Mabon

Sax Impey (b. 1969)
Sax Impey’s artworks are often large scale,
immersive and elemental, incorporating
intense detail and dexterity and an
expressive, behavioural use of medium.
Since 2005, Impey has produced works
derived predominantly from experiences
at sea. A qualified RYA Yachtmaster he has
sailed many thousands of miles around the
world. His journeys have had a profound
impact and subsequent development as an
artist. Reconnecting with nature through
this powerful element has the almost
inescapable effect of calling to question
many of life’s existential questions. This
epiphanic moment of realisation, of
revelation, is at the core of Impey’s oeuvre.
Reflecting on and capturing personal
moments and making them universal,
Impey’s work reaffirms the importance
of introspection and confrontation, found
specifically when surrounded by the natural
world; “A mind can breathe, and observe,
and reflect, away from the shrill desperation
of a culture that, having forgotten that it is
better to say nothing than something about
nothing, invents ever new ways to fill
every single space with less and less”.
Impey was 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 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. His paintings
are in multiple collections including The
Arts Council, Warwick University and the
Connaught Hotel.
‘Gulf Stream Squall’
mixed media on panel, 91 x 122 cm
108