Join us to celebrate the launch of our two new autumn season exhibitions, Sarah Cunningham: Midnight Sun and Julia Isídrez: Mud is everything.

Nottingham-born painter Sarah Cunningham sought out the essential and the alive through her imaginary wildernesses and fluid forestscapes, taking inspiration from the speculative landscapes of science fiction literature, art history, ecology and personal references. Part abstract experimentation, part spiritual journey, every painting at some level represents the intuitive and unspoken connection between nature and humankind. Her unusual, nocturnal practice estranged her limbs and thoughts from systematic, painterly movements, resulting in works that briefly dwell in darkness only to culminate in the arrival of the dawn chorus. Through her sweeping expressionistic gestures, Cunningham built up layers of paint that she shaped into fluid motion, creating landscapes not just as we know them, but as scenes of possibility and portals into other worlds.

Guaraní artist and ceramicist Julia Isídrez's clay sculptures trouble and enlighten many issues that define cultural debate today – from Indigeneity and identity politics to craft. Rooted in the ceramic traditions passed down through generations of women in Itá, Isídrez learned the craft from her mother, inheriting processes - from shaping to firing and fumigation - which underpin her practice while allowing her to expand the vocabulary of regional ceramics. In contrast to these traditional techniques, the subject matter of her works is anything but conventional: hybrid dinosaur-like figures and multi-headed spherical amphibians populate her sculptures. These fantastical creatures are chimeras, unattainable beings of Isídrez’s imagination, yet still resonant with popular traditions and folklore.

As well as a first chance to see our brand new exhibitions, join us to party the night away with music downstairs alongside delicious food and drink in our café bar, Blend at Contemporary.

This exhibition launch, like all our programme, is free admission for all but donations are both encouraged and needed. As a registered charity, every donation – no matter the size – makes a big difference. Suggested donation £5. Thank you.