Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Size: 102cm x 86cm; framed

Artist: Ned Hoskins

Artist Notes: Ned Hoskins, founder of the Artist Open Houses in Brighton. Over the years the beach, as well as the Sussex Downs & Yorkshire were favourite themes for Ned’s work. He was fascinated by geology, particularly how wind and rain sculpted the landscape.

Ned was born in Thornton Heath, London in 1939 but he grew up in Harrogate North Yorkshire. All his life he loved the Yorkshire Dales and this is reflected in much of his work as an artist. Ned was always good at art and in 1963 he gained a place at the Royal College of Art and moved back to London during the Swinging Sixties where he mixed with people like David Hockney and the Rolling Stones.

In 1980 he moved to Brighton and in 1981 used his largish house as an exhibition space because he said that there was very little opportunity to display his work in the town during the Brighton Festival. This was the beginning of a new movement. Ned’s philosophy was that he wanted to make art accessible to everyone and thought that if people could see work hanging in his home they would see that it would look good in their homes too. The idea spread. Other groups sprang up around the city and now there are well over 100 Open Houses in Brighton & Hove  during the Brighton Festival.