Artist Lizzie Collins tells us about Zuleika Gallery’s vivid new show which is bringing a splash of colour to the Story Museum

Colour has been used by artists from the late 20th century to today in order define form and create works of high impact.

And it is that vivid use of colour which has inspired the latest exhibition at the Story Museum – Colourtastic!

The title of the exhibition, staged by Zuleika Gallery, takes its name and inspiration from the most recent print produced by the YBA artist Ian Davenport, Chromotastic – L’Officiel, which has been printed as an edition of 60 (and will be available for sale at the exhibition at £1,440 framed).

Davenport is well known for his stripe paintings using household paints and large-scale installations such as London’s Southwark Street (2006).

Nominated for the Turner Prize in 1991, he studied with the enfant terrible of British Art, Damien Hirst, at Goldsmiths University and took part in the original Freeze exhibition in 1988.

Alongside works by Davenport, Colourtastic! will also feature works by the recently-knighted Royal Academician, Michael Craig-Martin. Craig-Martin’s work elevates everyday objects to the realm of high art. In the screenprint Trainer, Craig-Martin takes an Adidas running shoe and using a bright palette and strong lines, raises it to present an icon of our time. Also shown will be some collage works by the British landscape artist William Tillyer. Tillyer’s work finds its source in nature but like many of the artists featuring in this exhibition, his work is not representational or naturalistic. The powerful Yorkshire landscape is the inspiration for his work and he uses colour and collage to convey the turbulent power of nature and the oscillating forces of the elements.

These unique works will be available at £4,200.

While many of the artists featured are British, there will also be works by the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, whose highly coloured works feature a very personal visual lexicon that he has called ‘superflat’.

His art, like Craig-Martin’s, raises questions about visual culture in the 21st century and the interplay between design and art, blurring the lines between high and low art. He is collected worldwide and one his most recognisable and successful collaborations has been with the fashion brand Louis Vuitton. For the classic Modern British collector there will be works by John Piper, Henry Moore, Elisabeth Frink, Mary Fedden, Howard Hodgkin and Julian Trevelyan as well as a good representation of works by St Ives artists such as Sandra Blow, Terry Frost and Alexander MacKenzie.

The 1970s was a decade well known for its love of colour and the exhibition would not be complete without some wonderful works from this period by the incredibly talented and somewhat overlooked late Richard Smith who died in April this year. His work combines the colour sense of Rothko with the virtuosity of Cy Twombly.

The aim of the exhibition is to present collectors with some excellent and dynamic works by some of the leading artists of the 20th and 21st centuries at entry-level prices.

While the majority of works on offer will be around the £1,000-£2,000 level, prices at the exhibition range from £600 to £12,000. Zuleika Gallery believes it is important to buy what you love, but also important to be smart in what you buy. And with interest rates at an all-time low, art is fast becoming an attractive option as an alternative investment.