Sax Impey 'The Boatman Calls'

S A X I M P E Y T H E BS OA AX TI MA PN E Y C AT LH LE S B O A T M A N C A L L S

The Boatman Calls
A dream it seemed to me, a night so cold trees turned to white
before my eyes.
Frost rimed the land and air, and the ancient tree.
Waters rose, and perceiving Reason’s noble visage drowning
neath the waves, we took ship to ride out the storm… returned
light displayed the uppermost boughs of mighty trees piercing
the surface of dark waters… from the sky without a sound a
lance of flame, and neath there jiggered sabbath shapes.
A b a n d o n e d B a b e l , s u b m e r g e d i n e v e n i n g d e p t h s … a n d a
solitary boatman, dark before a setting sun, approaches on a
sea of glass, and sounds a final horn… the boatman calls…
Sax Impey
1

The Ancient Tree
100 x 150 cm
mix media on paper / panel
2

3

Tree Study
51 x 69 cm
pencil on paper
28

Tree Study
35 x 50 cm
pencil on paper
29

12

Tree Study
70 x 100 cm
charcoal on paper
13

Squall
70 x 100 cm
charcoal on paper
10

11

12

Night Wave Study
70 x 100 cm
charcoal on paper
13

Night, The Rising Waters Study
70 x 100 cm
charcoal on paper
10

11

4

Night, The Rising Waters
122 x 244 cm
mix media on panel
5

Island / Head Study
51 x 70 cm
pencil on paper
28

Reason Study
51 x 70 cm
pencil on paper
29

...Perceiving Reason’s Noble Visage Drowning Neath The Waves...
100 x 150 cm
charcoal on paper / panel
6

7

8

Reason
122 x 183 cm
mix media on panel
9

The Rising 1
50 x 80 cm
mix media on paper
14

15

16

The Rising 2
50 x 80 cm
mix media on paper
17

The Rising 3
50 x 80 cm
mix media on paper
24

25

20

The Uppermost Boughs of Ancient Trees
100 x 150 cm
charcoal on paper
21

From The Sky... A Lance of Flame
100 x 150 cm
charcoal, oil on paper
18

19

26

Babel (After Cruyl/Decker/Kircher)
150 x 260 cm
mix media on paper / panel
27

Babel (after Cruyl/Decker/Kircher) Study
60 x 80 cm
pencil on paper
28

29

30

The Boatman
122 x 190 cm
mix media on paper / panel
31

The Boatman Calls
122 x 190 cm
mix media on paper / panel
32

33

The Boatman Study 1
35 x 50 cm
pencil on paper
28

The Boatman Study 2
35 x 50 cm
pencil on paper
29

28

The Boatman Study 3
55 x 40 cm
mix media on paper
29

BIOGRAPHY
Sax Impey was born in Penzance, Cornwall in 1969. He completed a BA(Hons) Fine Art at
Newport in 1991 and returned to Cornwall in 1994.
Since 2005 he has produced alegorical works derived almost exclusively from experiences at
sea. A qualified RYA Yachtmaster, he has sailed many thousands of nautical miles in many
parts of the world.
Impey’s extensive trips at sea have had a profound impact on his life and subsequent
development as an artist. Reconnecting to nature through this powerful element has the
almost inescapable effect of calling to question some of life’s existential questions. This
epiphanic moment of realisation, of revelation, is at the core of Impey’s oeuvre.
Reflecting on and capturing personal moments and making them universal, Impey’s work
reaffirms the importance of introspection and confrontation, found specifically when
surrounded by the natural world; “A mind can breathe, and observe, and reflect, away from
the shrill desperation of a culture that, having forgotten that it is better to say nothing than
something about nothing, invents ever new ways to fill every single space with less and less.”
Sax Impey has occupied no.8 Porthmeor Studios since 2003, part of an historic studio
complex overlooking Porthmeor beach in St Ives.
In 2007 his work was selected for the ‘Art Now Cornwall’ exhibition at the Tate St Ives where
he was placed on the cover of the associated publication, the same year he was heralded in
The Times as one of the ‘New Faces of Cornish Art’.
In 2010 Impey featured in the Owen Sheers, BBC4 Documentary ‘Art of the Sea (In Pictures)’
alongside Anish Kapoor, J M W Turner, Martin Parr and Maggie Hambling among others. In
2012 he was elected an Academician of The RWA.
Whilst maintaining a solo studio practice Impey has also engaged in numerous collaborative
projects, including film, theatre, performance and installation works. His paintings are in
numerous collections including The Arts Council, Warwick University, The Connaught Hotel
and other private collections worldwide.
Sax Impey is represented by Anima-Mundi.
34

Embarkation Under Moon
55 x 40 cm
mix media on paper
35

Like the desert, where religions form,
the open ocean asks of the imagination
a narrative.
Observations on my journeys hinted at the
fragments of a story… another story, or
perhaps another’s story…
It seemed to me I garnered traces,
or echoes of it, on a white winters
night in England, in Biscay, and in
the waters of the Mediterranean on
a voyage which turned out to be the last
I would ever make with Trevor Vincett, a
friend and mentor over so many ocean miles.
This exhibition is dedicated to his memory.
Sax Impey, 2017

Published by Anima-Mundi to coincide with the exhibition ‘The Boatman Calls’ by Sax Impey
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Street-an-Pol . St. Ives . Cornwall . Tel: 01736 793121 . Email: mail@anima-mundi.co.uk . www.anima-mundi.co.uk