Simple Pleasures: The Paintings of Angela Lyons

Posted by The Colomb Art Gallery / Monday 7th of November, 2016

Sugar, daily life and everything nice—these are what the paintings of Angela Lyons are made of.

A formidable force in the contemporary art scene, British artist Angela Lyons has a remarkable ability to find and capture the beauty of daily life in extraordinary pieces of work. She is a firm believer in the fact that beauty can be found in everything, and that more often than not, it is the simple things in life that make for the most pleasure. Colourful deckchairs on a breezy beach, brimming jars of sweets or warm scones dripping with strawberry jam and clotted cream—these are the kind of priceless indulgences that Angela finds so striking.

With a representative style and a contemporary approach, Angela uses vibrant colours and a hyperrealist technique to create bold paintings full of intensity whilst simultaneously saturated with narrative and emotion. The sense of warmth and memory that exudes from her work is pure pleasure for the psyche, and is perhaps one of the reasons why her paintings so effortlessly connect with all ages. Be it her local scenery of the Sussex coast or an enticing plate of mince pies, Angela applies her sharp precision and allegorical touch to each and every one of her paintings.

Warm nostalgia is not the only thing evoked by Angela Lyons’ work. When looking at one of her still life paintings, there is often another sensation evoked as well: hunger. Not just hunger in the figurative sense, as if hungry to see more of her work (although this is also true). Her still life paintings of cakes and sweets are so deliciously realistic, they evoke very real, literal hunger. In one swift, salivating moment, her paintings transcend the visual experience and metamorphose into a sensory encounter.

With this kind of reaction to her work, it is no surprise that Angela Lyons has been described as "one of the hottest properties in the art market today". As her success as an artist continues to grow, her collector base rapidly expands. Her work can be found in collections across the UK and worldwide, treasured by those fortunate enough to call a piece their very own.