International Women’s Day Exhibition

NATURE, CELEBRATION, MOVEMENT

You are greeted by themes of nature, celebration and movement in the trio of paintings comprised of The Archer, The Bird and The Gardener. Using oil paint, Salome intricately layered colours on the canvas, revealing the complex and mesmerising tapestry of our natural surroundings. As such, the paintings capture the essence of outdoor vitality.

In their setting at our offices, the paintings are arranged to encourage flow and movement throughout the space, but also invite us to linger and contemplate. The paintings complement our fixed installation of sculptures Big Vessel (David Nash OBE RA), carved from a single Welsh oak tree blown down in a storm, and Two Charred Forms (David Nash OBE RA). Through their dialogue, they invite us to consider our relationship with our natural and constructed environments, how we are impacted by them and how we impact on them.

Continue scrolling to view each painting.

THE BIRD

Oil on canvas (2019)

"My favourite piece is The Bird, although I must confess I can’t see a bird! The gold and the outlines of the shapes remind me of The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. I love the combination of the colours – the gold in particular is striking and I can see why the theme is celebration. I also enjoy the movement in the piece – it seems like the colours and shapes are pouring and flowing from the top to the bottom and give the viewer the freedom to explore the shapes and see what they want to see."

Zoe Andrews
PSL Counsel and Head of Tax Knowledge

THE GARDENER

Oil on canvas (2021)

"For me, The Gardener incorporates earthy tones, blue skies and warm sunshine. The piece reminds me of nature and how everything is linked together."

Anonymous

“This painting seems to be rooted in twentieth-century abstraction, whilst its leaves reach for more contemporary ideals. The earthy, flat colours recall Sonia Delaunay’s dense, formal paintings, but the fluid, fecund shapes weave through each carefully balanced section like rivulets over dry soil, defining and re-defining spaces and perspectives. This is not an explosion; it’s a cultivation.”

Tom Gilliver
Associate

THE ARCHER

Oil on canvas (2020)

“I thought The Archer was interesting. I didn’t see the “Archer” there but I did see a striking contrast of colours which draws you to it. If the “Archer” is meant to symbolise focus, the artwork certainly makes one look up and focus!”

Deeksha Rathi
Associate and DIVERSE Co-chair

“Lovely painting full of vibrancy and energy. The colours and shapes are reminiscent of an aboriginal woman with flowing hair in a rainforest of South America hunting for food. The painting reminds me of when I visited a Guarani village in Misiones, Argentina, where the colours and sounds of the jungle and a sense of tight-knit community give you an insight into how life used to be many years ago.”

Anonymous

Angela Measures, Client Liaison Coordinator, noted the artist might have used the “International Klein Blue” in The Archer. Perhaps the artist was thinking of arrows in the air.

BARK INTERSECTION

Acrylic on canvas board (2023)

"My favourite piece is Bark Intersection. It’s simple, beautiful and I love the colours. Timeless in its appeal but also in what it represents."

Jane Edwarde
D&I Partner and GEN Partner Sponsor

"I see tree rings; my mother was reminded of a weather chart. And those impressions may be complementary rather than contradictory. Tree rings can tell us about the earth’s past climate because the tree’s growth differs depending on environmental conditions. So it incorporates its environment. Perhaps this is not dissimilar to the way in which we are shaped by and grow through our experiences."

Tanja Velling
PSL Counsel and GEN Co-chair

BEACH INTERSECTION

Acrylic on canvas board (2023)

“Beach Intersection is my favourite piece. I grew up living near a string of beautiful coves, and the lines remind me of the striations of shell fragments that you find on beaches at low tide.”

Nick Pacheco
Partner

"In this artwork, the lively green lines echo nature's vibrancy, with the unexpected pink strokes adding a unique touch. It evokes a personal sense of harmony within me."

Alessandro Scalise
Legal Operations Graduate and Member of the GEN Committee

FROM LAGOS TO SALVADOR

Acrylic on canvas board (2023)

“The lines stretching across the piece gave me something intriguingly poised between formal abstraction and the striations of a natural landscape. I also loved the colours along the ridges, where the contrast between warmer and cooler shades, all against a stark background, charged the whole with quiet energy.”

Max Cheung
Trainee