Fitting tribute to up-to-the-minute artist

There is one more week to visit a remarkable exhibition at Baker Mamanova Gallery in Norman Road, St Leonards. Erica Smith explains why it’s too good to miss.

Earlier this year, the artist Diane Hoskins died after a three-year battle with cancer. The photograph on the right shows her when she was an art student in the 1960s. About a month before she died, her family gave her an i-Pad, and she took to the new medium instantly, producing about 50 digital paintings and working with concentration throughout the month.

As David Hockney has demonstrated, the i-Pad is one piece of new technology that traditional artists are keen to adopt. After a short learning curve, Diane began to create digital artworks in her own painterly style. Some were illustrations for a children’s story that she had discussed with her partner, Patrick Robbins (shown in the top photograph, in the gallery). Others were still lives, paintings of her family, her cat and the view from her window. All of them show the fingerprint of an experienced artist – the graphic simplicity and brilliant colour palettes are a celebration of life.

A selection of the digital works were chosen to be produced as short-run print editions, and have been tastefully framed. They are on sale either framed or unframed and are proving very popular. All proceeds are to go to Macmillan Cancer Support. Signed prints cost £75.00 unframed and £110.00 framed.

The exhibition runs until this Friday, 27 July. It is open from 10am to 4pm.

28 Days: an exhibition of the final works of Diane Hoskins
Baker Mamonova Gallery,
Norman Road, St Leonards on Sea,  TN38 0EG

For more information, contact Patrick Robbins on 07837 784683 or  probbinsinteriors@gmail.com.

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