-art collecting with a conscience
-art collecting with a conscience
Purslane was founded in 2020 to shake up the status quo of the art market and promote a more socially conscious way of investing in art while supporting emerging artistic talent and raising awareness around philanthropic causes. The new gallery initiative is the gallery model of the future, disrupting and democratising the institutionalised art market by directing the majority of the proceeds to the artists and charitable organisations.
'Hybrids' a solo presentation of works by Venetia Higgins, fundraising for The Woodland Trust. 25% of all sales will be donated to the cause.
Venetia Higgins is a London-based artist and curator. She studied History of Art at the University of Edinburgh before working in the arts and culture sector for five years. She took a year out to undertake the Online Drawing Development Year at the Royal Drawing School 2022-2023, and since then has focused on printmaking and painting. Venetia is predominantly interested in how flora and fauna have been depicted throughout history - from medieval marginalia to alchemical manuscripts, from natural history illustration to early renaissance paintings - and draws inspiration from many sources in her work. Her current body of work is focused on medieval miniatures which sell internationally.
Many medieval monks and scribes had never seen the animals they illustrated, relying instead on second-hand descriptions from travellers. This often led to wildly inaccurate or exaggerated depictions. However, the comical and bizarre appearance of animals and hybrid beasts wasn’t just the result of ignorance—it was often deliberate. Marginalia frequently poked fun at authority, added playful absurdity to serious texts, or provided comic relief in the otherwise solemn task of manuscript copying.
“This spirit of creativity and humour is what I’ve aimed to capture in this Hybrid collection - a series of 14 miniature beasts inspired by medieval marginalia, painted with egg tempera. Some are my own playful reinterpretations, taking the idea of hybrid creatures to a literal extreme, such as the ‘monk-fish,’ ‘sea-horse,’ and ‘sea-lion.’ Others draw from traditional medieval symbolism, like the mermaid, often depicted as a warning against temptation and vanity, or the griffin, a creature of divine power and guardianship. By reimagining these hybrids, I’m exploring the blend of imagination, storytelling, and symbolism that made medieval art so captivating. I think with everything going on in the world today, we need to take a leaf out of medieval Books of Hours (excuse the pun) and bring a little bit of humour and fantasy back into our lives!”
An online fundraiser in celebration of International Women’s Day. Raising funds for Women’s Aid, a British charity working to end domestic abuse against women and children.
‘What She Said’ brings together the creative work of a group of some of the most exciting female and non-binary artists currently practising in the UK. The title is a play on the widespread crass sexual innuendo, ‘that’s what she said,’ reframed and rearticulated as an invitation to observe the voices of women, represented here, through their works of art.
Contributing artists: Bobbye Fermie, Azzurra Galatolo, Alma Berrow, Colette LaVette, Nooka Shepherd, Pollyanna Johnson, Yishi Chen, Emily Ponsonby and Catherine Repko
25% of all sales will be donated to Women’s Aid.
‘Sonder’ is a group exhibition of works by emerging and mid-career artists, which is fundraising for The Trussell Trust.
Sonder (noun) is the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own- populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and neuroses. “In a state of sonder, each of us is at once a hero, a supporting cast member, and an extra in overlapping stories.” The word reminds us to step outside of the era of the individual that contemporary culture finds us in and encourages empathy and a sense of exploration in the Other. Art in and of itself provides a fertile ground for experiencing an insight into the hidden interior realms that others inhabit.
Contributing artists: Naomi Boiko- Stapleton, Jacob Littlejohn, Gill Button, Yishi Chen, Mary West, Sassy Park, Rosalind Howdle, Maria Andrievskaya and Nooka Shepherd.
25% of all sales will be donated to The Trussell Trust, a UK based anti-poverty charity and community of food banks. At this time of year of feasting, family and gift giving it feels apt to support an organisation that ensures no one goes hungry.
