At the Frameless Gallery, Clerkenwell Green
The group, Cosmima, had a four day show at Frameless Gallery, Clerkenwell in London last week, and I was very impressed.
The jewellers were top of the tree, super-innovative and excellent, and the silversmiths likewise had some absolutely wonderful stuff on show. I shall keep in touch with the Group and hope to see their next show.
It would be great if I could buy some of the lovely stuff, have to hope I win the Premiums Bonds!
Coram Bear at London Marathon 2011
The South London Women Artists Group will be holding an exhibition at the Bankside Gallery, Thames Path, near the Tate Modern.
The exhibition is from 30 April to 8 May, and my London Marathon painting will be on show there.
The gallery is open from 11 am to 6 pm each day. This is a group show with the title “SNAP’.
Here is a link to the Bankside Gallery website.
Coram Bear at the 2011 London Marathon
HAUNCH OF VENISON GALLERY – 103 NEW BOND STREET, LONDON
“TEN OF BRITAIN’S MOST IMPORTANT POST-WAR PAINTERS”
This was my first visit to this gallery, at the top end of Bond Street so not far from Oxford Circus or Bond Street tube stations.
It has two floors and plenty of white space, but no seats to sit! Why do galleries never put seats so you can either sit and look at the work, or make notes, which I like to do?
I was intrigued to read a description of the exhibition, The Mystery of Appearance, which ended today, 18 February, see here:
The painters are well-known to me, so I thought to see something familiar from previous gallery visits.
There were some things which are new to me, but the two big Hockneys I have seen before certainly. Apparently only three of these ten artists are alive today.
The two painters who prefer to use very dense, textured oils have similar works on display, Leon Kossof and Frank Auerbach. I don’t like them. There is an Auerbach with a title including the name ‘Gerda Boehm’ of 1971-73 which is aesthetically unpleasant. One painting by Kossoff titled Seated Woman No 2 of 1959 reminded me of a very large cow turd which had been played about with – brown and nasty.
The Hockney painting of a young man reclining on a bed, The Room Tarzana, showed his ability to paint tufted rugs and venetian-blind slatted doors, but the figure has a strangely floating arm, rather oddly positioned buttocks and very tiny feet.
A small female nude by Lucien Freud of 1956 seems to be focussed on a view of her bottom, with very large feet which reminded me of feet painted by Francis Bacon.
There is a large Bacon painting (Pope 1) which is very familiar, in purples, violets and blacks.
The Euan Uglow paintings did not seem so exciting in actuality, they seem to present themselves better in reproductions. Maybe it is the very very pink paint in the large female nude study?
There is a small sketchy head by Michael Andrews which appeals, maybe because it is so very sketchy. As a contrast there is a very large painting of Norwich Castle Keep, which is ‘Lord Mayor’s Reception, Norwich’. This is apparently oil on canvas but seems to be oil on photograph, the black and white photo shows in large parts of the image. I presume the photograph was transferred to the canvas and then he painted over it in parts. Since I have just returned from looking at an exhibition in Norwich Castle Art Gallery, and walked through the keep, this was of interest and I felt that he had tackled a very difficult and boring subject with a certain amount of panache. Follow this link to see it: The Lord Mayor’s Reception
However, to sum up, all these painters seemed to working without any lightness or humour, a lot of works are dour and gloomy, the paint looked as it it needed dusting, I made a note in my little book that the artists were, from these representational painting, all very serious and po-faced.
There were three working drawings, squared up, by Patrick Caulfield, and I wonder at the decision to hang these, since they did not seem to stand up to hanging alongside finished work by him, of the usual bottles. Two are of very accurate-looking architectural drawings.
I was interested to see the black and white portrait photographs in the basement, in the ‘bookshop’, which somehow seemed refreshingly honest and direct, unlike some of the paintings upstairs. They are by Bruce Bernard in the 1980s, of Bacon, Freud, Andrews and Auerbach.
| Portrait of Francis Bacon 1984 by
Bruce Bernard |
It was a relief to come out into the afternoon Bond Street glitz which in a way seemed so much more interesting and vibrant than these rather dejected works.
THE FIRST ACTRESSES, AT NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
It was good news, I found I had won two tickets for the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, plus a copy of the exhibition catalogue. If something costs nothing, it is even nicer, I find!
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
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| National Portrait Gallery poster for Late Shift |
I love this gallery, and often go in. To see most of the displays does not require an entrance fee, but donations are welcomed, of course.
This particular exhibition is small, well of course it is limited by virtue of its title. There are some brilliant portraits.
Most of the paintings, prints, ceramics and engravings are of women. There are themes in each room, for example:
DIVAS AND DANCERS, which includes a lucious portrait by Gainsborough, entitled Elizabeth Linley (Elizabeth Ann Sheridan)
I noted in my little book that it is a full-length portrait in a landscape, with loose flicky brush strokes.
The Gainsborough portraits are the highlights for me, since they display the consumate technique that Gainsborough developed – the actresses’ faces, white and pink, shining, luminous, brilliant against the muted background. The hands and neck are next in importance, then look at the fluid, sketchy dress and feet, then the greeny brown background.
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| Gainsborough portrait of Elizabeth Sheridan |
Also in this room are two pastel portraits by John Russell – pastel is not an easy medium – but this artist has demonstrated his mastery.
WILLIAM HOGARTH
Also here is a Hogarth oil painting of The Beggar’s Opera, from Birmingham Museum, one of several versions Hogarth produced, in a dramatic and narrative style.
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| William Hogarth, The Beggar’s Opera, |
Throughout the exhibition there is mention that the women actresses were fighting prejudice and were careful to represent themselves as respectable, not being prostitutes (which was originally a profession that went hand in hand with acting). Several of these well-known actresses married well, into the artistocracy or monied upper class.
PLAYS AND NOVELS
Quite a few were successful literary figures, writing plays and novels – not something that I have hear of, in respect of modern actresses.
Some actresses did their memoirs and benefitted from the interest in salacious gossip of their times; there was then, as there is now, the desire to read shocking tales of sex and success which we still find in our media.
These women were the first in England in particular (not sure about Scotland, Ireland and Wales) who established themselves earning an income from their talents, setting out in a very competitive field, some of course with the support of men but later standing alone and managing to show independence.
The first acresses emerged with the establishment of the court of Charles II, and at that time women could take female roles which had previously been played by boys and men.
Later the actresses turned the tables by appearing in male dress, much like our own modern-day principal boys in panto.
The main artists, Reynolds, Romney, Gainsborough are well represented and there are also excellent works by Zoffany, Hoppner and Lawrence, John Russell (pastels), Lely and Gilray.
MODERN ACTRESSES
However, in another two galleries there is a display of images of modern actresses, from film, TV and theatre. Only three of them are paintings. There are two pencil drawings. All the other images are photographs. This is bad news for us painters!
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| Nell Gwyn by Simon Vereist |
Come on, actresses, support the arts and commission an artist to paint your portrait! Like your predecessors did.
EDWARD BURRA- A MAJOR SHOW UNTIL 21 FEBRUARY 2012 AT CHICHESTER
Palant House Gallery at Chichester, Sussex is where you can see a fantastic exhibition of the watercolour works of Edward Burra.
First, though, remember it is a very sloooooow train journey to Chichester from London, Victoria. Maybe go by car? But then you probably cannot park.
Anyway, we got there by lunchtime and had a job to find Pallant House Gallery, it is in North Pallant, down a little street called West Pallant, off South Street. Apparently there is a very good restaurant there, called Field and Fork, but we did not try it out. No time.
CAFE ROUGE
Instead we went to Cafe Rouge and I did this pencil sketch, where the figure in the foreground reminded me of drawings of Mr Pickwick.
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| Chichester, Cafe Rouge diners |
THE GALLERY
The Gallery is in a new building, and next to an 18th century house where the gallery was based originally. The Edward Burra show is upstairs and in galleries with low light because the paintings are watercolour.
You are probably aware of the kinds of paintings you will see. There are some very large works, on papers stuck together.
The first gallery has smaller work, and includes some of my favourites, of the bars and streets of Harlem and London. Burra visited cities from his family home near Rye, Sussex and it seems he loved to travel. The earlier works dated from the 1920s so presumably he went by train and sea. Probably he liked to draw the dockhands and sailors en route.
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| EDWARD BURRA, ZOOT SUITS |
SIMON MARTIN – CURATOR
I was pleased to overhear the start of a talk, when arriving in the first gallery, from Simon Martin, Head of Curatorial Services. Mr Martin addressed a small group of ladies, who kept giving us daggers looks because we dared to overhear the remarks. Maybe they expected us to put our hands over our ears so we could not hear what he said!
HAMMER HORROR
There were some good information labels in the galleries. I did not realize that Burra liked films so much, apparently he tried to go to the cinema two or three times a week. One painting was of Mae West. He also liked Hammer Horror films. The later paintings are very strange and rather frightening, and sometimes show skeletons, skulls and figures with birds heads.
FLOWER PAINTING
I saw one flower painting, which was itself very eerie and disturbing, with garish yellows. Not your usual pretty, pretty flower stuff at all.
LORRIES
The later works often included views of rolling hills and motorways crossing moorlands and downs. The lorries and cars were painted in almost a naive way. Once again, these dark, brooding images were something you might find rather disturbing. They were a far cry from the earlier works showing people enjoying life, in theatres, cafes, dance halls and streets.
PAUL NASH
Apparently Burra kept very close, lifelong friendships with the people he knew when a student at Chelsea Polytechnic and the Royal College. He also knew Paul Nash, mainly because he lived quite near, and discussed art with him but I think I read that he did not liked Nash’s work. Other painters who he admired include Gustave Moreau, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Max Beckman, Goya, Leger and Hogarth.
He was briefly associated with Surrealism. But moved away from this.
TOURIST POSTCARDS
According to the information in the gallery, Burra sometimes used postcards when painting, he also probably used his own photographs, some of which were on show in the gallery. Hastings Harbour in the exhibition an example of his use of postcards.
He had an amazing visual memory, though and towards the end of his working life, liked to go out with his sister in her car, after which he could start a landscape painting from memory. That was his preferred method of working.
EYES
You might notice that the eyes of a lot of the figures, have a sideways look; the pupils are right at the corner of the eye, as if his people cannot look anybody straight in the face.
WORKS ON DISPLAY IN THE EXHIBITION
There is a small selection of Burra’s main works here on display. Obviously there is a lot more to be seen dotted around the world, and it is unfortunate that watercolour is such a transient medium, easily faded by light; maybe that is why major galleries cannot put more on display.
One thing I did miss seeing was more sketches. There were a few pencil and pen sketches on show.
BOOK: EDWARD BURRA, Simon Martin
I bought this book, even though at £25 it is more than I like to pay! But have started reading it and find it excellent, and very funny in places, where it quotes his letters which are really bitchy and witty.
The artworks are all the creation of schoolchildren, young people, working with local artists.
Some of the work was really delightful and exciting. This is a link to the website.
The work is in the Oxo Tower Gallery, on the South Bank of the Thames, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge.
The various groups of students are based in London, Washington DC, Bangkok, Istanbul, Seoul, Buenos Aires and Derry.
The media is varied, including print, collage, photography, drawing, assemblage, mosaic. I particularly liked the work of Buenos Aires students.
It is well worth going along to see these pieces, especially if you are going to the Thames Festival during 10 and 11 September.
Unfortunately I cannot go to the Festival as it is the same weekend as I have my open studio as part of Merton Arts Trail.
Don’t forget to come along and see my work at the open studio.
WATERCOLOUR EXHIBITION AT TATE BRITAIN, MILLBANK, LONDON
Lucky enough to win free tickets to see this exhibition, which runs until 21 August 2011. I was not lucky enough to get a free book which goes with the exhibition, and like all art books, costs real money, so I had to do without it.
The exhibition is arranged in rooms which are not numbered but which have titles, for instance we start off in The Natural World, where there is a magnificent study of sea shells and coral by a woman artist, Sarah Stone, painted in 18th century. Quite startling in its modern look and strong vibrant colour.
Some familiar and favourite artists have a good example of their watercolours, for instance John Piper and Edward Burra and of course Cotman. Edward Burra’s strange ‘Mexican Church’ in gouache and ink wash was sombre, loose and very dark and I noticed the colours pink, ochre, green and black. I find some of Burra’s works quite macabre, except for the landscapes and the early cafe and street paintings (which were not shown).
There was a creepy Burne Jones in the Exhibition Watercolour room.
Exploring the Medium was interesting because it showed some artists’ paint boxes, brushes and paints, including those of Turner. I noticed his two brushes had long handles, like those that I use for oil painting. Also shown was Whistler’s box.
By the time I got to the room Watercolour and War, I decided that it was really a very good show. There was strong, interesting and new painting which made me feel like going home and getting out my watercolours and gouache, and even looking through some old work. So – success, you might think! This is what art exhibitions should do, inspire.
The painting of Belsen extermination camp was too painful to look at, by Eric Taylor. Burra, again, had created a work of voluptuous soldiers, called Soldiers at Rye, dated 1941. His soldiers all have very rotund buttocks. Maybe he liked soldiers.
By the end of this exhibition, which as is usual in Tate Britain, is large and demanding, I was expecting to find some modern and Brit Art kinds of works, and I was right. The write-ups about these last works, which I read in one of the catalogue copies helpfully left out on the seats, were long and convoluted. Is there a particular qualification that these authors have to attain so as to make obscure and profound sounding sentences about works that cannot be otherwise justified, I wonder?
In the room Abstraction and Improvisation, there is a HUGE work by Sandra Blow dated 1988, in acrylic and collage. It has a dominating presence, from sheer size and the huge red splodge. A painting by Roger Hilton of 1973 of two dogs had the advantage of being funny,
However, I found Karla Black’s large work ‘Opportunities for Girls, funny. It reminded me of a huge pink squishy bra. It is made of mixed media and dominates the end of the last room, hanging from the ceiling on cords, suspended in air. I made a very quick sketch of it.
Sketch from Tate Britain watercolour show
With the modern works was displayed some of Turner’s small sketches, of an abstract nature. According to the notes at the Turner exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery exhibition in 2009, Turner would never have allowed these sketches to be exhibited. They are working notes and memory-joggers, but we have them in this room, as much as to say: “Look, Turner did blobby stuff which has nothing representational apparent, just like the artists showing here today have produced.”
This was the place to go last weekend, to see too much art – art overload!
It is not a place to see great art, or even much good art. Its a marketing place, where galleries set out their wares.
You, the customer, are enticed to stop and look. Much of what you stop and look at is actually a load of rubbish.
Here in the marquee were predominantly paintings and prints, with a bit of sculpture and ceramics. and a little bit of three-dimensional stuff.
I did not see any video or installations.
ART MARKETING BY AAF
The market for this kind of low key art must be huge. The organizers, who are called The Affordable Art Fair, AAF for short, are based in Putney, South West London, and I remember when Will Ramsay first started up – the marketing ploy being ‘Affordable Art’, so it was cheap and cheerful. Now its not so cheap, the maximum price was (I seem to recall) £4,000.
Being professional, the AAF have prospered and hold Art Fairs in Battersea, London, in March and October, and now are planning an Art Fair in Hampstead in North London in late October. Also they have fairs in New York, Amsterdam, Melbourne , and in Bristol in the UK.
DERIVATIVE WORK
Regarding the art on display, I saw nothing new or exciting. Most work seems derivative. Possibly this is because that is what people are comfortable with, hanging on their walls. They want to look at something that seems like a Marc Chagall or Gary Hume. Of necessity, the majority of the works are either large or medium size, not the gigantic stuff that the posh galleries show – I am thinking works by Dexter Dalwood, for instance, whose works were hung last year in the Tate Britain, during the Turner Prize exhibition.
At the time of my visit, sales seems fairly brisk, and I watched one lady decide to buy – on consultation with her husband about where to hang the piece – a horrific bright orange work, of an acrylic material – very shiny and of such a repellent texture that I am sure her family will be tempted to put pieces of their chewing gum on it, to give it some humanizing relevance.
SPORTS ART
I am interested in seeing work by other artists which relate to my speciality, sports art, and saw good work by Allan Henderson, showing with the Barn Galleries of Henley on Thames. Photographic representations of rowers and water reflections.
JOTTA AND UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS LONDON
In the entrance to the marquee there was a display of recent Fine Art Graduate work, which was curated by Jotta and University of the Arts, London. I was pleased to see that one work by a friend from college days had been sold. It was a very large oil painting by Chris Golle. Called ‘Hotel Room’ , it measured 145cm x 165cm and had a price tag of £1,650.
VISUAL OVERLOAD
There were stands from far away places, I noticed galleries from Toronto, Vietnam, Sweden, France, Brussels and Spain and I suppose there were others too. It was impossible to walk round all the alley ways of displays – six of them – without getting visual overload.
Being the weekend, there were a lot of kids there, particularly in the cafe. They must have been very bored. It was crowded everywhere, which is good news for the people buying display space – I hope they did make a lot of sales. Unfortunately my impression was the same as on my previous visit, see my previous blog about AAF in 2010. SPORTSPORTRAITARTIST.BLOGSPOT.COM
FUTUREtense GALLERY
This stand was excellent. I enjoyed speaking to the friendly gallery staff and liked the work. They have a website, thefuturetense.net on which they state they are ‘free from the constraints of a fixed gallery space’. I noticed that several galleries there similarly have no actual gallery, presumably they operate in cyberspace?
RUDE GALLERY OWNERS
My impression was that when the proprietor of the gallery ascertained you were not going to buy something (by some clever sixth sense) they were very uninterested in talking to you, and often walked away quite rudely. I did not tell them I am an artist, because I know that puts gallery owners off! Even so, I think people engaged in the art lark should take more of a professional stance when being asked to talk about their experience of the fair and the work that they are representing.
My final impression: a great mish-mash of styles, colours, sizes, sophistication and hopes! So many artists trying to make a living, and so many people with whom who they are trying to engage, who know nothing!
Some exhibition venues for 2011 – Paulina will show paintings at:
Henley Royal Regatta Art Gallery
Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, RG9 2LY
href=”http://www.hrr.co.uk”>”>Henley Royal Regatta site
open 29 June to 3 July at the Regatta
Merton Arts Trail
“>Merton Arts Trail site
Open House for Merton Artists, Open Studios at various addresses in the Borough of Merton, London SW19
8 and 9 October and 15 and 16 October
