YORK.- Work by internationally renowned artist Paula Rego, DBE, is on show at Lotte Inch Gallery this June as part of the latest in a series of carefully curated exhibitions at this dynamic, young, city-centre venue.

Prints by Rego are accompanied by those from UK based artists each with their own International connections and influences; Mario Gonzalez, Celia Washington and Jean Duncan, RUA, alongside ceramics from Loretta Braganza.

The exhibition, a unique visual offering designed to evoke a myriad of emotions, explores the hopes and dreams, the folklorish and fantastical influences, and the personal histories and horrors experienced by this group of accomplished artists with connections across the globe.

Paula Rego’s distinctive works are held in collections around the world. Imbued with a feminist spirit, often depicting women in a state of fear and rage, Rego possesses a remarkable ability to communicate strong emotions in her work, whilst capturing the essence of a narrative. Drawing on literature, mythology, fairy tales, cartoons and religious texts, Rego’s works are at times surreal, mysterious and occasionally unnerving.

Rego’s passion for painting began as a child when she lived in Lisbon. Later, after moving to England, Rego studied at the Slade School of Art in London, reconnecting to her childhood memories of Lisbon and her Portuguese roots through her artwork. She was an exhibiting member of the London Group – a circle of artists which included the likes of Frank Auerbach and David Hockney. In 1990 Rego was invited to become the first Associate Artist at the National Gallery and is a Dame of the British Empire.

Following a chance meeting with artist Mario Gonzalez, whilst in Havana, Cuba in July 2015, and the subsequent news that Gonzalez would be coming to the UK later that year, curator Lotte Inch knew that an exhibition featuring his charming, sometimes unsettling, but always exquisitely crafted prints, here in York, was a must.

Unknown, as yet, within the art world in the UK, Gonzalez holds a greater and highly impressive reputation in his home country. An established member of Havana’s thriving printmaking community, Gonzalez’s work has been exhibited at national and regional exhibitions in Cuba.

Specialising in linocut and drypoint, his work is often inspired by the magic of nature and its relationship to us as human beings. It is also inevitably rooted in the culture of Post-Revolutionary Cuba; a culture which exudes a sense of defiance and vibrancy of spirit in all that it does, most notably through the art, music, dance and literary heritage of this most amazing of countries.

Currently living in London, Mario is developing his creative practice and experimenting with other media to combine painting, drawing and photography in his prints.

Like Rego and Gonzales, the other artists in this exhibition share a desire to travel and to experience cultures beyond their own. Each has travelled extensively, often having spent significant periods of time living abroad. They also all carry a shared preoccupation with nature and its potential to reveal any number of hidden narratives, whether real or imagined.

Artist Celia Washington, has lived and worked in Florence, Paris, Tokyo, Madrid, London and Kathmandu, but it was in London in the early 90's that Lotte Inch, aged just five, first saw her work. The picture that she then pointed at in approval still hangs on the walls of the Gallery owner's house today.

Washington's paintings, prints, sculptures and films are inspired by the places that she has lived and travelled to both as a child and growing up. Her works also possess a mystical quality and connections between her own visual language and that of Magic Realist writers has been frequently observed, as well as acknowledged by the artist herself. Here, the ordinary becomes inextricably linked with the extraordinary, resulting in visual narratives which are simultaneously familiar and dreamlike.

Painter and printmaker Jean Duncan is a member of the Royal Ulster Academy. Having moved from France where she lived for four years, she now lives and works in York. Duncan has also spent time working in Japan and Portugal and has exhibited here as well as a number of other international destinations.

Duncan's work is frequently inspired by music, and her portfolio includes many collaborative projects with composers and musicians. Literature and the surroundings in which she finds herself, whether this be the south of France or the coast of Northern Ireland, also offer a rich resource for her mysterious, dreamlike and ambiguous works. Duncan is an enthusiastic and driven artist, having played an important role in developing the cultural scene and reputation in Northern Ireland. Her work is included in many collections within her home country as well as those in England, Scotland, Europe and beyond.

Loretta Braganza lives and works in York, having come to the UK as a young child, from the vibrant city of Mumbai. Her work frequently explores the interactions between earth, air, fire and water and relates to a deeply felt sense of place. They embody too, countless narratives, geographies and timeframes – all waiting to be discovered by the onlooker. Talking about her work, Braganza explains that the sculptural forms she uses distil and fuse other art practices that make up part of her journey as a ceramicist. A lifelong passion for Indian dancing manifests itself in the choreography of the ‘groups and related shapes’ which frequently appear. The use of rhythmic surface patterning stems from a background in textile design whilst her Fine Art training reveals itself in the painterly methods that she exploits.

Braganza has exhibited widely across the UK, and her work is held in many prestigious public and private collections here and further afield, most notably York Art Gallery and CoCA and the Duke of Devonshire's collection at Chatsworth.