In the Realm of Others, the recently opened exhibition by Project Arts Works and De La Warr Pavilion intended to question perceptions about the process of making art, provokes further consideration as Cy Twombly’s monumental suite of four paintings, Quattro Stagioni, arrived in Bexhill on 24 October on special loan from Tate.

Presenting over forty-five paintings, drawings and sculptures by fourteen makers with profound neurological impairment, In the Realm of Others is a living, evolving installation that offers a rare glimpse into unknowable, creative states of being. Upstairs in Gallery Two, Quattro Stagioni provides an alternative reference for exploring the spectrum of artistic production, challenging audiences to discover meaning in the artistic process.

One of the great American painters of the second half of the 20th century, Cy Twombly (1928 – 2011) represents the cycle of four seasons in four three-metre high paintings. Seen as symbols of the natural cycles of birth and death, Twombly’s cycle begins with Autunno (Autumn) inspired by the wine harvest in Bassano in Teverina, Italy. Primavera (Spring) features a column of vibrant yellow light on red curves which relate to traditional Egyptian rowing boats from the Book of the Dead. The boat forms are repeated in Estate (Summer) together with the partially legible fragments from a poem by the Greek poet George Seferis referring to the transience of youth and the passage of time. In Inverno (Winter), the boats are depicted in an altered state in heavy black paint conveying a sense of winter’s harsh winds and bleak cold.

Based for most of his life in Rome, Twombly often drew inspiration from literature, history and beauty he found in European culture. He adopted the new freedom found in the development of process-based American painting and translated these classical European references into layers of visual responses which were sensual and emotional, with an emphasis on mark making and calligraphy.

Stewart Drew, Director of De La Warr Pavilion says: “It is enormously gratifying that Tate are lending us this group of paintings by Cy Twombly, specifically in support of the programme that we have curated with Project Art Works. I believe that this loan of internationally important artworks reinforces Tate’s continuing commitment to exploring the new and exciting ways that its collection can used by galleries and museums around the UK”.

Periodically the makers from In the Realm of Others - Paul Colley, Albert Geere, Neville Jermyn, Eden Kötting, Cherry Lane, Louise Newham, Sharif Persaud, Michelle Roberts, Jonathan Rogers, Carl Sexton, Brian Simpkin, George Smith, Sam Smith and Darryl Spencer - produce work in the exhibition space, in a specially created studio environment together with the artist practitioners who support them.

Kate Adams MBE, director of Project Art Works, said, “By presenting creating and these works in a gallery space we are not locating them within the artistic canon or attributing value through traditional historical, critical or aesthetic means. Each work is selected for its visceral dynamism, or because it has a unique ‘trace’ of the maker’s presence, or is just a pure engagement with colour and the material qualities of paint or surface.”

Established over fifteen years ago, Project Art Works is a pioneering organisation using contemporary visual art to facilitate the making of paintings, drawings, sculpture and photography, artistic happenings and actions in the studio and at site-specific locations by adults and children with neurological impairment.