The Arx, London, England

The ARX presents Behind the Canvas, a curated exhibition of international artists that explores the varied techniques and application of mediums used to illuminate the artists’ cerebral processes and visions. There is a strong dialogue of the abstract between the bold canvases created through their shapes, colours, forms and gestural marks.

ELLA BAUDINET (Australia)

Ella Baudinet is a Melbourne-based artist working across private and commercial sectors worldwide. Primarily known for her abstract expressionist aesthetics, Baudinet’s work explores the space between conscious and subconscious, provoking emotions, associations, memories, spiritual connections and philosophical reflection within her viewers. Her canvases bridge digital and physical worlds, the artist creates designs digitally before approaching the canvas.

MARIA JOSE BENVENUTO (Chile)

Heavily influenced by nature, Maria Jose Benvenuto explores visual ways to navigate the current world. Working from memory, Benvenuto connects with her audience through abstracted representation; a soft curve becomes a wave, or a gestural mark represents long grass. Her works explore the textural and technical, probing the viewer to approach the canvas and appreciate the organic aesthetic of her works which are inspired by her Australian surroundings.

FERNANDO GASPAR (Portugal)

Avoiding trends Fernando Gaspar's practice has evolved to become independent, reflective and unique. Gaspar has been exhibiting continuously since 1986, collaborating with both international art galleries and those in his home country in Portugal.

SIGURDUR OLAFSSON (Iceland)

Inspired by the colours, rhythms, and seasons of the Icelandic landscape to create his distinctive patterned canvases, native Sigurdur Olafsson’s work remains in the field of contemporary abstract art. Using squeegees, trowels, spatulas, and other unconventional tools in a spontaneous, reactive manner he creates multifaceted works with intriguing colour combinations and a spiritual quality that explore the boundaries between order and chaos, faith and uncertainty.

RAINE STOREY (Canada)

The ARX’s current artist-in-residence believes humour is one of the most beautiful characteristics. Within her works Raine Storey plays on the balance between the art of omission versus articulation. Storey seeks to facilitate a jovial dialogue between the viewer and her artworks, often incorporating collectors’ personal memories and experiences into intellectual and humorous compositions.

LUCAS THORIK (The Netherlands)

Previous artist-in-residence at The ARX, Lucas Thorik is a Dutch abstract artist, living and working in The Hague. Thorik creates large-scale finely tuned canvases by layering subtle hues to form nuanced compositions that bridge the worlds of art, design, psychology and music. The artist’s application of paint is a symphony formed of ecru, earthy tones, misty blues and greys, that mirror the sound frequencies of Techno and House Music. These gritty, urbanite plains are then imbued with luminescent spray-paint, building a euphoric climax to the canvases, resulting in compositions that echo the experimental and unexpected musical patterns explored throughout his career as a DJ. Despite the overall serene quality of Thorik’s works, through his practice, he does not aim to present a perfect world, altered and contorted through social media. Instead, he exhibits the unfiltered and real, its edges are rough and its meaning is left open to interpretation with closer analysis.

The ARX redefines the gallery experience, with its whole-home luxury concept which brings together the worlds of art, design, craftsmanship and cutting-edge technology, within a visionary 15,000sq ft space located in the heart of London's Knightsbridge.