Michelle Roberts: Red, Blue, Up 22 February – 1 June 2025
De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill
Image: Michelle Roberts, Hastings, 2009, Acrylic on canvas, 122 x 122 cm. Courtesy Project Art Works.
De La Warr Pavilion is pleased to present Red, Blue, Up, a major new exhibition of paintings and drawings by Bexhill-based artist, Michelle Roberts, in the First floor gallery this spring. This solo exhibition is programmed in collaboration with award- winning arts charity Outside In, following the artist winning first prize in its national open exhibition, Humanity, in 2023, and Project Art Works, a neurodiverse collective of artists and activists based in Hastings, of which Roberts is a member. Red, Blue, Up follows Roberts’ participation in DLWP’s 2015 group exhibition, In the Realm of Others.
Roberts has drawn and painted throughout her life. As a young girl, she accompanied her grandfather, a watercolour painter who often worked outdoors, and has since maintained a drive to make art. The approach to painting and drawing that she has refined over the years is ambitious in terms of scale, conception and realisation. Her subjects arise from the realm of lived experience, such as a holiday, a visit to the ‘Dinosaur World’ exhibition, or the thrill of an Air Show, whilst other works celebrate events such as the Diamond Jubilee, Remembrance Day, or films that she has seen. Roberts has developed a personal and meticulous approach to making. Photographs serve as a reference, offering hints and prompts of past experiences, from which she works methodically across each work, section by section, to create compositions that come to life through vivid colour. Through this detailed yet joyful execution, her works are underpinned by her unwavering precision and control, as she dissects shapes, forms and patterns across canvas and paper.
Red, Blue, Up will include a broad selection of works from the last 15 years of Roberts’ career, including several new paintings. Presented alongside these works will be several of the artist’s concertina sketch books, which demonstrate her distinct visual logic within the contained scale of each page. For this presentation, Roberts has conceived a modular seating installation for the gallery, designed through the lens of the striking colours, perspectives, surfaces and textures that she builds into each work.
Playful, joyous, and intriguing, Roberts’ work asks us to slow down and take time to look and feel in the present moment. Through this exhibition, she invites us to explore each of her vibrant universes, drawing our attention to the different ways that we remember.
‘I am very happy that lots of the public will be able to see my paintings in real life, and hope they enjoy them as much as I love creating them. As you will see from my work I love to use plenty of colours, especially during the dark and dismal winter months.’ Michelle and Jennie Roberts, the artist’s mother.
‘Outside In is so excited to bring Michelle Roberts’ incredible work from the last 15 years to the De La Warr Pavilion, right in the heart of her hometown. Red, Blue, Up will brighten up the end of February and is sure to be a joyful experience for everyone who visits. A huge thank you to the amazing team at DLWP and to Project Art Works for their fantastic support in making this exhibition happen.’ Charlotte Hanlon, Exhibition Programme Manager, Outside In
‘Working alongside Michelle at Project Art Works for nearly a decade has been an inspiration. Her intricate drawings and instinctive colour choices reveal layers of discovery, making each glance a journey into joy and vibrancy. I feel very privileged to be supporting Michelle towards her exhibition, when her powerful illustrations will fill a gallery, inviting all to experience them. Thank you to the teams at Outside In and the De La Warr Pavilion for the opportunity.’ Patricia Finnegan, Artist Development Lead, Project Art Works
Supported by
Notes to Editors
Press Contact for De La Warr Pavilion
Kitty Malton | [email protected] | +44 7514 803577
For press enquiries for Project Art Works please contact
Jessica Courtney Bennett | [email protected] | +44 1424 423555
Biography
Michelle Roberts lives in Bexhill-on-sea, East Sussex. She is a member of Project Art Works, and uses the collective’s studios in Hastings. Her recent exhibitions and residencies include Residential, Copenhagen Contemporary (2024); Residential, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (2023); Humanity, Outside In’s exhibition at Sotheby’s (2023); documenta fifteen, Kassel, Germany (2022); Coastal Currents, Project Art Works studio, Hastings (2022); Ignition, Hastings Contemporary, Hastings (2021); Turner Prize 2021, Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry (2021), and Putting Ourselves in the Picture, Fabrica Gallery, Brighton (2019).
Outside In
Outside In provides a platform for artists who encounter significant barriers to the art world due to health, disability, social circumstance, or isolation. It is an important and rare example of an organisation with national reach championing the work of artists excluded from the art world. It was formed in 2006 at Pallant House Gallery and won the Charity Award for Arts and Heritage in 2013 and the Queens Award for Voluntary Services in 2022.
Outside In provides a digital platform for its artists to show their work and three main programmes of activity: artist development, exhibitions, and training. These activities, supported by fundraising and communications, all aim to create a fairer art world by supporting artists, creating opportunities, and influencing organisations.
Project Art Works
Project Art Works collaborates with people with complex support needs, families and circles of support. Their practice intersects art and care, responding to neurodivergence, its gifts and impacts. Challenging paradigms of inclusion, it spans direct practical and holistic support, film, events, projects and exhibitions.
Their studios provide the conditions for a broad range of autonomous and collaborative practices with neurodivergent artists, who take part on their own terms. Alongside the studios, the Support Collective brings together people who care for people with complex support needs where we share our experience and protect our rights through training, resources and advocacy.
Human connection and what it reveals about identity and how we view each other are explored within their work. Their practice continues to respond to the functional and ethical structures of diligence and care, respecting self-determination and privacy whilst working towards greater visibility and understanding of neurodiversity in culture.
Project Art Works is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. Alongside neurodiverse artists and makers, the collective includes paid and unpaid caregivers who help each other to navigate through the complexities of health and social care systems.