Red, Blue, Up is a major new exhibition of paintings and drawings by Bexhill-based artist, Michelle Roberts.
Roberts has drawn and painted throughout her life. As a young girl, she accompanied her grandfather, a watercolour painter who often worked outdoors, and has since maintained a drive to make art. The approach to painting and drawing that she has refined over the years is ambitious in terms of scale, conception and realisation. Her subjects arise from the realm of lived experience, such as a holiday, a visit to the ‘Dinosaur World’ exhibition, or the thrill of an airshow, whilst other works celebrate events such as the Diamond Jubilee, Remembrance Day, or films that she has seen.
Roberts has developed a personal and meticulous approach to making. Photographs serve as a reference, offering hints and prompts of past experiences, from which she works methodically across each work, section by section, to create compositions that come to life through vivid colour. Through this detailed yet joyful execution, her works are underpinned by her unwavering precision and control, as she dissects shapes, forms and patterns across canvas and paper.
Red, Blue, Up features a wide selection of Roberts’ works from the last 15 years. Also on display is a series of concertina sketchbooks, which reveal her distinct visual logic within the intimate scale of each page. These books will be rotated over the run of the exhibition to show the artist’s various styles and approaches. For this exhibition, Roberts has designed a modular seating installation, inspired by the bold colours, perspectives, and textures that characterise her works. Several of these seats are embedded with laser-cut drawings taken from the artist’s paintings, adding a sensory dimension to the exhibition.
Playful, joyous, and intriguing, Roberts’ work asks us to slow down and take time to look and feel in the present moment. Through this exhibition, she invites us to explore each of her vibrant worlds, drawing our attention to the different ways that we remember and experience life.
Red, Blue, Up is programmed in collaboration with award winning arts charity Outside In, following the artist’s first prize win in its national open exhibition, Humanity, in 2023, and Project Art Works, a supported studio of neurodivergent artists and activists based in Hastings, of which Roberts is a member. Red, Blue, Up follows Roberts’ participation in DLWP’s 2015 group exhibition, In the Realm of Others.
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Michelle Roberts lives in Bexhill-on-sea, East Sussex. She is a member of Project Art Works, and uses the collective’s studios in Hastings. Her recent exhibitions and residencies include Residential, Copenhagen Contemporary (2024); Residential, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (2023); Humanity, Outside In’s exhibition at Sotheby’s (2023); documenta fifteen, Kassel, Germany (2022); Coastal Currents, Project Art Works studio, Hastings (2022); Ignition, Hastings Contemporary, Hastings (2021); Turner Prize 2021, Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry (2021), and Putting Ourselves in the Picture, Fabrica Gallery, Brighton (2019).
Outside In provides a platform for artists who encounter significant barriers to the art world due to health, disability, social circumstance, or isolation. It is an important and rare example of an organisation with national reach championing the work of artists excluded from the art world. It was formed in 2006 at Pallant House Gallery and won the Charity Award for Arts and Heritage in 2013 and the Queens Award for Voluntary Services in 2022.
Outside In provides a digital platform for its artists to show their work and three main programmes of activity: artist development, exhibitions, and training. These activities, supported by fundraising and communications, all aim to create a fairer art world by supporting artists, creating opportunities, and influencing organisations.
Project Art Works collaborates with people with complex support needs, families and circles of support. Their practice intersects art and care, responding to neurodivergence, its gifts and impacts. Challenging paradigms of inclusion, it spans direct practical and holistic support, film, events, projects and exhibitions.
Their studios provide the conditions for a broad range of autonomous and collaborative practices with neurodivergent artists, who take part on their own terms. Alongside the studios, the Support Collective brings together people who care for people with complex support needs where we share our experience and protect our rights through training, resources and advocacy.
Human connection and what it reveals about identity and how we view each other are explored within their work. Their practice continues to respond to the functional and ethical structures of diligence and care, respecting self-determination and privacy whilst working towards greater visibility and understanding of neurodiversity in culture.
Project Art Works is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. Alongside neurodiverse artists and makers, the collective includes paid and unpaid caregivers who help each other to navigate through the complexities of health and social care systems.
There are plenty of welcoming and good value B&Bs & boutique hotels in Bexhill. The De La Warr Pavilion regularly uses the following:
The Relais Cooden Beach Hotel and Spa
Situated on a private beach with uninterrupted views of the English Channel, this immaculately restored four-star hotel is just a 10-minute drive from De La Warr Pavilion. Receive 10% discount on rooms* from Sunday to Thursday (excluding Fridays and Saturdays) using the promo code DLWP. BOOK NOW.
*Offer available until 31 March 2026 (blackout dates apply). Free cancellation up to 24 hours before arrival. Paid partnership with The Relais Cooden Beach Hotel & Spa.
- By Rail
Direct trains go from London Victoria, Brighton and Ashford to Bexhill.
There are also trains from London Charing Cross, changing at St. Leonards Warrior Square and from London Bridge or Charing Cross going to Battle. Battle is only a short taxi journey away (15 mins approx).
Visit www.nationalrail.co.uk for up-to-date train travel information. - Taxis
Town Taxis: 01424 211 511
Parkhurst Taxis: 01424 733 456 - By Car
If driving from the London area:
Take the M25, then A21 to Hastings. Turn off at John‘s Cross and follow the signs to Bexhill.
OR
Take the A22 to Eastbourne, go across the Bishop roundabout to the A271 and follow the signs to Bexhill and the seafront. The De La Warr Pavilion is on the Marina.
From the Brighton area:
Follow the A27 out of Brighton until you arrive in Bexhill On Sea. - Parking
Please be aware the Rother District car park outside the De La Warr Pavilion operates paid parking until 10pm. After this time parking is free. There is also limited free car parking along the seafront.
Within the limits of this Grade One listed building, the De La Warr Pavilion strives to be fully accessible with a range of facilities to support your visit.
Assistance Dogs are permitted into the building.
Please contact the Box Office on 01424 229 111 to arrange a visit.
Facilities for disabled visitors
- Ramped access at the front of the building
- A low counter at the Box Office and Information Desk
- Disabled toilets on two floors
- A lift to all floors
- Accessible galleries on both floors
- An accessible Café
- Spaces for wheelchairs in the auditorium for seated events
- Ramped access in the auditorium for events during the day
- Ramped access into the Studio
- Two travel wheelchairs are available for use at the De La Warr Pavilion. To reserve, please call our box office and information desk on (01424) 229111 or ask a member of staff on arrival. The chairs are provided on a first come, first served basis and are intended for use inside the Pavilion. Please contact us for more information.
Facilities for blind or visually-impaired
- Large print season brochures
Facilities for the hard-of-hearing
- An T-Switch induction loop in some areas of the auditorium (please indicate when booking as this facility is not available on the balcony)
- British Sign Language interpretation tours of the building and exhibitions are available on request.
Sensory Bags
- Sensory bags will be available from the Ground floor or First floor gallery and contain supportive items for people with neurodivergence, anxiety or sensory sensitives.Sensory bags include:
One set of ear defenders
A selection of fidget toys
One soft foam stress ball
A set of 6 coloured paddles
One light up magnifying glass. You can sign one out and bring it back before you leave.
Sensory bags are funded by UK Government.