November 2024
0623
Figurative reduction .

oil over three canvases . 50 x 123cm . 70 x 123cm . 50 x 123cm . (170 x 123cm)

Continued work exploring figurative images that are blurred and manipulated to the point they represent only the essence of the original form. The organic human shapes appear familiar, but yet unrecognisable. Stimulating a feeling within the viewer without their understanding the nature of the form

23 Aug 2024
Tracing Nerves . MA3 - MA postgraduate show
23 August - 3 September 2024. UCA Farnham

MA postgraduate show opened on the 23 August 2024 with a lively private view event. Thank you to all of the people who were there and to those who visited after during the open period of 24 August to 3 September 2024.

Tracing nerves work - 0600 Tracing nerves [Concept, QR codes, graphics] . 0601 System of nerves [3m x 1.5m Cartridge paper and 987 hand drawn cards] . 0602 [55 pieces of plaster cast rollers] . 0604 [Triptych diptych, two figures over three canvases 60cm x 180cm x3] . 0609 Tracing nerves [The curved wall construction] . 0610 [Eight abstracted figures in oil, acrylic, charcoal and ink] . 0811 [Spiral scrolls 144cm x10cm Artist books containing the Fibonacci numbers and ratio] . 0615 [Hanging double Mobius strip reminiscent of the DNA double helix. 4m diameter] . 0615 [Hand made 8"/200mm print roller] . 0616 [Rolled marks in ink from 0615]

The Tracing nerves work is a snap shot of an ongoing project that deals with the nature of art, in the sense of when an object becomes something of aesthetic worth and we call 'art'. What I mean by this is when does an object like a seed pod become something that we gaze at in wonder, enjoying the fluid sensual shapes, the fine textures and the soft earthy colours. The seed pod was beautiful before, and still is when presented in isolation from the floor, littered with other fallen objects, and suspended in a box that will protects it. This is not your typical museum curation where the object is categorized and pinned in place with other specimens to be studied, nor is it the fake environment where the petrified objects sit curiously static in a totally unnatural stage setting.

19 Aug 2024
MA3 Nearly show time - MA postgraduate show 23 August - 3 September 2024.
UCA Farnham

Nearly finished hanging some wide paper pieces, a plaster roller sculpture like a vertical Richard Long Slate circle. A mobius strip connected to the Fibonacci sequence and something I wanted to make out of paper for a while. Drawing in charcoal, oil paint, acrylic and of course printing ink. Artworks on card for visitors to take to interact with a piece and discuss the notion of marks on paper becoming something that is coveted.

Mostly monochrome black with hints of blue, orange and scarlet. No white added, only marks in black are applied, keeping the simplicity and the minimal at the fore.

20 Jul 2024
MA3 constructing the show
UCA

Hardboard and timber to make curved walls, changing the feel of the space and making it sympathetic to the nature of the work. The hardboard brings a smoothness and also covers the bricks. With a height of one and a half landscape boards it is only 1.8m high, making for a slightly more human relationship. The work will be hung lower than conventionally too. This wall is painted with a light gray emulsion so that the white paper will stand out.

The middle space will have a double skin similar free standing curved wall, concaved towards the other wall to make an enclosed space to travel through. This wall will be painted a darker blue gray colour on both sides.

20 Jul 2024
Mona Craven - Cultural dislocation, inbetween two cloth stories.
UCA Hockey Gallery, 9 July to 12 August 2024

Mona Craven's Phd exhibition in the James Hockey gallery is special treat to see a solo show in such a large space. The culmination of eight years work the show explores the stories of certain cloth and textile, through the medium of video, print and exquisite textiles. With poignant quote printed onto large A0 piece of sumptuous Somerset paper are in themselves statements of beauty. The exhibition has a light and airy feel that invites further investigation to discover the pieces depict the division of colonial and post colonial cultures. Told literally through the fabric of these lives, their textiles.

My contribution was constructing the wooden frame to suspend the hanging fabric onto which the images are projected. A successful show, well done Mona.

13 Jul 2024
London Art Galley visit
Tate Modern, Cork Street, Saville Row and the RA.

1. Yoko Ono - Music of the Mind . [15 February – 1 September 2024]

An feast of a show, so much to take in and participate in. The take away from this extraordinary retrospective of Ono's work is not only that 'Peace is Power' but also how important it is to have your viewer's actively respond to the work. Audience participation can frighten all but the bravest of viewers but a level of participation heightens engagement which increases the retention of the work's ideals and how that feels.

Every piece is immaculately presented by its actual framing and the curation, the space is huge and feels like a grown-ups playground. Even though the work is playful on occasions Ons seems to retain a seriousness about her, either her own quite straight expression in self portraits or the minimal presentation a very Japanese aesthetic. There was even a sign near the shadow drawing piece that asked 'Please do not draw on the plinth' which made me laugh. It seemed completely apt for the show and I am still unsure if it was Ono's or the Tate's message. Maybe audience participation always requires management or the freedom of expression could get out of hand!

The viewers are invited to stand on a painting, bang in a nail, take a piece of sky in the form of a jig saw piece, draw around their shadow and write messages to people we love. The idea of writing thoughts and presenting them as secrets appears through many cultures and is a way of revealing our inner thoughts. As Yoko Ono says 'The only sound that exists to me is the sound of the mind' which extends the quotes that suggest that we have and are only our thoughts.

2. Anthony McCall's Solid Light at the Tate Modern. I have always been entranced by light creating thin smoky shafts, reminding me of a tense moment in the film Alien and the sheer strangeness and excitement of seeing light appear as a solid. You have to put yourself in the path to part the rays and see that it isn't in fact solid after all. Or to see the shapes and shadow created by our bodies. This is a good effect and the eerie nature of this add to the effect. Although moving slightly towards the gimmick and spectacle the event is more akin to a fairground rather than something spiritual like the work of James Turrell. Sensational and intriguing but not quite moving emotionally. I guess the running around children summed up the fun aspect whereas Mr Turrell's work will make you sit quietly and contemplate .

3. Lorna Robertson at the Alison Jacques, London. Delicate abstracts suggesting Dufy or Matisse, but these light and colourful painting seem quite modern. I enjoyed the way that the paper is nailed up and pisioned with a wide range of sizes to create a smile shape on the wall. These painting do create a smile for sure.

3. Landon Metz at the Waddington Custot, London. Referencing Frankenthaler in the text with the raw canvas and washes of oil paint approach. interesting pieces , very delicate and calm, completely at odds to how we see New York, especially Manhattan, but this is Brooklyn I guess. Thoughtful curation where paintings are hung in the corner of rooms, floor to ceiling and even around a corner. I dabbled with this in an early crit show, mainly down to space. I was intrigued the same then as now with the acknowledgment and inclusion of the walls and corners within the work.

4. Vibha Galhotra: Climacteric Whispers, Goodman Gallery, London. A superbly large space to house these impressive rounds housing impressions made into Korean Hanji paper. I thought they were plaster and appeared architectural but the paper doesn't reveal itself and the pieces feel light but substantial. The size is impressive but I couldn't help wondering what you could do with them after. Not the point completely but once the impact had worn off i found the framing quite overpowering and dominant

5. Frederic, Lord Leighton PRA’s Flaming June (c.1895). Brilliant. Fab painting and fab bowler. Art can be timeless, to a point. The painting is the most reproduced image in Victorian painting. Unlike with the PreRaphaelites the model is unknown.

Also in the RA some eye opening curation and amazing work from artist Rashayla Marie Brown.

12 Jul 2024
Late Evening at The George
Alton Arts Festival, Alton, Hampshire 4 - 15 July 2024

Part organised by Alton artist Chris Horner and the Alton Arts Festival, curated paintings by Horner, Andreas Wilkinson and Sarah Summers (and some others, apologies)

Abstract painting
New works from Horner exploring building materials: plaster and render on mortise boards and also some quite different pieces exploring metallic looking acrylic colours in a swirling relief of texture. A departure from the rugged previous work but always immaculately presented. Wilkinson's wax and paint on canvas just under a metre square is perfectly position at one end of the room where it sucks the viewer into its seemingly melting three dimensional textures. Wax is a perfect material to record the space between, the negative, the space that the painting has occupied.

08 Jul 2024
MA - London Gallery Trip

London galleries/shows July 2024:
1. Firelei Baez - A Midnights Dream [South London Gallery]
2. Otobong Nkanga - We Came From Fire We Return To Fire [Lisson Gallery]
3. Judy Chicago - Revelations [Serpenting North]
4. Kiki Kogelnik - The Dance [Pace Gallery, Hanover Square)
5. Matthew Barney - Secondary [Sadie Coles, Kingly St.]
6. Isa Genzken - Wasserspeirer and Angels [Hauser & Wirth, Saville Row]
7. John Baldessari - Ahmedabad [Sprueth Mager, Grafton Street]
8. Michael Borremans - The Monkey [David Zwirner, Grafton St.]
9. Gerard Schneider [Cardi Gallery, London]

04 Jul 2024
Three prints: 0581.2, 0571, 0567.1, Nerve Series 2024
Alton Arts Festival, Community Centre, Hampshire. 4 - 15 July 2024

The Nerve series is an ongoing project for a Post Grad Master's exhibition in the summer 2024. Preview of three prints here in the Alton Community Centre for the Alton Arts Festival 2024. Ink on paper, approx. A2 size.

Figurative mark making
The work explores both the process of creating original figurative drawings using printmaking tools and also the uniqueness of the single print. When does a gestural abstract form or shape stimulate meaning within us and become more special. The simple and often unappreciated objects and marks can reveal even more detailed and complex aesthetics when presented differently. Many of us are keenly looking, but are we actually seeing?

02 Jul 2024
'Wail' Blackbird Rook presents: Private View. Alton. GU34 3YU
Edmond Brooks Beckman, John Gibbons, Clyde Hopkins, Aimee Parrott & Phoebe Unwin

Nothing beats a fantastic private view on your doorstep. A brief and temporary display of art works by contemporary artist in a great displaying space in Alton. About ten canvases graced the white walls most being within the abstract and gestural paint on canvas except Aimee Parrot's really powerful pieces of stretched fabric, possibly cotton that was also sewn together from large pieces. The label is titled Monotype which is the process of producing a single image or 'print' from a suitable surface. This is particularly interesting fin the pursuit of single unique prints.

19 Jun 2024
0601 . Nerve Series
987 hand drawn cards . A6, acrylic paint, printing ink .

987 cards hand drawn artwork and screen printed on the reverse with the words: "An Original Artwork". Each card can be taken by visitors . The removal of cards will reveal new images changing the artwork with new combinations. There are 144 cards on the piece and each one will have a few removable pieces in front. The work looks at printed multiples and when does an object evoke an aura, stimulating a feeling, or be special enough to keep for a little longer.

Repetition challenged the production of the perfect mark, the most evocative shape, the sensual natural curves capturing the essence of the subject. A repeated motif but each is still original through obvious or minuscule refinements. Figurative fragments opined on the Golden Ratio created through applying the mathematical Fibonacci sequence of numbers. The number of images is 144 and the total number of cards will be 987, both are in the Fibonacci sequence.

18 Jun 2024
Thinging . 0560 . Mixed media . 28 Jun 2024 - 31 Oct 2024
RSPB Farnham Heath, Tilford, Surrey GU10 2DL

A circular groove cut into the path and filled with stones found near the artwork. Stand inside the circle and be at the centre of the piece where all four object can be observed like points on a compass. The tubes resemble bird boxes, telescopes at the sea side and CCTV cameras. A complex world can sometimes welcome a simple construction and a simple but intricate piece of nature presented in a way that it can be fully appreciated. Everyone is looking but is anyone really seeing?

17 Jun 2024
Thinging . 0560 . Mixed media . 28 Jun 2024 - 31 Oct 2024
RSPB Farnham Heath, Tilford, Surrey GU10 2DL

Thinging . 0560 . Mixed media Found natural objects, acrylic, rubber, steel rope, wood.

The artwork consists of four acrylic tubes attached perpendicular to the trunks of four pine trees. Inside each tube is a natural found object from the site and presented in isolation from its surroundings in a neutral light space. The objects can now be observed in a different way and their thing qualities can be fully appreciated.

Text on the sign: "We are surrounded by a wealth of objects and some can be identified as useful or interesting and are often given names. These objects become things as we form an attachment to them. Objects found here may encourage a different meaning through their presentation and isolation from the busy surroundings. Do they transcend the everyday object and become special things?"

Big thanks to Oscar at Hoops Velo, Farnham for the donation of old bicycle inner tubes for this project. Link at bottom of page.

10 Jun 2024
Thinging . 0560 . Mixed media . 28 Jun 2024 - 31 Oct 2024
RSPB Farnham Heath, Tilford, Surrey GU10 2DL

Thinging . 0560 . Mixed media Found natural objects, acrylic, rubber, steel rope, wood.

Finished artwork ready to be installed next week. The tubes should resist sun, rain and wind, protecting the delicate objects inside. The smooth white insides are perfect for isolating the object without distractions. Hopefully they will stay in place...

18 May 2024
Eternity . 0562
Watts Gallery, Compton, Hampshire.

A slightly crude joiner photograph to show the marks on the inner surface.

10 May 2024
Eternity . 0562
Installation at the Watts Gallery, Compton, Hampshire.

Eternity - 0562 - There is a blessed bond between Mary and George that surrounds the Watt’s gallery. A delightful collection of working buildings seated within rural Surrey woodlands. The complex consists of a large house, Limnerslease, designed and decorated by the Watt’s, kiln sheds, pottery studios and a spacious personal picture gallery, it is both a home and an expression of working artistic creativity.

The work is made from a continuous piece of material to create a form of a Mobius strip. The surface is hand painted with a flowing marks that respond to the forms and shapes seen in Mary's Chapel.

Circular motifs everywhere, most prominent in the chapel, represent spirituality and the notion of eternity. The celebrated joining of all people and the connections that follow.

Using two colours, black for George and Burnt Sienna/Cadmium Orange for Mary, a continuous mark rolled movement that revisits motifs from the Chapel’s terracotta craft work. Reassessing these shapes and forms into an intertwined path that reveals a glimpse of an eternal ending journey, hinting at a feeling and the essence of being. Suspended among the trees in the garden close to Limnerslease, the artwork casts a circular shadow on the earth below.

05 May 2024
Eternity . 0562
Preparation of work for the Watts Gallery, Compton, Hampshire.

Eternity - 0562 - Originally intended to be installed inside and therefore constructed from thick textured paper, marked with printing ink and hung at head height from a ceiling. The change to positioning the piece outside was embraced and the adaption of the idea took place. The new artwork would have to survive outside, with the elements of rain, wind and wildlife. The material was changed to canvas which would have a sewn seam threaded with stiff 3mm galvanized steel garden wire to help keep its shape. The marks would be made from acrylic paint, for quick drying and also weather proof when dry. Tools used for the marks was a combination of 12", 8" and 6" silicone and rubber printmaking rollers. The material is Six metres long by 0.5m width, 9oz cotton duck and sewn into a Möbius strip loop after the mark making process on both sides of the single layer. Suspended above head height from four trees in the woods leading up to the Limnerslease House with 3mm Stainless steel ropes through eyelets on the canvas and rubber inner tubes around the trees.

Preparation for the piece was experimenting with acrylic paints to find suitable durable products. The colours needed to reflect Mary's terracotta work in the Chapel and Burnt Sienna and Cadmium Orange mixed with Scarlet worked best for this. The paint was also tested for its suitability for rolling and checking the quality of the marks produced. These would need to have a similar texture and behavior to printing inks which are usually more viscous than paint. Different combinations were rolled onto pieces of canvas and left outside in the rain for longish periods to check for their durability form the elements.

01 May 2024
0563 Aluminum forms
UCA Foundry

Aluminum pour today forged these forms when poured into sand.

The idea of marks as a language, these forms appear like characters or symbols for something that we cannot decipher. The texture and matt silver colour are very much aluminum, a lightweight element metal, pitted from the air and sand. An interesting source of natural shapes to use in mark making.

20 April 2024
Unveiled
James Hockey Gallery Exhibition of UCA archived works

Unveiled - A salon styled exhibition of artworks archived and held at UCA. Art must be seen and not stored away so this presentation of works from artist James Hockey himself through to contemporary acquisitions is a worthy exercise. The works chosen and curated display a wide range of practices, materials and subjects.

Kathleen Rogers' Microscopic images of coral and flesh, presented in a matrix of five by five on a single photographic sheet and covered in an acrylic sheet are minimal, textured and stunning. One with a red cast the second in blue demand further exploration. Reading the images from left to right it is tempting to scan in all directions as each detailed image appears to inform the next, a perfect example of discipline and organisation. This scientific approach and order creates a mapping effect of the objects, detailed and abstracted and then repositioned back into context.

It wouldn't be complete without an example of pottery from the esteemed alumni and Farnham resident, Dame Magdalene Anyango Namakhiya Odundo. Born in 1950 in Nairobi, Kenya she studied graphic design at UCA and later Cambridge School of art she was to discover her true vocation of ceramics. With a Masters from the Royal College Odundo developed the techniques of burnishing, firing inspired from ancients civilisations. The forms are reminiscent of the human form and especially symbolic of the female body with the curves of the spine, stomach and neck.

05 April 2024
London Galleries

London gallery visit - First stop was Lucienne O’Mara: Through the Grid at the Gillian Jason Gallery (1,2). A fierce use of colour and precise explorations of a grid, is like Agnes Martin meeting Howard Hodgkin. Refreshingly loose but controlled brush marks compete with the structure of the square format and the considered choice of colours. A lively and successful meeting of ideas that culminates in a collection of rich dense images that are inviting for interpretation or will continue to watch you until you take notice.

The Des Bains Gallery for 'Surface Tension' (3) group show exploring touch, specifically that between our physical skin and objects in our daily life. Two aluminum framed collages of images on bible paper and restoration paper with glass front construction by London based artist Beatrice Vorster (b. 1994, Johannesburg) were noticed because of the mixture of sophisticated materials combined with digital images present in a more temporary nature creating a tension and physicality to the piece.

Next was a must see, the The Three Graces exploration at Unit London. (4-8) I have explored this motif as well and was interested to see how these artist would respond to this iconic but beauty reliant age old scene. The three paintings by Jake Wood-Evans worked for me, the lively washes that almost describe what you know is there, the anonymity and reduced detailing that allows the painting to breath without complete literal imagery. Painted in respect to Rubens, with a modernist and impressionistic brushwork that resembles a renaissance sketch work providing sense of movement and leaving much room to imagine. Really exciting work.

Downstairs at Unit, was a show by Jess Allen -'This Is Now' (9-10) in another good space with some natural light from a ceiling skylight in the floor above. Allen's show reminds viewers of Hockney paintings with their photography sourced imagery and flat coloured tonal work, positioned in that area between life like and graphic representation. The shadow work that suggests peoples lives, emotions and feelings that are difficult to see, capture and retain was poignant to see. There is also a slight 'Hopper' feel, with the stillness and the questions about these ordinary lives that seem so mysterious.

Across the road and into Pace Gallery for Yto Barrada's 'Bite the Hand' exhibition (11-14) of multidisciplinary mediums including textile, sculpture and film. Dyed fabric, colour samples, sheet metal depicting the moon - much to contemplate with pieces set out in pairs or threes odf similar styles. Engaging and enjoyable work in a vast space.

The show stopping Santiago Parra at the JD Malat Gallery (15-19) was next, and the final day of the artist's fifth show 'Sparks of Fire' here. A space, spotlit and lowish ceilings feeling human scale with polished floors and minimal clutter, a perfect environment for Parra's large explosive canvases, comfortably at home, yet completely dominating the walls and owning the room. The latest work has developed from a Franz Kline approach to Pollock with its exciting free monochrome action painting frenzy, bravely defying gravity and filling the senses with sprays, flames and sparks. With the dynamic scale is a delicacy that suggests organic growth of nature, the next second it's back to lava spraying from cracks in the earth's crust. Dramatic stuff and definitely someone to watch and keep watching.

Off the GRIMM for Saskia Noor van Imhoff's exhibition 'Mineral Lick' (20). An interesting collection and display of found objects that are a "repository of knowledge, an expression of it own history". A wide range of materials and objects makes it a provoking mix of ideas and starting points. The pictue in the whitewashed window was very arresting and enhanced by the reflections of the building across the road. By 'that' building is the Gagosian exhibiting the latest painting by Albert Oehlen (21) Pulling entirely from imagination these large paintings of unrefined colours and loose brush work are definitely expressive and eye catching. The space is a huge white cube but even these do not quite have the impact for the vastness. The face picture above appears reminiscent of aspect of expressionism and fauvism with the daring juxtaposition of complementary and opposing colours. For me a particularly innovative period in art.

Sculptures at the back of the JD Malat gallery by Hande Sekerciler (21), often self portraits and cast in bronze with custom patinas held as a close secret. These chemicals produce surfaces that resemble marble. Exquisitely modeled and cast they often join two figures, male or female in such a natural bond that one doesn't notice that there are two heads or bodies and the composition makes absolute sense. The flow of the figures is expressive where the shapes, positions and pose feel natural and easy but actually quite contorted. All thought provoking work.

A lucky find was the JC Gallery, Hay Hill, London - 'Seven Americans' exhibition (22). Where a really lovely curator spoke passionately about the American contribution to Modernism, although much under exposed in history and worthy of acknowledgment for their contribution to art at the beginning of the 1900s. Artist displayed: Arthur Dove, Stuart Davis, Thomas Hart Benton, Richard Pousette-Dart, John Marin, Joseph Stella, Georgia O'Keefe and Edward Hopper. Such an important and unexposed movement of art so worth begin a part of this journey of bringing these names to the fore. Watch this space...

Last stop today was the just opened new exhibition of Shizuko Yoshikawa and Bridget Riley: 'Sensations of Colour' (23-28) and Nancy Haynes: 'Dialectics of Silence' (29-31) at the Marlborough, Albemarle Street, London. Yoshikawa was the first and only Japanese student at the Ulm School of Design, Germany coincidentally founded by Max Bill continuing the legacy of the Bauhaus. Geometric abstractions was a large part of Yoshikawa's work where the meticulous construction of the 3D grids with their fine coloured edges seem to float effortless defying their rigid forms. In the nxt room is joined by some 2009 (about) prints from another artist working with exquisite geometric patterns and colour, the brilliant Bridget Riley. The curation is excellent as the work of these two artists compliment each other making much more that the sum of the parts, although each piece is perfect as well! Upstairs was the delight of a collection of tiny painted canvases, book sized by Nancy Haynes. a perfect example of working a space without shouting. Identical sized, similar colour palette and style each with a writer's name written on the wall below in pencil. This was refreshingly different where the whole room was zinging with these most subtle and quiet pictures. Most excellent.

06 March 2024
Thingness 0540
MA Crit Show 'Form Giving'

Form Giving - The work is a single piece of MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) 1220 x 606 mm and 5mm thick. Presented in landscape orientation and painted with six coats of white emulsion paint each sanded with 180 grit to a smooth finish. The finished surface is then divided into five panels of 110mm widths with 38mm between the inner verticals and a bleed at the top and bottom. Using tape and paper to mask the areas outside each panel and water based black printing ink with a durathene 150mm wide, 50mm diameter roller to produce the mark in each panel, one by one, with a single movement.

Care taken with the planning and the precision of the execution provides a clean and deliberate end result. The balance obtained from the five evenly spaced panels, precisely cropped at their edges, explores a control against the mark’s controlled chance. These marks are created from practiced movements where the actual resulting shape and texture is produced with elements of serendipity.

The flat white board is now a little more than what it was. Without being a representation of something else. It is itself. The applied marks are interpretations of how someone might interact or react to the board, exploring its purpose in a material world as opposed to a completely natural state.

10 Feb 2024
For Want of (Not) Measuring
The Stephen Lawrence Gallery, Greenwich (8 Nov 2023 - 7 Apr 2024)

Four artist: Patrick Adam Jones, John Timberlake, Ron Haselden and Jim Hobbs. A serious and reflective variety of new work displayed in the white faceted spaces of the Stephen Lawrence Gallery. A series of curious grainy images appear as Victorian photographs taken by explorers and pioneers of technology and innovation. But time is captured twice as these are actually current expeditions, a searching to understand the world now and produced by mixing old and new technologies.

These are striking images printed on Hahnemhle museum etching paper creates a strong contrast between the white and black with a delicate surface. The images have depth, as if etched deep into the paper and the scale is perfect for the space.

10 Feb 2024
Women in Revolt
Tate Britain exhibition (8 Nov 2023 - 7 Apr 2024) and main galleries

Women in Revolt More of a political display of British women's fight for equality and their own better understanding of themselves and where they are in society. In six parts, 1. Rising with fury, 2. The Marxist wife still does the housework 3. On Bondage! Up Yours! 4. Greenham Woman are everywhere 5. Black Women time Now. 6. There's No Such Thing as Society.

Interesting and a worthwhile experience with much to see and take in with Gina Birch's Three Minute Scream (1977) dramatically projected full height onto a wall and filling the room with this uncomfortable sound of screaming. Penny Slingers photographs documenting a performance dressed in a wedding cake where the police shut down the exhibition in 1973, London. Helen Chadwick's photographs titled In The Kitchen 1977. She wears sculptural objects made from PVC stretched over metal frames. The role of the women/wife in the kitchen and its stereotypical connotations. Chila Kumari Singh Burman's Splatter 1979 and Splodge 1979. Burman pressed her painted body directly against the paper, a women with attitude. Lesley Sanderson's A time For Change 1988, self portrait in front of a copy of Princess Saw Ohn Nyun of Burma. Against the the way that non white women are often represented as exotic and submissive.

10 Feb 2024
Tate Britain

Caught a few new hangings in the Tate Britain this week. From the top: 1. Ingrid Pollard, Deny: Imagine: Attack: Silence 1991, Pollard presents a series of Black queer bodies in gelatin silver photographic prints. 2. Bridget Riley, Fall 1963, Polyvinyl acetate paint on hardboard. 3. Wolgang Tillmans, The State We're In, 2015. Portugal, making photographs in five continents. 4. Rachel Whiteread, Torso 1988. Cast inside a hot water bottle. Casting forgotten space. 5. Gillian Wearing 1997, I'm Desperate. Photograph of people on the street and their inner thoughts. 6. Sutapa Biswas, To Touch Stone 1989-90. Graphite on paper, the artist's sister, some drawn, some outline and some blank sheets of paper. 7. Richard Lin, Painting relief 1964. An architect applying constructionist ideas with mathematical compositions. 8. Henry Moore room is just wonderful. Creating a presence of human forms with abstracted shapes in materials that replicate fabric and bone.

20 Jan 2024
Laura Asselborn
'Protruding' - Black Box UCA (09/01/24 - 29/01/24)

"Works on display at Blackbox Project space, are a continuing of Asselborn’s recent solo show No Colour Yellow looking at the afterimage and what lingers on from unresolved memories of trauma amidst the visual process of the colour yellow."

"Laura Maria Asselborn is a Lithuanian/German mixed media artist and has been studying and working in the UK for several years. She has had group shows in Athens and London as well as her recent Solo Show at Project 78, St Leonard's on Sea. Asselborn competed a BA in fine art Practices at university of Brighton, and an MA in photography from the Royal College of Art London"
Text taken from Black Box Projects, here.

06 Feb 2024
MA2
Mini display of artwork for MA assessment. Part two of three.

Trace. Embody. Ephemera

Trace: Using print making tools to create drawings namely rollers, squeegees and scrim. The process is to quickly describe a shape with the medium, to record the essence of the memory within this mark. Embody: Scrim drawings with ink that place swirling fine scratchy marks on the surface. Transferring Canova's Three Graces and the motif to explore the texture and the composition of these neoclassical sculptures. Ephemera: Found objects placed in boxes and a camera motif cast in over forty different materials to replicate mass production processes, collecting and the collectible, unique items and transience of the photographic process and the notion of the potential infinite duplication of prints.

25 Jan 2024
Sacred Touch
Victoria Cooper-Pedrote - exhibition at UCA

'Sacred Touch' "The body of work explores the significance of approaching touch and other senses as the means to access and process emotions, on and off the page."

A sensitive and delicate display of work that invited touch the paper, the print, the words. We learn much about the world from out touch but this is still dependent on how we interpret that touch. Without seeing or feeling the event the experience would be very different and not as revealing of ourselves.

20 Jan 2024
Ephemera
Lichen boxed

Ephemera The delicate presence of lichen with its calm and muted green lobes soft when fresh becoming brittle when dried. Belying with the stoic appearance of life and existence moving with the breeze. Isolated from nature and framed within a darkened box the fragile shape is presented as something to take more time to absorb and understand. So much more within this small organic fragment that yearns to be appreciated.