Welcome to the House of Rayne for the Brighton Fringe

Colin’s private gallery, close to The South Downs, is also his studio and exhibition area and home. The exhibition will be part of the Fringe of the Brighton Festival Coastal Trail.

Colin said the large body of work on show would demonstrate his skills and versatility in painting, sculpture, kinetic art and imaginative electronic clocks, including his Stonehenge 2000 Clock, to be exhibited at The British Horological Institute, in due course.

Illustrated coloured catalogues will be available, and also downloadable from his website. Prices are negotiable.

Colin said: “In between commissioned work I create using any subject matter that appeals to me and exhibit at The House of Rayne, my private art gallery, studio and living space.

“My love of art studies at school combined easy training in electro mechanical and cinematograph engineering, combined, in the ability to create exotic clocks casings and kinetic art.

“My very first commission was to create a working scale model of London’s Telecom Tower with a clock at rotating restaurant position, for Post office Telecommunications’ advertising department.

“Later, a Sheik asked me to design a circular glass table, with a clock beneath the glass. Two guards armed with curved Arabian swords attended the meeting, rather unnerving me! However the large cheque that followed, calmed me down!

“My next project was to encapsulate a clock within a Perrier Bottle and I made several for the London and Vergezes Offices of Aqualac Ltd. Spurred on by this success I performed a similar operation on a London brick. The LBC loved the idea but due to a recession, regretfully rejected it and so I accepted The British Horological Institute’s invitation to create a piece of work for display in London’s Goldsmiths Hall in 1987. I submitted Butterfly on Leaf selected by George Daniels, a world famous horologist, selling several repeats, and was made MBHI (Member of the British Horological Institute),

“In 2000, I was commissioned to create a clock for The Royal Sussex Co Hospital’s new Millennium Building, and with Associates T H Beeforth, (Electronics) and R Castleden, archaeologist, I created Stonehenge 2000 which remained in the hospital from 2000 until recently, when it was agreed to transfer it to The British Horological Institute’s new (yet to be completed) exhibition area in Nottingham. This work will be displayed at The House of Rayne until transferred.

“Then came a clock for the reception area of Cambridge University’s Centre for Brain Repair in 2006. On discussion with PhD students, I designed the facia configured as a cross section of the human brain, leading me to read The Human Brain by Robert Winston which has greatly improved my mental abilities.

“Around this time, at the request of a regular visitor to the HofR gallery, one E Miller, I created a life size Grecian style Crucifix for The Church of St Margaret, Rottingdean. The Miller Crucifix is composed of a 2000-piece mosaic within which the Christ figure can be seen.”

During the trail, sales will go towards maintaining the gallery: “Last year’s visitors found the experience exciting, stimulating and unique, and interaction between visitor and artist was mutually beneficial.”