A THEMATIC exhibition which stretched the artists’ creative powers is the main exhibition at the ever-busy Gallery150 in Leamington until May7.
The Solihull Artists Forum are showing Text & Texture, works by 19 members, created in response to the title. All have to be shown alongside a quote or reference which relates in some way to the work – some are fairly obvious, and some don’t seem particularly related.

As member Fiona Payne explained: “You have to put a quote or something that inspired you to create with the work. We thought it would be a good idea and we needed a title for the exhibition, partly because we are such a variety of people. It was quite challenging – whether you went for the quote first or the title.”
Fiona’s works, Apex and Vertex, are vividly colourful abstracts which use a quote from Gaudi. The Forum’s Chair, Paula Hamilton, has also contributed three small, neat landscapes on canvas which show great precision and definition. Another stand-out work is Fish Shack by Nick Logan, a brightly-coloured painting with a heavy layering of paint.
There’s a lot of variety on show, with Stuart Spencer’s Beach Boy-inspired pieces having a photo-realism look about them. Payal Gupta has contributed three works including an attractive, fun-looking elephant in watercolours and poster paint.
And don’t miss, in the window, three attractive stoneware vessels by Usha Khosla which reference a quote by Swami Vivekananda which talks about clay, and is the best matching of text to artwork in the show.
The Solihull Artists Forum has been going for almost 10 years and has grown from an initial 12 members to more than 40. Another exhibition is planned in September in Solihull to mark the 10th anniversary.