Page 5 - Art First: Alexandra Haynes: The Shapes of Nature

A geometryof freedom

Alexandra Haynes’ paintings speak of journeys. The organic, spiralling shells; the succulent
cacti; the brightly coloured, tropical f owers, seaweed, f sh and butterf ies are all souvenirs
of her travels: sometimes to places as far af eld as Barbados or the Kimberley in Western
Australia, other times just along the coast to Cornwall. But it is her body of work as a whole
that represents the greatest journey–a journey of self-discovery and of f nding, developing
and learning to enunciate her own pictorial language.

Haynes had a meteoric rise to success when, at the age of twenty-one, she was ‘spotted’
by Brian Sewell during her mid-term exhibition at Cheltenham School of Art in 1987 and
selected as one of ten young painters for the summer show of students and graduates
promoted annually by You Magazine and The Mail on Sunday. As a direct result of this,
she was asked to accompany restaurateur Peter Langan to Los Angeles to produce a series
of canvases for his intended–but sadly never to be opened–restaurant there. Cheltenham
were reluctant to let her go before having completed her degree, but Haynes, enthusiastic
about this f rst prospect of transatlantic travel, was determined, and her adamancy paid
dividends when she was introduced to and befriended by David Hockney.

In the ensuing years, Haynes exhibited prolif cally and the work she was producing was
certainly good–very good–but, looking back, she realises she has moved on, engaging more
closely with specif c elements, which capture her attention. With hindsight, she explains that
everything happened too quickly, when she was too young, and she became a pawn for the
West End gallerists, producing what they wanted–what would sell–without its being a true
expression of the direction in which her heart and soul were taking her. The solo exhibitions
petered out after she got married in 1991 and had her f rst child a year later, but the group