Three Algarve-based artists are joining forces for “A Common Thread”, a group exhibition bringing together work which may differ in style and technique but shares a strong connection with the landscapes and atmosphere of the region.
The exhibition, which will be on display at Monchique’s Santo António Gallery, features Liz Allen, Dave King and Natasha Singh, three artists whose work ranges from bold abstraction and layered collage to expressive responses to nature and memory.
For Allen, who moved to a small hamlet near Monchique in 2005, the surrounding hills and mountains have become a major source of inspiration.
Originally from the UK, she studied Art and Design at Croydon College of Art and Design before completing a Fine Art painting degree at Bath Academy of Art in 1979.
Her Algarve landscapes are often rendered in bold colours and increasingly abstract forms, while more recent work has explored abstraction more directly, drawing on influences including Pop Art, Japanese prints and Modernism.
Both sides of her practice will feature in “A Common Thread”.
Painter and poet Dave King, meanwhile, arrived in the Algarve in 2020 after a long career in art and education.
Born in London, King studied at Cardiff College of Art and later graduated from Chelsea School of Art with a first-class Fine Art degree in 1979, before completing a master’s degree at Plymouth University.
After three decades teaching art and photography, his move to Portugal prompted a change in the way he works.
His current paintings begin with layers of photographs and digitally sourced images, which are manipulated on an iPad before being transferred to canvas and developed through paint.
His influences, he says, range from “Rubens, Still Life, Pop Art and everything in between”.
The third artist, Natasha Singh, is a British artist of Indian heritage who now lives and works in the Algarve.
Her practice encompasses painting, drawing and mixed media, exploring nature, memory, identity and people’s relationship with the natural world.
Since moving south, Singh says she has developed a particularly strong connection with the Algarve’s forests, hills and changing seasons.
Colours, textures and natural rhythms feed into paintings built through expressive mark-making, layered surfaces and vivid colour.
Her more recent work has moved increasingly towards abstraction, allowing shapes, gestures and unexpected relationships to emerge more freely.
The exhibition opens with a free vernissage on Saturday, November 21, from 3pm to 5pm. It will remain on display until January 6 between 10.30am and 5pm from Tuesdays to Saturdays.
