; ‘Go Bang’, Sid Motion Gallery, London, UK 'Whisper Down the Lane', Sid Motion Gallery, London, 2021; ‘Sowing the Soil with Salt’, Sid Motion Gallery, London, 2020; ‘Platform: London’, hosted by David Zwirner (online), 2020; ‘ Wind for the Sails’, Messums Wiltshire, Salisbury, 2020; ‘Between the Dog and the Wolf’, Sid Motion Gallery, London, 2019; ‘For Tina’, curated by Roxie Warder hosted at Cob Gallery, London, 2019. Recent group exhibitions have included ‘Abstract Colour’, Marlborough Gallery, 2023. ’Stand with Ukraine', Hales London, 2022. His residencies include Artist’s workshop & exchange, Muscat, Oman, Muscat, Gasworks gallery & Triangle network 2013.