Eve De Haan and Sara Pope: Addicted to Love
8 February – 11 March 2023
Quantus Gallery
11-29 Fashion Street
London
E1 6PX
United in their focus on connecting, communicating and provoking self-exploration, Eve De Haan and Sara Pope present 30 works that explore the meanings and perceptions of love. Through the artists’ feminine lenses, the works in Addicted to Love invite contemplations about beauty, desire, perfection, generosity and compassion. Working in distinctive visual styles and media – Eve De Haan in neon installations and Sara Pope in hyperreal paintings – both UK-based artists have exhibited extensively in London and internationally in solo shows, group shows and art fairs.
Timed to coincide with Valentine’s Day, London Fashion Week and International Women’s Day, the exhibition nods to the artists’ genders and connections with the world of fashion. Sara previously worked as a shoe designer for Paul Smith, and as a magazine art director; Eve has been commissioned by the likes of Nike, Browns boutique and jeweller Monica Vinader.
Sara Pope is best known for her colourful, hyperreal paintings of glossy lips, Brighton-based Sara Pope aims to capture the sensuality and seductive power conveyed by the lips and mouth. Rolling Stones fans may find Pope’s paintings reminiscent of the band’s lips and tongue logo, designed by John Pasche and first used on the 1971 album Sticky Fingers. Mick Jagger’s brief to Pasche was to convey a tribute to
Kali, the Hindu goddess of empowerment and energy.
Fascinated with the communication of emotion, Sara looks to haute couture fashion as well as popular and digital culture, raising questions around communication, perfection and the ideals of beauty. All her works are based on extensive photographic studies of her models’ mouths.
“When I begin painting,” she says, “I quickly leave reality behind as my interest in beauty and the mathematical laws of harmony are extrapolated to their logical extremes.” The finished works (layers of thin oil-diluted paint, sometimes with lipstick mixed in) have a surreal, almost airbrushed quality that makes them almost indistinguishable from photographic or digital art – “a mix of fact and fiction”.
Sara’s work sells regularly at Bonhams Auction House and has appeared in both solo and group exhibitions at UK and international galleries, including The Saatchi Gallery (London), Next Street Gallery (Paris), The London Original Print Fair at the Royal Academy of Arts and SCOPE Miami.
Her work has also been accepted into the Vatican collection – the first by a British female artist in over 70 years. “I’m thrilled to present ‘Addicted To Love’ together with the fantastic Eve De Haan. Get ready for a riot of joyfulness, beauty and seduction… and above all, connection” Sara commented.
Eve De Haan aka @halfaroastchicken applies her love of the written word to a growing portfolio of neon artworks. A theology graduate, the London-based artist describes her work as “progressive and positive” and, like Sara Pope, is interested in art as a form of communication.
The subtleties and gradients of expression offered by neon align with Eve’s fascination with “how words can mean different things to different people when presented through various mediums.” Influenced by Tracey Emin, David Shrigley and Martin Creed, amongst others, Eve believes that “light adds shade” to the meaning of words, making neon her ideal medium. Her choice of phrase can be provocative, challenging, comforting. Small but powerful vignettes that tell a complete story. “I believe storytelling expands the imagination…it is a vital part of my creative practice. Everything you create is a story, from beginning to end.”
Eve’s current body of work explores the impact of technology on change and culture – specifically youth culture – and the influence of digital environments on individual and collective behaviour. Her numerous exhibitions since 2016 include group and solo shows, including at The Museum of Neon LA, Art Miami with Cynthia Corbitt Gallery, Saatchi Gallery, Imitate Modern andThe Other Art Fair in Brooklyn.
Eve De Haan and Sara Pope: Addicted to Love opens on the 8th February until the 11th of March 2023 at Quantus Gallery
©2023 Eve De Haan, Sara Pope
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