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Amanda Vyvyan is without question a 'Maker' an artist whose language has been formed through the practice and discipline of understanding what works.

After a year studying under the painter Eileen Cooper Amanda qualified as a 3-Dimensional Designer. She then spent a formative and influential time as assistant to Ron Arad the distinguished Israeli designer and architect.

She has also worked for many years in her own design and architectural practice as an applied designer and space conceptualist. Like Louise Nevelson (1899–1988), to whom she readily acknowledges as an important influence and who remained true to a singular vision of herself as an artist and her work, Amanda has forged out her own distinct path as a visual artist alongside her professional work as a designer. She has an eye for true craftsmanship and the particular properties of materials. She is drawn to detail not for it's self-conscious styling but for it's natural aesthetic.

In Amanda’s latest body of work, the Piano Pieces and her oil pastels, a new and confident authority has emerged although at first glance the two seem not be clearly connected. The Piano Pieces are constructions and assemblages from dismantled pianos. They have been several years in their making and bare the mark of contemplation and the rigor of placement. The metamorphosis has been accomplished through a process of love and respect for material and construction.

The Piano Pieces are small in scale and have an intimacy and presence that might be found in religious icons or tribal artifacts. They are compelling and intriguing and have a surreal cosmopolitan presence. Constructed in a way that forces the viewer to investigate and consider the surface material and construction. With the lush black lacquer, gold, reds, wire, and felts, the tarnish of age and use, these beautiful objects mark the emergence of an artist with vision and authority.

The paintings again are small in scale but have a strong presence and sense of place and space. Painted mainly on St Agnes in the Scilly Isles There is a hint of German Expressionism and contemporary European landscape painting in their bold mark making and colour. They are confident and assertive making the most of the 'plastic' qualities of oil pastel.

Jeremy Annear
September 2011