In January The Gallery presents an unusual exhibition of intriguing paintings by two artists who work within a surrealist theme. Their imaginations take them to a world without boundaries where there are hidden mysteries, the extraordinary and the unlikely.

DOMINIQUE LAMBRECHT was born on the first of March 1958 in Brussels, where she spent her early years. She studied literature and fine art at the University of Louvain ( Belgium), where, in 1981, she acquired a degree in German philology. Later in life, she crossed The Channel, to come and work in England, where she married and lives now most of the time, with regular visits to Brussels, where she has another home.
Most of her professional life has been with the airline industry, 20 years more or less working for several airlines across Europe. In 2002, she made the decision that she had seen enough of airports, aircrafts and stressed out travellers and to concentrate her energy, her time and her efforts, on what she had left too long on the stove, and really only now matters. And that is painting and writing.

"What inspires me:
Powerful images, concepts, statements or ideas.
Those ones that make one pause, interrogate, think, and want to investigate further.
The ones that are difficult to avoid.
The ones that can upset or hurt, but equally cheer up and smile.

I am only the messenger, the one that passes on the information to the passer- by, who, if he or she agrees to embark on my fantastic journey, will hopefully find more than what she or he came looking for…

My approach is radically surrealistic. Being Belgian, I have been very much immersed in, and inspired by the “fantasmagorical” worlds of both Magritte and Delvaux.
The minimalistic choice of colours, very often on a darkened canvas, is there to allow the viewer to extract the essence of a generally striking message, rising from the obscurity, and opening the door to The Imaginary World, free and without boundaries, where the unthinkable and the less likely can be brought to life."

SUE McDONALD has been working in her studio at Parndon Mill for several years, recently delving more deeply into surrealism.
"My creative inclination arose during early childhood, although it was not allowed to come to fruition until the early 1990s. Never having the opportunity to go to art school I am mostly self taught, having but a few pieces of encouragement from some wonderful wildlife artists.

My inspiration comes from artists such as O'Keeffe, Fini, Khalo, Carrington all women surrealists - as well as nature in all its wonderful guises. I look for that ineffable hidden mysterious thing within a subject and paint it big to enable the viewer to experience something special, to be surrounded and immersed by it all.

Originally started painting wildlife while living high on the welsh mountains surrounded by Red Kites and Buzzards. When relocating to London I began looking for something that would make the metaphor real and began to paint large flowers. Where I am now, with a studio high up in Parndon Mill, I can let my journey go in which ever direction it wishes and who knows where it will take you."