ART LONDON, ROYAL HOSPITAL, CHELSEA

A brilliant sunny day for a nice intimate Gallery driven exhibition in London: Art London, Chelsea. Similar to 20/21 British Art fair mentioned in my 30 September entry, it houses a reasonable number of galleries showing contemporary artists (though, as usual, there is always the odd Henry Moore or Barbara Hepworth and Bridget Riley prints). The visitors are welcomed by a number of three dimensional works such as Rick Kirkby's Stainless still 'Crescent':



Unfortunately, photography was not allowed in the building so I have linked as many artists and galleries as possible.

As you go in, there is a collection of works by Jean-Francois Rauzier who has developed the concept of 'Hyperphotos': each composition is made up of between 600 and 3,500 close-up images stitched together to form some formidable illusions. He is represented by Waterhouse & Dodd at 26 Cork Street.
Chuck Elliott, represented by Mark Jason Gallery, also uses photography for his abstract work full of light, colour and based on geometry. Somehow for me, the work seems very inspired by Bridget Riley and uses similar repetitive shapes and movements, though the colours are far more 'electric'. Also represented by the same gallery, is Pamela Stretton: her female form images are made of iconography drawn from the food, fashion, consumerism and health and fitness industries and are built up from small 20x20mm squares. Marcus Harvey's Myra Hinley painting comes to mind when I look at Pamela's work, but I guess not has shocking as Harvey's work.
Four Square Fine Arts gallery offers works from two artists I have been following lately: Ellen Bell as well as Eberhard Ross. Both the artist's work are using repetitive patterns to create their imagery and somehow this strikes a cord with me and my 'coding' research. Very clean imagery from both artists.
Ellen has very kindly allowed me to show some of her work from photos on her website (Thanks Ellen)




The Art Movement Consultancyshows minimalist work by Geoff Catlow: The work is refined, clean and follows clean rules set by the creator. Geoff only uses black and white (or derivatives such as greys and creams) and always works from a square. This gives him a rigid base for his explorations which are surprisingly varied.
Anastasia Lewis, represented by Long & Ryle Gallery is based on repetition, hence I am very attracted to it. Her butterfly studies using simple watercolour on paper form a seemingly uniform picture, however, every single butterfly is different, just exquisite work. Katharine Morling's porcelain work also attracted me within the exhibits of Long & Ryle. I saw her work at the 20/21 British Art fair a few weeks ago and I really like the drawing element of her monochromatic three dimensional still life tableaux. I particularly like the keys and locks which are life size and yet look like cartoons because they are so representational rather than realistic.
I will have to finish this entry with the work of Fernando Costa, represented by The French Studio. Costa uses road signs that he cuts and construct into new compositions. I like the subversive element of the work. I had a chat with director Caroline Le Luel and she seemed pleased with the way the exhibition was going.
A really nice afternoon, finished with taking some great photos of Battersy Power station:

AT LAST, A FINISHED PIECE OF WORK

Everything takes time but I am pleased that at last, I have finished one piece of prep work. It's a A3 ink drawing featuring lots of little creatures, vaguely based on decorative brick works on the Chapel building. I want to make a long freize so I have been using Adobe In Design to make a quick test piece... the result is not really mind blowing, so will have to get back to the drawing board (literally...).

Here are few samples:

'THREAD(S)' EXHIBITION - PRIVATE VIEW

On Thursday 7 October, I went to the Private View of the exhibition ‘Thread(s)’ at University Centre, Milton Keynes,‘were I was one of four artists invited to exhibit there by curator Stephanie Dubois.

This was a really successful evening, ‘the best yet’ declared the Head of Art at the University, Adrian Pikard, who gave us all flowers as a thanks for putting up such a beautiful show.

We were very lucky that our PV was preceded by a presentation for husband and wife artists Fionnuala Boyd and Les Evans who won the Threadneedle visitors Prize 2010. This means that we could see their work and talk to them as well as enjoy their comments on our work. Thank God they were extremely kind about the exhibits…

Personally, I feel the exhibition is very fluid and each piece feeds onto the next. My cups in their display cabinet, form a very attractive focal point as you get near the exhbhition which carries on upstairs on the first floor. It seems that all the visitors are drawn to the blue glass in the cups and the temptation to touch them seems irresistible…

We are mentionned in the Milton Keynes web leisure site, which is a real boost.

WORK PROGRESS - CURRENT READ, CURRENT WORK

I am now settled at school as well as in my working space. Working in close proximity and with pupils is helping with my personal research which seems to be taking shape.

Having studied some aspects of brain functionality through a project on Parkinson's disease as well as looking into dyslexia, and also listening to teaching strategies and lessons in school, I am currently basing my research on coding. I have taken a large number of photographs of the school buildings (Kings and Castle) as well as spending some time in Estates looking at plans of the school and the changes which have taken place over the years.
I have spent some time in the Chapel at Castle and this has led me to see the school as a living organism with an ever changing physical structure as well as an evolving language (with 'do's' and 'dont's' which can be in written, verbal or visual forms).
From there, it feels necessary to understand how language first started and how we have become so prolific at deciphering different instructions. My current reads are:
- 'The secret of Codes by Paul Lunde'
- 'How to read a church' by Richard Taylor
- and 'the Bizarre and Incredible World of Plants' by Wolfgang Stuppy, Rob Kesseler and Madeline Harley
These are also being interrupted by reading the history of the school.







This should help me with the contextualising of my work and should enlighten me on the subject of language and organism evolution but also give me some very good basis for some artwork.

Just wanted to share a few samples of still images of my Parkinson's video, created two years ago. The video illustrated the difficulties of being diagnosed with Parkinson's with a music by Philip Glass from the play Einstein on the Beach, and I choose knee 5 for the video. I was given a licence by Philip Glass to publish the video and the music together for a month only, on the local Parkinson's website. I do not wish to show the video any longer as it fitted the music perfectly and I am no longer able to use the music due to copyright laws. The stills are still a powerful reminder of a devastating incurable illness but with a hope that stem cell research may offer some cure for it in the future.







With all this in mind, I have also started some sampling of shapes, materials and medium. I think I may use ink, a strong reminder of schooling and writing, though this maybe a little too 'Literal'. At this stage, it does not matter:

HOT OFF THE PRESS

Well, I have just been informed by the curator of the 'Thread(s)' exhibition (see previous blog entry)that our Private view will be preceded by a celebratory drink with artists Fionnuala Boyd & Les Evans as they have just won the Threadneedle Visitor's Prize. This might be a bonus for us and bring a few more people to the exhibition. Boyd & Evans use photography and rework their images to intensify specific colours.

It will be a real honour to have them in the same building as us!!

So just a reminder of venue:

Thursday 7th October 6.30pm - 8.00pm.

University Centre Milton Keynes
200 Silbury Boulevard
Milton Keynes
MK9 1LT
01908 688222
RSVP to stephanie@awfulfantastic.co.uk

'THREAD(S)' Exhibition, University Centre Milton Keynes

Yesterday was spent setting up the 'Thread(s)' exhibition, University Centre Milton Keynes, in which I am exhibiting with three fellow artists (Pippa Andrews, Patricia Rozental, Debbie White) and I am just so excited about it! It is currated by Stephanie Dubois organiser of the artist group 'Awful/FANTASTIC' and for this exhibition, we are exploring and responding to time, texture and space. My work comprises three elements: two which were part of my BA Fine Art Practice final major show and one brand new work entitled 'thought pots'. The latter work is a response to the discovery that I am dyslexic and uses words as coded messages. Some undecipherable words represent the negative part of the dyslexia (partly exploring my childhood difficulties as a 'different brain' student), other words, very much recognisable, illustrate the unlocking of my brain enabled by my BA studies. The photos below give you some idea of the work but if you want to see it in details, you will just have to come and see the show.

Recent Exhibition Visit

I had better post my last September excursion before October starts. So here it goes: on 16 September, I went to the 20/21 British Art Fair. It is the only fair specialising exclusively in modern and contemporary British art and takes place at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7. It only lasted for a week-end, so unfortunately it has now come and gone (from 15 to 19 September 2010). The fair is open to galleries showing work by a wide range of artists, but it seems that Henry Moore's etchings and drawings were flooding the market. I took this opportunity to discover a few new names such as Fenella Elms (great porcelain sculptures), Annes Desmet(who is an amazing printer), Henri Chopin, painter Jenny Franklin and Paul Feiller (I particularly like his 60s work).
I had the pleasure to see some beautiful prints from Jason Hicklin, his new book of etchings based on the island of Colonsay was being exhibited by The Beardsmore Gallery. Jason was taught by Norman Acroyd but he has now developed his own techniques, and his work really captures the landscapes he sees. A must see!
After the fair, I crossed Hyde Park to go to the Serpentine Gallery and visit the Wolfgang Tillmas exhibition (also finished that week-end His photographic work is really different but my favorite pieces were the creased monocoloured photographic paper presented as sculptures behind acrylic boxes. Full of cold, I decided I would take a break and have a coffee at the red cafe next door; so called because it is all built in red materials by architect Jean Nouvel This building will stay up until 17 October and is well worth a stop, especially for the photographers amongst us. Here are a few shots of the cafe, just to show that art and architecture are most definitely interlinked.

Predecessor's Blog

Looking at my predecessor's blog, she finished by sharing her feelings about the New Decor and Ernesto Neto at the Hayward gallery. So I will start my gallery visit reports with the very same exhibition which I visited on it's penultimate day. I wasn't that impressed with the New Decor exhibition, too many clashes of colour for me and also, I had assumed the Neto exhibition was going to occupy the whole exhibition space. Alas, Neto was only on the upper floor, but a joy to visit and very entertaining for my niece who couldn't imagine that contemporary art could be such fun and so interactive with the public (she could touch, smell and take photos of the artwork!).

Three weeks in the new Post: artist in residence

I see my stay at the school as a first hand resource for the pupils and teachers. They can see how an artist works: where my ideas come from, what my areas of investigations are, which artists I am referring to in my work, which materials I use. All in all, how I go about my daily tasks to come up with a viable scheme for my end of year show. I hope I can inspire and give ideas to all, and I have started working on a few ideas.

I feel very welcome by the staff at the school and have already made myself at home in my working space: it's very quiet there but the building seems to make the strangest noises and seems like a living being.

I think I now understand the way the school works across both sites, but I have yet to visit a few buildings and I am very intrigued by the armory on the Castle site, I hope to get there next week but with an exhibition in Milton Keynes looming, time might be a little at a premium.