Stunning art by the late Lizzie Rowe goes on show in Sunderland
The artist Lizzie Rowe died suddenly just before Christmas 2023, leaving a body of work that is going on display at the Abject Gallery in Sunderland this weekend and until December 6.
More than 100 pictures – including large paintings, sketches and prints - are on show, reminding us of Lizzie’s colourful and unconventional life and of the fact that she was a wonderful painter with terrific technique.
It was as Steve Rowe that Lizzie came to the North East to lecture in fine art at what was then Newcastle Polytechnic and is now Northumbria University.
By the late 1980s Steve was cross-dressing and in the mid-1990s had become Lizzie and undergone surgery to change gender. The painting and the sketching never stopped.
This exhibition, organised by members of her family, features a range of subject matter, but Lizzie’s unblinking self-portraits are what hold the attention. That, you can’t help feeling, is what she would have wanted.
The exhibition, Lizzie Rowe: Life and Works, will be followed by an auction on December 6 of some of the work on display.
The Abject Gallery, at 27 Fawcett Street, Sunderland, is open Tuesday to Saturday, 12 noon to 4pm.
Note: Look out for a full report from the exhibition coming soon.