CLOSE Presents Two Landmark Exhibitions Celebrating the Legacy of Jane Harris: In Somerset & London
CLOSE is honoured to present two concurrent solo exhibitions celebrating the life and legacy of the late British abstract artist Jane Harris, (1956-2022). This is the first exploration of its kind in the UK of the remarkable career of Harris. Renowned for her elliptical, luminous works on canvas and paper, the exhibitions charts the development of a distinctive visual language and her contributions to abstract painting.
Opening at CLOSE Project Space in London (3 July – 31 July) and CLOSE Gallery in Somerset (5 July – 2 August), the exhibitions are presented in partnership with the Estate of Jane Harris. This marks the first time her work will be exhibited and made available for sale under the stewardship of Freeny Yianni, founder of CLOSE, and Prue O’Day, on behalf of Harris’s husband, Jiri Kratochvil and son, George Kratochvil.
JANE HARRIS | ALOOF
CLOSE PROJECT SPACE, LONDON
3 July – 31 July | Open By Appointment OnlyAt CLOSE Project Space in London, visitors will encounter a concise survey of Jane Harris’s work on an intimate scale. Aloof centres on Harris’s lifelong exploration of light, surface and repetition. This previously unseen body of work subtly balances restraint and presence, drawing the viewer into a rich interplay of materiality and illusion. The title, coined by her son George, reflects Harris’s generosity and playful spirit. Her distinctive style, meticulously executed yet deceptively minimal, is presented in a thoughtful display that captures the quiet power and intimacy of her vision.
Alongside the paintings, Harris’s notebooks provide a rare insight into her studio practice and the development of her ideas, particularly her adoption of the ellipsis: a shape that became the enduring motif of her thirty-year career, explored through countless variations.
JANE HARRIS | THE FUGITIVES
CLOSE GALLERY, SOMERSET
5 July – 2 August & By Appointment Throughout AugustPRIVATE VIEW | 2-4pm, 5 July
An admirer of Josef Albers (Harris was twice artist-in-residence at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation) Harris shifted from a dual colour palette in her early career to play with a more expansive range of hues (such as metallic paint) in later works. Recognising the myriad ways in which the senses are in dialogue with the subconscious, Harris used colour as a conduit, evoking the hidden aspects of life and representing the invisible energies that surround and inform us as humans.
In The Fugitives, Harris’s large-scale works take centre stage against the rural backdrop of Somerset. These ambitious paintings reveal her exceptional command of visual rhythm and her subtle theatricality, with surfaces that shimmer and shift as the viewer moves. The exhibition embraces the idea of fugitivity, not only in subject matter but in the act of perception itself, bringing a new level of depth to her expressive and meditative practice. This is both a homage and a celebration of an extraordinary artist.
OPENING HOURS
THURS 11am - 4pm
