JOHN BATTEN GALLERY / AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2004 / "Packed"

Stephen Eastaugh 'Packed'
10 August to 11 September 2004

Stephen Eastaugh's 'Packed' - his latest and third exhibition at John Batten Gallery - will combine themes that Eastaugh has recently explored: travel, 'alone-ness', local quirks, personal feelings about remote locations, and, the depiction of landscape. And these themes appear with strong references to the places in which he has recently lived: Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia, Mongolia, Antarctica and Hong Kong.

'Packed' features four large mixed media paintings (the largest is over 3 metres long) and a smaller series of works on paper and bandages. As well as using acrylic paint, Eastaugh has also painstakingly sewn large areas of these paintings with wool and cotton lines giving the artwork a strong three-dimensional look.

Stephen Eastaugh has exhibited widely around the world and 'Packed' follows earlier exhibitions at John Batten Gallery in 1998 and 2001. He has just completed a three-month artist residency at the Taipei Artist Village in Taiwan and in July 2004 he will be resident artist on a Russian ice-breaker visiting the Arctic Circle.