The Past is Ever Present

Paintings in acrylic, watercolour, mixed media and collage by Sydney Klugman

Mission Statement – Does Art have power? More to the point, can it heal?

Bringing his two passions – painting and psychology – together in this small retrospective, Sydney is delighted to be exhibiting again at New Era – especially now, with the emphasis on mental health in mind and such questions hanging so frequently in the air.

Sydney is conscious to reflect the sense of isolation and disconnection which so many of us have felt recently. With an astute awareness of the psychotherapeutic power of art, having worked as senior art therapist over many years, he sees this as a celebration of ‘bringing together’; a sense of wellbeing!

He now paints full time. Recent sales include at Nadia Waterfield Fine Art near Stockbridge.

Born in Johannesburg, as a young man Sydney felt the need to move and study fine art, moving to England, studying at Wimbledon, then moving on to the OU for the History of Art, then Goldsmiths studying Art Therapy which brought him a fundamental respect for the unconscious in art. He lives with a wonderful horizon view of Watership and Hampshire Downs, painting full-time, teaching occasionally, and enjoying many exhibitions with his wife and friends.

Biography

“The colour and spirit of South Africa is in my veins, and when I was young it was Van Gogh initially whose wonderfully vivid work awoke my sense of pleasure and delight in colour. It hasn’t left me.”
Colleague Clive Duncan says: ‘There is a dualism in Sydney Klugman’s art. As a painter of figures and landscapes his subjects oscillate between the pictorial and the elusive; discovery, rediscovery and not the least, surprise.’ Clive Duncan FRBS RBA SPS
Exhibitions: Nadia Waterfield Fine Art Gallery Stockbridge 2020 (sold), WestBerks & NorthHants Insight at The Base 2020, 2019 (sold). Individual exhibitions at London Brompton 2019 (sold), Stanley Spencer National Trust Burghclere (sold), New Era Theatre Newbury (sold). Regularly exhibits in Henley On Thames; The Century Gallery (sold), Henley Management College (sold), Barry Keene, Henley. Also at Fairfield Hall Croydon, Brunel University.
Sydney is a regular Open Studios exhibitor.