Viewing The pride – and pain – of Salvadoran painter Studio Lenca at Carl Freedman Gallery

Studio Lenca is the artist name of Salvadoran painter Jose Campos, who fled La Paz in the late 1980s during the violent civil war. He was raised by his mother in San Francisco as an illegal immigrant, without papers, and under the scrutiny of a conservative administration. As a young adult, Studio Lenca came to the UK, where he attended Goldsmith’s.

“Leave to Remain” refers to the Home Office’s official term for those who are allowed to stay in the UK with restrictions and without permanent legal status. In this vibrant body of paintings in oil and acrylic, Studio Lenca pays homage to his journey and the people and places he has left behind, in loose, spontaneous brush strokes conveying a freedom perhaps not always felt in his day-to-day life. As well as presenting this new body of work at Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate, where the artist now lives, he will also turn the gallery into a working studio, collaborating with KRAN (Kent Refugee Action Network) to invite young refugees and asylum seekers to work alongside him to create new sculptures, based on the volcanoes of El Salvador – bringing the epic landscapes of Central America to the British seaside.