Hovering between quotidian scenes and an otherworldly realm, Anna Lea Hucht’s paintings create a pleasingly ambiguous zone in which our imaginations can play. The precisely painted flotsam of a contemporary life – things that float daily around our windowsills and desks – appear so utterly familiar, yet as these interiors open out onto the infinity of night skies stuffed with stars, they become imbued with an intimate magic. We intuit that the everyday objects so lovingly portrayed have a deep significance that we only glimpse obliquely, with scenes subtly hinting towards unknowable stories of longing and loss and tenderness.

The sculptures and paintings show us two complementary facets of a creative mind. The ceramics convey the confident gaze of the expert observer boldly facing outwards towards the exterior world, and the paintings acutely explore an interior imagination that appears to require nurturing and protection. The ceramics are like robust guardians keeping a watchful eye over the sensitivity of the paintings to make sure nobody hurts their feelings. They seem to send a warning: don’t mistake the paintings’ diminutive size and delicacy for timidity or lack of power.

Excerpt from a commissioned text to be published in the catalogue accompanying the exhibition, written by Rowena Hughes