It’s not often you get a chance to chat with four artists in one day, but that’s exactly what happened earlier this week when I attended an evening viewing of the latest show in Croydon Art Space, called Abstract & Beyond.

I first visited Croydon Art Space back in 2023 when the curator of the gallery, Paul Hall, gave me a tour of the exhibition at the time. For those of you who don’t know the gallery, it’s a three-room space tucked behind an electric blue shop front on Lower Addiscombe Road, just a short walk from East Croydon Station.

The current show exhibits work from 17 contemporary abstract artists and includes  paintings, sculpture, ceramics, embroidery, glassworks and moving image artwork. With such a range of media on display, it feels pleasantly eclectic (the RA Summer show came to mind again) however Paul’s curation unifies all the work, and I was given a sense of being transported away from our world. Although abstract in nature several of the works feel like surfaces of unvisited planets, or seascapes in mythical lands. The exhibition was both relaxing and immersive to wander through the three rooms of the gallery. I was lucky enough to meet and chat with exhibiting artists Georgina Nicolaou, Gillian Ingham, Jyoti Bharwani and Elizabeth Knapp whilst I viewed the show to hear more about their creative processes.

Georgina Nicolaou, who is based in Addiscombe, has two pieces in the show. A lot of her work represents war, conflict and destruction, and she is influenced by historical imagery, religion, mythology, music and architecture. In ‘Alignment’ in room 2, there is a sense of balance between the structural and the organic, whereas ‘Transformation’ in room 3 evokes a mythical place, a dreamscape, perhaps shrouded by a mist so you can never quite make out the location or time.

When talking about her process Georgina describes herself as an ‘alchemist of materiality with paint’. The artist also has her own gallery on Lower Addiscombe Road that I’m eager to visit in the coming weeks to see her larger scale work.

Gillian Ingham, a Streatham-based artist, exhibits one acrylic painting in the show. When Gillian isn’t painting she is the Deputy Vice President of The London Group Artists collective (a group that was founded back in 1913 and has had members as notable as David Hockney, L S Lowry and Paul Nash).

Describing her paintings as a journey, Gillian usually works on several paintings at the same time.

She sees painting as a parallel to music, as it is also an abstract form, and she often listens to Bach cantatas whilst working. Although Gillian is an abstract painter she welcomes evocativeness in her work. ‘Division’ shown in room 3 for me evokes the feeling of being in a vast watery world.

Jyoti Bharwani is a North-London-based abstract and mixed media artist who has three pieces on show. Her work usually centres around three themes: eastern philosophy; cosmology; and nature, and how they come together – whether it’s how a piece is made, contemplated or through the subject matter.

Whilst ‘Koodiyattam’ emits a sense of tranquility, I found the two pieces from her Moon Maps series particularly striking – circular in structure, they are mixed media, intertwining fabric with paint. One light, one dark, Paul, the curator likens them to two sides of the moon.

Jyoti says of her process that she ‘isn’t dominant in how she makes her work’. And the outcome humbles her every time.

Sustainability is also a consideration – her Moon Maps incorporate fabrics that belonged to her grandma – thus the works embody her grandma’s storytelling, and become ‘the epitome of all that history’.

My last chat was with Thornton Heath artist and Croydon Art Society Member, Elizabeth Knapp who exhibits six acrylic paintings in the show. Five of the works (titled 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36) sit together in room 2 on the adjacent wall to Jyoti’s artworks. These abstract squares appear as almost fractals in structure, each a different colour – are they volcanic, oceanic? All organic, natural in feeling, Elizabeth pours the painting directly onto the canvas. Her method is to explore acrylic paint and the effects it creates. In her words ‘It’s about the visceral reaction’.

Unlike the other artists, Elizabeth straddles the abstract and figurative world. She talks about having a creative monkey mind. Her portraits can be intense and may take months. She has been known to rework an eyelid for days. So her abstract works give her an outlet to be spontaneous or impulsive. Her link between the abstract and figurative is how she uses colour and pattern, which runs through everything she creates. And indeed her painting (number 52) exhibited in room 1 crosses the line between abstract and figurative – on first glance a galactic pattern, there are meticulously defined stars adorning the sky.

From left: curator Paul Hall with artists Jyoti Bharwani, Gillian Ingham, Elizabeth Knapp and Georgina Nicolaou

Thank you to Georgina, Gillian, Jyoti and Elizabeth for chatting with me, and of course to Paul for facilitating such an enjoyable evening. There is only one week left of the show before it closes. I highly recommend a visit if you get a chance, as in addition to these four artists there are another 13 artists’ works to be engaged and inspired by.

Croydon Art Space is located at 41 Lower Addiscombe Road, Croydon CR0 6PQ. The gallery is open Tuesdays 10am to 2pm, Thursdays 3pm to 7pm and Saturdays 10am to 2pm. Book a free ticket on Eventbrite in advance here. The current exhibition is on until 24 April 2025.

Find out more about the gallery on their website and follow them on Instagram. 

All images courtesy of the gallery, except the interior photos.

From top: header image: close-up of Jyoti Bharwani’s ‘Koodiyattam’; interior photos by the Croydonist; Georgina Nicolaou’s ‘Alignment’ and Transformation’; Gillian Ingham’s ‘Division’; Jyoti Bharwani’s ‘Koodiyattam’ and ‘Moon Map; Elizabeth Knapp’s ‘Number 32’ and ‘Number 34′; interior photo of the curator and artists by the Croydonist.

Posted by Julia