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Rabley Gallery
Sarah Gillespie | A Lament for the Bordered Gothic
Sarah Gillespie | A Lament for the Bordered Gothic
Rabley Gallery is delighted to launch two new mezzotints by Sarah Gillespie of the Bordered Gothic Moth. This adds to the collection of 26 prints of moths currently in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection and further explores the artist’s interest in the luminous power of mezzotint engraving to express beauty and vulnerability.
Lament for the Bordered Gothic and Bordered Gothic (Small) were made in response her recent six month artist residency at the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology. The Bordered Gothic moth (Heliophobus Reticulata) is critically endangered in the UK.
In the large scale mezzotint Lament for a Bordered Gothic, (49.5 x 74cm) the detail of the moth's top wing pattern subtly contrasts with the softer underwings, emerging from an expansive plane of velvet darkness in the black background. The smaller study Bordered Gothic (Small) (20.5 x 20cm), draws us in with a casting light, framed by a paper border. Its modest scale does not lessen the image's strong and beautiful presence.
Image Credit:
A Lament for the Bordered Gothic (Detail), Sarah Gillespie, Mezzotint, 49.5 x 74 cm, Edition 30, 2022
"In the end, it was the Bordered Gothic that called me. A once common enough moth that has gone extinct from the UK, not in the last century, not in the last 50 years but in this, the 21st century. This a lament for all of our winged nocturnal neighbours and their gradual passing from our lives."
Sarah Gillespie
Sarah Gillespie's mezzotint plate and tools
Sarah Gillespie
The artist wiping the copper plate in the studio
Drawings from the sketchbook of Sarah Gillespie
Sarah Gillespie is one of only a few artists using the centuries-old medium of mezzotint in her contemporary practice. Within her depictions of moths, moonlit landscapes and blackbirds, she illuminates the beauty of nature and prompts contemplation of the importance of natural spaces and environmental conservation.
She studied 16th & 17th century methods and materials at the Atelier Neo-Medici in Paris and then read Fine Art at Pembroke College, Oxford. Twenty-three ‘Moth’ prints from this series have been acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum for their permanent print & drawing collection. Her work is held in the Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, the Museum of Fine Arts, Yekaterinburg and the Xuihui Museum of Fine Art, Shanghai.
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Rabley Gallery
Rabley Drawing Centre, Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 2LW, UK
+44(0)7967545136
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