Sax Impey 'Atlantic'

Rebecca Harper 

The Waters of Dwelling 

Sax Impey 

. Atlantic

“And as the drop kissed the ocean, 

it became the ocean itself.” 

Sw. Chidananda Tirtha

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Anima Mundi are delighted to present 

Atlantic, the latest solo exhibition by 

environmental artist and mariner 

Sax Impey. 

Impey’s often large scale artworks, are 

immersive and elemental, incorporating 

precise detail and dexterity with an 

expressive, behavioral use of medium. 

These works are predominantly 

derived from first hand experiences at 

sea. Having sailed many thousands of 

nautical miles around the world, these 

extensive trips continue to have, for 

the artist, profound personal resonance, 

providing continued creative agency. 

This particular body of works result from 

two particular facets of sailing in the 

Atlantic. The first, the specific conditions 

of time and place crossing the Gulf 

Stream whilst sailing to New York. The 

Gulf Stream runs parallel to the Eastern 

seaboard of North America, and then 

tends in a more eastern direction to cross 

the ocean. The main current also creates 

eddies, which loop out and turn back 

on itself. Wind, and swell, interacting 

with this movement of water, can create 

dynamic, sometimes volatile conditions. 

Other works draw upon a very different 

succession of Atlantic sailing experiences. 

As Impey describes “The nights when 

this mighty ocean, with all its’ flows 

and movements, presents itself as 

a sheet of mirrored glass. On these 

celestial, spectral nights, we sail in two 

worlds, the ocean and the Otherworld, 

and mythologies of the past present 

themselves in the existent moment.” 

This often sublime reflection of an artists 

unmediated reconnection with the natural 

world creates a tableau for our existential 

and spiritual focus. An important place of 

vicarious insight in to a power far more 

significant than our own, yet one we 

are aware of being intimately connected 

with. Pioneering environmentalist Rachel 

Carson wrote, in her 1951 book ‘The Sea 

Around Us’, “Eventually man, too, found 

his way back to the sea. Standing on its 

shores, he must have looked out upon it with 

wonder and curiosity, compounded with an 

unconscious recognition of his lineage. He 

could not physically re-enter the ocean as 

the seals and whales had done. But over the 

centuries, with all the skill and ingenuity 

and reasoning powers of his mind, he has 

sought to explore and investigate even 

its most remote parts, so that he might 

re-enter it mentally and imaginatively.” 

At a time of deep rooted ecological 

concern, the damage that we continue to 

wreak upon our planet, including, most 

worryingly, the oceans is no longer a secret. 

It is impossible not to observe, inhale and 

be consumed by one of Impey’s paintings 

and not be in awe. In part at an artist 

in notable synchronistic unity with his 

material and muse, in awe at the profound 

ephemeral beauty of the painting so 

exquisitely rendered, but mostly in awe of 

the palpable power of the subject herself. 

A liminal moment has been captured and 

so creates an echo. We are humbled, in the 

realization that these mighty waters will 

remain long after we have left. The damage 

that we wreak, we wreak upon ourselves. 

Joseph Clarke, 2021 

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Squall Study (1) 

mixed media on paper, 30 x 60 cm 

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Passing Rain, Rising Light, North Atlantic 

mixed media on panel, 122 x 183 cm 

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Rain in the North Atlantic 


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Passing Rain, North Atlantic 


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North Atlantic, Rain 


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Rain, and Distant Light, North Atlantic 


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Gulf Stream Squall (2) 


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At Sea, Lights and Visions (1) 


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38ºN 69ºW (Study) 


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Gulf Stream Squall, 38ºN 69ºW 


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Atlantic Green (1) 


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Atlantic Green (Study) 


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Rain Curtain, North Atlantic (1) 


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38ºN 69ºW 


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Tir fo Thuinn 


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Nocturne 


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Cold Night (1) 


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Cold Night (2) 


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Burning Sea 


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Nights of Glass (1) 


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Selected Biography 

Sax Impey is a British artist born in Penzance, Cornwall. 

He currently works from one of the prestigious 

Porthmeor Studios in St. Ives. From 2005, he has 

collaborated with the cross-cultural, environmental 

art group Red Earth in the creation of site-specific 

installations including a multi media performance at 

Trafalgar Square, London and Birling Gap in Sussex. 

In 2007 Impey’s work was selected for the ‘Art Now 

Cornwall’ exhibition at 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 he was 

featured in Owen Sheers’s BBC4 Documentary ‘Art of 

the Sea (In Pictures)’ alongside Anish Kapoor, J. M. 

W. Turner, Martin Parr and Maggi Hambling among 

others. His work was selected as a finalist the 2013 

Threadneedle Prize and the year before was elected an 

Academician at the Royal West of England Academy. 

Most recently Impey was included in ‘The Rime Of 

The Ancient Mariner : Big Read’ project alongside 

artists including Glenn Brown, Linder, Cornelia Parker, 

Marina Abramović, Yinka Shonibare, Charles Avery, 

Gavin Turk, Fiona Banner, Mark Dion, Derek Jarman, 

William Kentridge and John Akomfrah accompanied 

by readings from renowned voices including Jeremy 

Irons, Willem Dafoe, Hilary Mantel, Simon Armitage, 

Tilda Swinton, Iggy Pop, Marianne Faithfull, Alan 

Cumming, Rupert Everett and Alan Bennett. Impey’s 

paintings are in multiple collections including The Arts 

Council, Warwick University, the Connaught Hotel and 

the collections of Roman Abramovich and Lady Victoria 

Getty alongside other private collections worldwide.

Published by Anima Mundi to coincide with Sax Impey ‘Atlantic’ 

Exhibition supported by 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or 

by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers 

Anima Mundi . Street-an-Pol . St. Ives . Cornwall . +44 (0)1736 793121 . mail@animamundigallery.com . www.animamundigallery.com

Sax Impey 'Atlantic'

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