Unhappy News Alert

Ok, you are probably thinking we are being overly dramatic for effect and yes we are, as currently it is only a representation of this stunning summery scene, painted by one of our much-loved artists Grant Dejonge, that has been destroyed by fire, and by Grant burning it himself we hasten to add, but as we wanted to get your attention we hope you will forgive the dramatics.

So why was Grant inspired to burn one of his paintings, which he recently did on ITV News? In short, he did it in protest.

Sadly, this field, which is in an area that regularly inspires Grant’s paintings, is part of a much larger site that has been earmarked for obliteration by a new town development proposal. If approved the rural countryside would be lost forever, covered over by the proposed new urbanisation.

In burning his vibrant painting of one of the fields in jeopardy, Grant hopes to raise public awareness of the proposal, which in summary would see the current owner of the farmland, Eton College, selling the plot to developers to build a new medium sized town of over 3,200 homes, (for perspective, that is about the size of another Hassocks). This would involve bulldozing 400 acres of quintessential rural Sussex farmland bordering the South Downs National Park wiping out the individual identity of the distinct tiny villages of Plumpton, East Chiltington and South Chailey in one 20-year build-time swoop.

Grant hopes his protest will provide strikingly visual impetus to all who see or hear about it to lend their support to the campaign to stop dead in its tracks this appalling development scheme. Artologie is extremely pleased to be able to help this campaign by displaying Grant’s protest art in our window. The theatrical and unusual nature of this painting certainly is attracting much attention from those passing by. It will be with us until early September when it will then go on display in the Half Moon pub at East Chiltington. It is for sale, and anyone interested in bidding for it is invited to register their interest via our gallery email studio@artologie.co.uk . All proceeds raised through the sale of this painting will go to the protest campaign. We encourage anyone who cares about maintaining the beauty of our local countryside to go tohttps://www.donturbanisethedowns.com/ to find out more about how they can get involved. 

As a regular exhibiting artist at Artologie, we are delighted to also have several other new breath-taking (for all the right reasons) pieces of Grant’s for sale as well. Please read our separate BLOG, Glorious Summery Sussex Charms, for more details on these.