For her first exhibition at Matt’s Gallery, Jo Bruton will present a painting installation comprising six large-scale diptychs.

The exhibition’s title, Walk slowly towards the light, gives the paintings a context within the gallery space. The words are suggestive of the tension between excitement and repose at the moment a performer walks on stage.

Jo Bruton's recent visit to Las Vegas, the experiences of bright neon lights and showgirl performances, has informed her work for this exhibition. Elements of pattern, colour and motif, already present in her paintings, have been given a new confidence and scale.

The paintings are structured in layers. Handmade collage creates a ground of pattern for the paintings and glass beads lie on the surface. This gives an accumulation of visual references and associations, which contrasts with the bold immediacy of the overall motif.

The paintings are evocative of the dazzle and glitz of performance. Their surfaces play with light and provoke ideas of vanity, glamour and the seductive.

This exhibition was generously supported by The London Institute Chelsea College of Art and Design and University of Southampton Winchester School of Art and Design.