Geoffrey Lefever North Norfolk Artist’s 30-Year Retrospective at Salthouse Church

Marsham abstract artist Geoffrey Lefever is staging a 30-year retrospective exhibition, featuring 40 works, at St Nicholas Church, Salthouse north Norfolk from Saturday, June 16 to Sunday, July 1. Geoffrey Lefever Selected Works 1982-2012 will be open every day from 10am-5pm, free entry (opens at around 11am on Sundays after the church service).


For 20 years, Geoffrey Lefever was a painter of expressionist landscapes and industrial landscapes in oil, but confronting the equivalent of ‘writer’s block’ in the late 1970s, he embarked on a three-year degree in fine art at Norwich School of Art and Design (now NUCA), emerging as an abstract artist focussing on collage and mixed media work.

Geoffrey Lefever explains: “The three years at art school were at times painful, being confronted by ‘self’ every day. In my final year, my work evolved towards abstraction by means of collage. My degree show works are the earliest in this 30-year retrospective.”

In 2001, Geoffrey was inspired by his daughter Jane’s fine art degree course at Nottingham Trent University, to complete a two-year fine art MA there. “My final show at Nottingham comprised large abstract works on paper hung away from the wall surface. My work has continued to evolve in ways that I had not envisioned. While still totally abstract, at times it tends towards minimalism, but always with an emphasis on structure and the significance of materials such as hessian, ash and paper.”

“For the past 11 years the annual Salthouse exhibition has provided Norfolk with the very finest in regional art, each show developed by an invited curator,” said Geoffrey Lefever. “I have been privileged to show my work there. The location of the church is quite inspirational on a rise overlooking the salt marshes. The sheer magnificence of the building and the quality of light off the sea makes this a very special setting for art works. I can think of no better venue for my retrospective show.”

Geoffrey Lefever has been a member of Norwich 20 Group since the 1960s. He has exhibited with the group in Norwich’s twin cities, Koblenz, Novi Sad and Rouen. He is a member of the Union des Arts Plastiques in Rouen and exhibited with them this spring. Geoffrey was part of the Four Abstract Painters show at Mandells Gallery, Norwich earlier this year and also exhibited with Norwich 20 Group at The Forum and The Apex, Bury St Edmunds in May.

For more information about Geoffrey Lefever see http://www.geoffreylefever.com/.

Photograph: Geoffrey Lefever in his studio