"My lovely Dad was a painter, a landscape man, producing photorealistic works from his beloved Pembrokeshire all in watercolour. What a skill I always thought. I’d look at those paintings and would despair that I could never, ever be able to do that.
And for me as a much younger man that was art, something I was incapable of ever recreating.
When I was 47 I found myself in an art therapy class with a Lady called Tamsyn Ellish, she would become my Mrs. Miyagi.
Over the course of 4 months she re-programmed me as to what art was, what it did, and more importantly who art was for. She made me understand that it was for me and not just me but for everyone. Art was for everyone.
I always imagined myself as a Pollock style abstract painter, that’s what I wanted to do, that seemed like the easiest way for me to do art. (Clearly I’d never painted)
I could never imagine that I could paint people, it seemed so difficult and technical and entirely out of my reach. However as part of my rapid self-education I began to look at how artists painted people and faces.
I first found Modigliani, then Frank Auerbach then Peter Clossick and then Leon Kossof. Wow. After those discoveries the blinkers were removed. Those un-shackled geniuses taught me that a nose doesn’t have to look like a nose, it can be a triangle or a slash or a gesture of thick colour. A mouth can be a worm of blue , an eye can be a yellow splat. That can still be a human. That can still be valid. In those paintings I saw not only people, figuratively but I saw their emotions too. This was a completely new concept to me and that’s where I found the art I was looking for. The art I wanted to do.
For me the art isn’t just paint on a canvas, everyone can do that. (And everyone should.) For me the magic lies where the emotion lives because for me, that’s what it means to be a human.
We’re all just random shapes and colours connected by the emotions within us."
- Nick Frost, May 2026
Please note that the gallery will be closed from 1pm on Saturday 13 June for a private event, public access to the exhibiton that day with therefore be limited to the morning only and will reopen on Tuesday 16th June.
We will also be closed on Fridays from 5th – 26th June between 11am–12.30pm and 1pm–3pm during our British Sixties Cinema film course and matinee screenings.
Please ensure you plan your visit to the gallery outside of these times. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and look forward to welcoming you soon!
We are delighted to present STRANGERS I MADE, a solo exhibition by Nick Frost, running from 13th June to 25th July.
Featuring a curated selection of Frost’s abstract portraits, the exhibition highlights the artist’s distinctive approach to capturing character through expressive form, colour, and gesture. Working predominantly in oil on canvas, Frost’s recent practice has expanded to include ink and mixed media, resulting in vibrant and richly layered compositions.
Alongside his painting practice, Frost is widely recognised as an actor, writer, and collaborator, known for his work across film, television, and publishing. STRANGERS I MADE draws on these elements, presenting a body of work that explores the tension between identity and anonymity. Through bold mark-making and vivid colour, Frost constructs faces that feel both immediate and elusive, inviting viewers to form their own connections and interpretations.
We are delighted to be exhibiting Nick Frost’s work once again, the first as a solo exhibition; having previously shown his work as part of our LHS Collection since 2022.
