ARTEL is a group of professional artists who collaborate to exhibit their work whilst establishing a dynamic community. Working in the South Downs area, each artist has developed a unique and informed practice. The artwork from this covers a rich and diverse range of subjects and media shared through an annual show in Chichester at the Oxmarket Contemporary gallery.
2026 ++
Oxmarket Contemporary
13-25 October 2026
Opening times: 10am-4.30pm Tues-Sat; 12-4pm Sun;
(closed Mon).
St Andrews Court, off East Street, Chichester, PO19 1YH
2026 Exhibiting Artists:
2025 - THE SPACE BETWEEN
Oxmarket Contemporary Gallery
30 Sept - 12 October 2025
New work was created within the context of the artists ongoing practice that also considered this theme. Research resulted in final pieces that were provocative, playful, and profound, in drawing, sculpture, and painting.Martin Smith DipA.D. 1971 Chelsea School of Art, ATC 1972.
'Study for 'PAINTING'
Acrylic on HPL
60cm x 45cm
I have been working since 1967. My interest in abstract painting began as a child where I discovered that it was different to designing pattern or decoration and required insight that I so clearly lacked, to produce an original outcome.
I focus my endeavour on painting, preferring to work with base materials hand manipulated and related to human scale and perception.
In recent works ‘Approaching The Limit’ is a reference to sensation and how closely we might gage difference before sensation is extinguished. Best to gaze steadily toward the central zone to receive what it has to offer. ‘Around The Corner’ presents volume and deeper space but is closer to lived experience. The objective was a readable sensation of structure and visual form and a satisfactory disposition of relationships, but not as an object or environment for which we have a name. It should remain artificial.
www.martinvsmithpainter.com