Gail Brodholt Exhibition – The Art of Travel
Gail Brodholt’s new exhibition opens at our gallery on Thursday 22nd June and runs until the 3rd July and there is the opportunity to meet the artist at For Arts Sake gallery on Saturday 24th June 12-4pm when Gail will be available to talk about her work. This fabulous retrospective of Gail’s linocuts from the past 15 years will include rare works along with new or special edition works and coincides with the launch of Gail’s new book ‘Art of Travel’.

Gail Brodholt depicts the London transport network and the journeys made across the city on tubes and trains and has an expert eye for composition and colour. Gail is best known for her coloured depictions of tube platforms and railways stations in multi-coloured linocut. Londoner’s will recognise many of the scenes depicted and local visitors will be delighted to see Ealing Common tube station featured in her print, Queen of The Suburbs.
Transport has always been a major theme of my work and more recently it has branched out from the tubes and railways to include work depicting some of the UK road network as it snakes through the countryside. I see it all as linked – all about journeys and the extraordinary nature of the ordinary – Gail Brodholt.

Gail Brodholt is a leading printmaker of contemporary urban landscapes. Using a subtle but rich palette, she displays an expert eye for composition, draughtsmanship and colour. She was born in South London to immigrant parents, her father Norwegian and her mother from Trinidad. Her work is concerned with journeys, both actual and temporal, providing an outsider’s narrative on present day London which is tinged with a certain nostalgia for the railways and tube trains. Human activity is there but often concealed from sight, the people anonymous. Often, only the setting alludes to the possible presence of people within the scene. Gail’s work has a technical, draughtsman-like quality, yet underneath there is always a strong element of emotion.
There is a wonderful sense of adventure when you are setting off on a journey even if you are just going home. For me you never know what’s going to happen, who you are going to see, or what you will see out of the window and there’s always a chance of an adventure – Gail Brodholt.

She depicts London and especially its transport network with great technical accomplishment, pushing the boundaries that the medium is usually thought suitable for. She strives to achieve atmospheric effects, relating such things as weather, time of day and seasons, by applying the inks in a painterly way with glazes, impasto, etc. Her everpresent themes are the interplay between London’s trains and tubes with the housing they connect.
Gail will be in For Arts Sake Gallery on Saturday 24 June 2017. Discover how Gail has made her mark in the world of printmaking, created award winning artwork and built a devoted following of collectors. There will be an opportunity to meet the artist, ask questions and Gail will also be doing signings for her new book ‘Art of Travel’.
Art of Travel is a survey of the last 15 years of my printmaking and there are over 100 images of my linocuts with working drawings and details of my inspiration, techniques and working environment. The book, written by Alan Marshall and published by Mascot Books, sets my work in the context of British transport art more generally. Though I say it myself, it is a very good read! – Gail Brodholt.

Gail Brodholt is a recipient of many awards and prizes including The Birgit Skiold Award, Paintings in Hospitals prize, Lawrence’s Art Prize and the Art Angels Publishing Prize. She trained at the School of Fine Art, Kingston University and works full-time from her studio in Woolwich, South London.
Gail Brodholt, The Art of Travel runs at For Arts Sake gallery, 45 Bond Street W5 5AS from Thursday 22nd June to Monday 3rd July.
Meet the artist at For Arts Sake gallery on Saturday 24th June 12-4pm.
To read our interview with Gail Brodholt and Louise Davies who she shares a studio with click here.
To watch Gail Brodholt working on her linocuts click here.