A Play For Poseidon

A round white coral tree, the coral roccaille polyps executed in minute detail, its branches in stylised rococo C scrolls and counter C scrolls with coral flowers, in an extraordinary methodology of high relief sculpted oil. In the centre of the work, three starfish play with round shells, reminiscent of tiny beach balls, their tentacles entwined around them, some caught, some falling in a vast swirl of bioluminescence against the deep aquamarine turquoise.

Rosa Monckton of Tiffany described Andrew Norrey as ‘undoubtedly one of the most creative minds of his generation. With a wave of his wand, he transforms the mundane into the sublime.’ And with this new show at Connolly, ‘Please never stop dreaming’ Andrew has transformed our upstairs gallery into a world of astonishing beauty and detail; a magical creation of micro pointillism painstakingly worked with layers of resin, gold pigments, translucent French enamels and sculpted oil paint to create a shimmering, joyous landscape of iridescence and fluorescence.

‘What I find fascinating about creating highly reflective surfaces, often with ultra matt paint’, the artist explains, ‘is that the onlooker becomes an intrinsic part of the work, reflected within a complex kaleidoscopic colourful landscape, floating between worlds. My works acting as a portal or a window.’

And after forty years of friendship, it is a boundless pleasure for me personally to enter into Andrew’s sublime imagined kingdom, away from the harsher realities of this world… especially at Christmas time. - Isabel