The Old Cinema in Chiswick High Road is usually packed with antique and vintage furniture, but space has now been cleared to accomodate the work of artist Suz Hartman, whose exhibition opens at the shop today, writes Will Gore.

The venue, hosting an exhibition for the first time, is an appropriate one for the Chiswick resident as Hartman worked in film after studying visual communication at Bath’s Academy of Art.

She returned to art more than nine years ago after setting up a studio at her home and she has since made a great success of her second career Hartman has exhibited at the Affordable Art Fair and as part of the Artists at Home programme and she has got a number of exhibitions including Untitled at the Chelsea Old Town Hall and the Battersea Contemporary Arts Fair coming up.

This run of shows starts with the one at The Old Cinema and Hartman is delighted to be exhibiting at a venue that is local to her.

“We are combining the show with some of the Old Cinema’s industrial design pieces so the work doesn’t look too out of context,” she says.

“Although I don’t buy a lot of stuff from there I love the space. Before I was invited to I was thinking about doing a show there anyway.”

Hartman creates a variety of paintings with a range of subjects, from the figurative to the abstract, and she also likes to use collage to create different textures in her work. These styles also merge in many of her paintings, including the ones that will be on show at the Old Cinema.

“I have thousands of ideas and I’ll just wake up in the morning and go for it,” explains Hartman.

“I’ve taught quite a lot and people say they have problems with colour but I never actually consider it, I just go for it. I’m not a worrier.”

Her new paintings bear titles, such as Fallen Angel, Hold Me Dear and Face to Face, although don’t expect any further explanation from the artist. Quite rightly, Hartman believes her work should speak for itself.

“If people ask what paintings are about I say to them I’ve given the work a title and I don’t want to put my ideas inside them because everyone will see something different.”

Suz Hartman, The Old Cinema, 160 Chiswick High Rd, April 23-May 2, 020 8995 4166, suzhartman3.com