some sketchbook studies in ink pen... first it was water and now it is wood; this could be the start of something quite elemental...i have been given permission to visit some private woodlands to do some sketching over the next few months, but the last few days have been taken up by four days at the latitude festival (a few of these drawings were done on the henham estate)...inspired by reading bachelard, i am reminded of rembrandt's landscape etchings, anselm kiefer's dark forests, gustav klimt's birch trees, jacob van ruisdael's woodland landscapes... it is not so much recording locations or the evidence of nature that i am currently interested in, more the psychology (and history) of contained spaces… a transition from the perceived expanses of a horizon to an absence of it - dark, enclosed, densely textured and layered, resonant and allegorical... it is refreshing to explore these environments without a camera, it seems very nostalgic (romantic, even) to draw in the landscape, but observing, thinking and drawing become one experience, the scene unfolds more slowly, akin to the concept of the moving focus as david hockney alluded to...the salthouse exhibition continues... salthouse 09 : salt of the earth, 2 july to 2 august 2009
salthouse, uninterrupted views
on the art exhibition salthouse: salt of the earth, at salthouse church, norfolk...
[detail of my work, saltscapes i-xxv, at the salthouse : salt of the earth art exhibition]over the weekend i gave a brief artist talk on my work in this exhibition, saltscapes, about the ideas and concepts behind it and my use of materials...
i was surprised (and very happy) to hear that my work has attracted a lot of interest from many visitors, and one of the exhibition's invigilators said that i had effectively sold it three times during the day (just once is very nice)...the next day i was at salthouse church yet again to do my stint of exhibition invigilating, which gave me a chance to revisit some of the artworks in the salthouse art exhibition...andy cairns' salt encrusted construction corroded, crystallised, coalesced is a fascinating piece of coastal assemblage, displaying both resilience and fragility...rory mcshane's woodcut print salt squares shared some similarities with my work, exploring the geometric formation of salt crystals, echoing the wider pattern of the constructed landscape...ross loveday's three drypoint and carborundum etchings reminded me a little of the london skyline paintings by john virtue, as their natural rural counterparts, with their rich, dark expressive tones, evoking the wind-swept flat vistas of the north norfolk coast......the celebrated east anglian painter maggi hambling displays one of her recent north sea paintings,storm wave, an energetic, power-packed painting in which its swooshing, watery depths persuade you to jump in and yet there is a fear drowning if you stay there a little too long...marcela trsova's piece light vessel, is a beautifully crafted construction of salt crystals and wire, an ethereal boat surrounded by wire fish suspended from the ceiling recalling souls to prayer...both antje ernestus and jane wheeler reference the ritual collection and harvesting of salt in their sculptural, ceramic pieces...david page's some views of the marsh is a curiously abstract and dream-like painting, as one seemingly floats high above the salt marshes, with a solitary, small figure just visible heading inland...colin yorke's the outcasts is a work that is sensitively made, embracing the organic, weathered qualities of aged, spalted wood, as a group of only partially seen carved heads - all the more moving when seen in their final resting place (outside the church wall)...there is also the work of ana maria pacheco, colin self, kabir hussain - too many to mention here as there are fifty artists included in this exhibition (it's a big church), but it is a show that is defintely worth its salt (sorry, no pics of their work, but there is a colour catalogue). salt of the earth is curated by simon martin, curator at the pallant house gallery, chichester.salthouse : salt of the earth : 2 july to 2 august 2009, salthouse church, norfolkp.s. see some photographs of some of saltscapes, in progress, in the studio... or click on the photograph below for a small glimpse...
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and finally... [i found this and thought of yew...]
elementary lessons
[current work, in progress]ten textured surfaces reordered, precise statements, drawing attention to the tiniest details... an order, an arrangement, a sequence... of diptychs, pehaps four square, a grid...
i also returned to rework the plaster panels... a slow process of addition and erasure, the history of worn surfaces that display a previously ordered existence... the push-pull of visual disruption and surface containment... maintaining an equilibrium...
art trail...salthouse 09 : 2 july to 2 august 2009