From Boutique Barbers to Sugarsoap Suppliers

Exhibition featureing Acton traders at the W3 gallery

A new exhibition - scheduled for the New Year - of portraits of Acton traders at London’s W3 Gallery explores diversity and community spirit.

Rachel Pepper from the W3 gallery explained “We are very pleased to be hosting this exhibition. It complements our work with Acton residents, local businesses and Ealing Councils economic regeneration of Acton. The Re:ACTion project is all about bringing Acton to life, reflecting the character and spirit of the neighbourhood. Polly’s portraits of local traders capture this spirit beautifully.”

Polly Nuttall, a West London based artist is exhibiting her paintings at the first solo exhibition to be held at the W3 Gallery in late January. The exhibition is a portrayal of three distinct sectors of the West London community through portraits of some of its members.

At the heart of the exhibition is a series of portraits of local independent traders from Acton High Street and Churchfield Road, recording the many faces of the thriving local community. These hang alongside portraits from Nuttall’s successful Artist in Residency with the Notting Hill Housing Trust showing and celebrating the relationship between housing officers and the housing association’s tenants. The exhibition will also include portraits of artists who work at Palace Wharf Studios, by the river in Hammersmith, where Nuttall has her studio.

In all her work Nuttall strives to capture that which silently unites us, common shared unspoken experiences that are stronger than our apparent differences. The portraits treat the subjects as the viewers’ equals, not reverential paintings of an elite, nor documentary images of marginalised groups.

Polly Nuttall, 46, has been painting and exhibiting for over 25 years. She comes from distinguished family of academics, artists and poets including Richard Hamilton, A. D. Nuttall and Jeff Nuttall and continues that tradition, pragmatically re-assessing traditional subject matters.

All the paintings start with photographs taken by the artist, which are digitally manipulated and then translated into paint in the studio until they are transformed into a more complex image. A painting invites the viewer to look longer and reflect on the subject where a photograph only gives so much - just a moment that has been captured.

The show celebrates diversity, hardwork and community spirit. Highlighting what unites rather than what divides us.

The W3 Gallery is fast becoming a local institution, right next door to the historic George and Dragon Pub (185 High street Acton W3 9DJ).

The exhibition will run from 30/01/14 to 16/02/14. Opening hours: 11 am – 7 pm Tue – Sat, & Sun 2-5 pm.

18th December 2013