In Praise of Art, and in Celebration of Donna White

I’m a great believer that art transforms our lives... All our lives. From movie posters and CD covers to municipal art, from the great masters we look at in museums to the kids’ pictures we stick on our fridges, the art we look at informs our lives and alters the way we look at the World.

I love Donna White.

I’ve known her for probably fifteen years or there abouts, and she befriended me in the most direct and emphatic way. It’s the only way she knows how, and it’s wonderful.

Donna is an extraordinarily energetic artist. It is her life. She makes everything her life. I don’t believe I know another woman like her, and, trust me when I tell you that it is a huge privilege to call her my friend.

This week Donna White has an exhibition in Bracknell at Bracknell Gallery, South Hill Park Arts Centre, South Hill Park, Bracknell RG12 7PA. It is a one woman show. This woman and her art are all you need.

Panoramic shot of the exhibition.

I rarely review a book or an art exhibition, or a film. I tend to leave those things to the critics.

I couldn’t resist this show.

I embarked on a Fine Art degree myself after taking a class once a week for ten years. It has been a hobby of mine for a long time. I can’t claim to be a terribly good artist. I can claim to be a very interested one and a keen one. I exhaust myself with the effort. I also take an interest. I collect art, I visit shows, I commission pieces. I own Donna’s work.

I’m not just a person ‘bigging up’ her friend, although I’m so fond of this woman that I probably would do that.

I believe that Donna White is breaking new ground with her work. I believe that no one else is making work like it.

Go out of your way to visit the exhibition and take a look for yourself. Look at the wonderful, dimension defying art that makes up the main body of this exhibition. Look at the materials, the juxtaposition of forms, the use of paint.

Marvel at the extraordinary portraits. Get up close. Examine the paint and the layers and structures.

And if you don’t want to do all that. If you don’t feel able to cast a critical eye. Just stand in front of these pictures and look at them. They will affect you. You will come away changed.

And if you don’t believe me, here’s a teaser:

For more from Donna White, you can find her blog here.