Sussex businesses back new arts venture

Sussex has a rich heritage when it comes to art and artists. The rolling Downs and breath-taking coastline have inspired artists for centuries, including some of the most celebrated artists that ever lived. Picasso, Miró, Man Ray, Moore, Constable, Turner, Burra, Grant, Bell, Beardsley, Ravilious, Nash and Grayson Perry all have links with Sussex. 

Sussex continues to provide inspiration and a home to some amazing emerging talent, and October saw the launch of a new addition to the art calendar that specifically showcases the amazing creativity that the county has.  

The Sussex Contemporary had a vision that is simple but is also ambitious. They want to celebrate and promote the fantastic artistic creativity of Sussex-linked artists. This included artists that were born here (but may have since moved away), studied here or currently live or work here.  

Sussex has a growing, vibrant arts scene and they wanted to show off the best of it to the world, and they did that spectacularly. They put out an open call for artists to submit work and then deployed a panel of art-world heavyweights to judge what should go into the final exhibition. 

The judges were led by Dinah Casson CBE, designer and founder of Casson Mann, and include Chris Kendall, collector and founder of Hidden Gallery group, Alex Leith art journalist and editor of ROSA magazine, and Julian Bell, the internationally renowned painter, author, critic and lecturer. 

The judges had the difficult task of whittling down the entries to 146 pieces which went on display at the Brighton i360 for two weeks last month and the exhibition was seen by around 10,000 visitors making it one of the most visited Sussex art exhibitions ever. The art was also for sale with a percentage going to local charity Table Talk Foundation. 

“We came up with the idea of The Sussex Contemporary to provide artists with a platform to show their work to a bigger audience. The Sussex is now a major exhibition in the arts calendar, and we want artists of all abilities working in any medium to get involved.” Said Joanna Myles, co-founder of Sussex Contemporary. “But it would have been impossible without support from Sussex businesses, so our thanks go out to our wonderful sponsors.” 

“We don’t take the stance that art is for the cultural elite, art is for everyone, so we also want our exhibitions to be free to visit too and that requires sponsorship. It’s really important to us that in every event and exhibition we do, everybody wins. Suppliers get paid, sponsors get a return, we cover our costs and most of all; art lovers get to see some amazing Sussex art and Sussex artists get exposure and a chance to sell their work.” Said co-founder Jason Edge. 

Local businesses that got behind the project included one of the region’s largest law firms, Mayo Wynne Baxter, as headline sponsors with support also comiing from Brighton i360, Seawhites of Brighton, Platinum Media Group, King & McGaw, Creative Pod, MPB, Whitespace, Absolutely Sussex, Brighton Gin and of course SBT. 

For details of future Sussex Contemporary events visit their website www.thesussexcontemporary.co.uk