Mark Hix and Rebecca Lidert are excited to be opening the long awaited solo show at CNB Gallery from HIX Award 2014 Winner, Felix Treadwell. Ripple on a Playground is Felix’s debut exhibition following the success of his recently completed degree in Fine Art at Camberwell College of Arts.

Born in a town near Brighton in 1992, Felix was inspired to become an artist from his experiences as a child and teenager. He moved to London to complete his Fine Art degree and during this was accepted to study at Kyoto Seika University in Japan for 7 months. The influence of these distant cultures is unquestionably evident in his work.

Felix both deals with and debates the way the internet has reshaped the interactions and relationships between the East and West. With information and the media becoming more accessible, the boundaries we once faced within the real world are being rapidly broken down by our online presence. He leaves the viewer in limbo, questioning whether this blurring distinction between cultures is a positive or negative progression in today’s world.

The work is bound by a series of challenges within both the aesthetic and conceptual content. The playful yet ambiguous foreground distracts from deeper issues with Internet Culture and it’s impact on today’s young generations. Through the growth of technology, children are highly influenced by fantasy worlds and synthetic universes, developing online personas and interacting with the unknown.

By using cartoon-like figures, he subtly presents his concern of the consequences that Internet Culture has on the vulnerability and conformity of youth today. His informed and deliberate choice to use the medium of painting again reflects the power of the Internet as it is the most accessed and available art form worldwide.

Ripple on a playground hosts a variety of paintings and installations of Treadwell’s ‘pop, playful and ambiguous’ work. So join us at CNB Gallery to delve into this intangible but encompassing world.