David heads down to Tea Amantes tearoom and gallery to check out the current exhibition.
Bank Holiday Monday and once more I find myself at the excellent Tea Amantes tearoom and gallery to view a magnificent collection of oil paintings, this time from the brush of Hungarian artist Szidonia Gergely. The show has the slogan Let’s Fill This Town With Artists, an admirable sentiment. Indeed many of those present at this private viewing were creatives.
Szidonia is self-taught from childhood and currently focuses on portraits and figurative pieces that reflect traditional, contemporary and classical style. She is currently working in Southampton as a tattoo artist and says:
“In my latest paintings I’m trying to capture every day life moments. Using my own photos as reference, I try to get a snapshot of when people are most natural in behaviour and composition. This enables me to capture tiny insights into our beautiful life.”

Besides the technical ability and close to photographic quality that these paintings demonstrate, I particularly liked the way that several of them reflect modern ordinary life – especially the gentleman on the train. The quality of the portraiture is very impressive with good contrast and variability depending on the subject. The skin tone mixing is spot on and we all know how tricky that can be.
I urge everybody to get down to the café and view this collection, which really passes muster against anything showing in the major centres. It’s on show until 6 June 2022, and while you’re there you can also enjoy one of their fabulous signature teas while you peruse the artwork… There may also be cake!




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