Brian Rice’s vibrant print work will be exhibited alongside the work of Ursula Leach RE, and Tony Martin in an extraordinary exhibition of prints and drawings which coincide with the launch of the book Brian Rice Catalogue Raisonné of Prints 1953-2013.

Always an unconventional artist Brian’s recent association with the publishing house Artizan Editions has encouraged a new series of work where the primacy of experiment is clear. The essence of Rice’s work has always been line, motif and colour which invites the viewer into a dialogue with the image. He explores the primitive essence of form and colour using a life-long love of archaeology combined with the spiritual mystery of prehistoric art.

His Catalogue Raisonné examines the progress of his printmaking, setting it in the context of his life from the first print made at Yeovil School of Art in 1953 to the present.

Brian Rice studied at Yeovil School of Art and Goldsmith’s College, London. His work can be found in countless collections including the Tate. His work can be split into two distinct periods 60’s-70’s then, from 80’s to the present day. In the mid 1970’s disillusioned by both his output and the art world in general Rice retreated to concentrate on farming and teaching. Rice, re-emerged in the 80s with renewed confidence, direction and self-belief to work as a full time artist to this day.

Ursula Leach develops her work responding to the chalk landscapes of Dorset where the variety of shapes, contours and colours in this arable landscape are endlessly fascinating and informative.

Tony Martin’s brown, blue or black lines and partly obliterated shapes are a response to shapes and enclosures. Poetry, architecture and music all have a profound effect on his work he searches for the ultimate poetic space with the confines of geometrical two-dimensional flat surfaces.