Arundel artist Andy Waite exhibiting again for the festival

“Arundel Gallery Trail has played an important role in my artistic life for some 34 years now, which is a long time, and it’s been kind to me, providing me not only with a way to show my work and connect with many people, but allowing me to grow and evolve as an artist, as each exhibition reveals something new about the strange and extraordinary nature of making paintings.

“I largely spend my time in the necessary chaos of an artist’s studio; paintings are made, loved, hated, discarded, refashioned and loved again. It’s often difficult to ascertain what’s going on but I don’t tend to over analyse; the process is both impulsive and compulsive. It’s a practice I am wholly committed to and it is a privilege to be able to create for a living. So when the Trail comes around, I am obliged to make some kind of sense of what I’ve been doing; some paintings won’t make the final cut while those that are chosen to hang create a thread and a sense of coherence, selected as much for the feeling they exude as for the continuity of flow and colour.

"It’s as if they’re having a meeting where they all have their own points of view but end up in agreement. The actual process of hanging a show is hugely exciting; the reward of working for often very long periods, and then bringing some kind of clarity to the months of intense work. I am blessed by having a wonderful Georgian property to exhibit in and blessed too with a partner who is my best and worst critic, co-curator and friend.

“This exhibition is entitled Unmapped, the reason being that I am increasingly less interested in specific geography and more so in letting whatever comes naturally just arrive and be present without too much planning. I feel that if I knew in advance what I was going to end up with, there’d be little point in bothering; in other words it’s the journey that makes the result worthwhile. With this exhibition, apart from trying to lose horizons to some degree, there are a several paintings influenced by the format of Japanese scroll paintings which I’ve always loved. It’s just a very pleasing shape. “So while I have one foot loosely in the landscape, specifically the Downs, I also wander around my mind, searching for an imaginary and abstracted world of colour, light, and joyous exuberance, a place that perhaps I’ll never entirely find, but one that I’m yearning to visit. I’m inventing it in the way I know how, every time trying to make the ultimate painting, but simultaneously hoping never to achieve it for fear of having nowhere left to go; imperfection will do nicely.”

Unmapped is showing at 54 Tarrant Street, Arundel, BN18 9DN and is part of Arundel Gallery Trail, an open house event featuring over 100 artists in 40 venues, largely in the town and with a few in the surrounding area. It runs concurrently with Arundel Festival of the Arts.

The Trail is open from 12-5 daily, August 19-28. Entry is free as are trail guides which are available from all the venues displaying yellow and blue flags as well as from many outlets in the town. www.andywaite.net; www.arundelgallerytrail.co.uk;

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