i received these photographs of the art exhibition on the map from the exhibition curator at hastings museum in the e-post today…it looks good; i hope to get to see the exhibition before it closes in june 2012 (and visit the newly opened jerwood gallery, which is also in hastings)...
Clare Brewster, The little birds, papercuts (left wall); Carl Jaycock, Blue Blood - We all want the world, four digital prints (centre right);
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Judith Adler, Floorboard Crossing, digital photographs (left); Sally Underwood, Triptych, knitted textile (centre); Jazz Green, Earthbound II & III, mixed media on panel (right);
Judith Shaw, Icelandic Journey I & II, paint and photographic image on paper (left);
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Jean Davey Winter, Wetlands - Mapping, acrylic on canvas (centre);
[exhibition photography © 2012 Alexander Brattell]On the Map features the work of eighteen contemporary artists whose work is variously inspired and informed by maps, cartography and mapping the environment. (I have two works in this exhibition). 'On the Map' is at Hastings Museum & Art Gallery, curated by Catherine Harvey, exhibitions officer & keeper of world art.…On the Map: Historic Maps & Contemporary Map Art10 March – 17 June 2012Hastings Museum and Art GalleryJohns Place, Bohemia Road, Hastings, TN34 1ETview location on google maps...
on art and the sea
a few days back i attended a one day conference at the UEA (university of east anglia), art and the sea. there was an engaging and diverse mix of contributors in the day's programme, from scientists to museum curators, and artists.thinking about the effects of the sea on the coastline got me thinking again about the small experimental water paintings i had begun last year (and what i was trying to explore)...
...and also these, my 'after the storm' wabi sabi relic bowls...
[ashore, or washed up...]...and an earlier piece of work from 2006-2007...
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[a view of covehithe cliffs, new year's eve, 2007]...many perspectives of the sea (specifically the east coast) were analysed, discussed and reflected upon: symbolism in art and literature, mythology, ancient settlements, archaeology, heritage & social history, oceanography, mapping and geology. interestingly, some current research into the changing coastline is using art (mostly paintings) as a key measure of evidencing change. there was also a presentation of a research paper on JMW Turner's relationship to the sea which was also very engaging (if not provocative in its assumptions about Turner's life experiences), and the day concluded with some contemporary artists making brief presentations on their work about the coast.needless to say, climate change, sea levels, coastal erosion and the environment were at the forefront of the discussions & i left the conference in a contemplative frame of mind - and with many pages of my sketchbook filled with many quotes, notes, drawings, diagrams & doodles documenting the day. there was quite a lot of literature to take home too...just a week or so before i had spent a day at the coast, once again gazing up at the ever-eroding cliffs...
and just below the line of this photograph, i spied a thin stream of brightly-coloured blue-green stones or pebbles, so I scrambled up the slope and gathered a few into my hand - and with a unbridled feeling of excitement, holding something which had not been 'seen' for centuries. i do not know what these small rock fragments are but I considered they must have some copper mineral in them...
[green treasure]...a while back, i took some photographs, close ups, of the surface of one of my earth/bound paintings, using a torchlight - and now, when i look at the pictures i can see a volcano (i think i may have broken the 'child's' microscope, trying to adapt it...)
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on past times and art nouveau
the other day i went to see a new exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre, The First Moderns: Art Nouveau, from Nature to Abstraction, which coincided with the excellent BBC three part series, Sex and Sensibility : The Allure of Art Nouveau, written and presented by Stephen Smith.so, having watched two of the three art nouveau programmes i was predisposed to enjoy my visit to this exhibition...
dear reader, please, take a seat. the minimalist architecture of the sainsbury centre (designed by sir norman foster) provided a very modernist reflection on the development of art nouveau, a style often associated with the earlier 'back to nature' rustic aesthetic of the arts & crafts movement (william morris). however, most evident here in charles rennie mackintosh's black lacquered chair is the japanese aesthetic influence, leading on to the harmonic, simplified design elements seen in de stijl, bauhaus, and later still, in minimalism...it was interesting to reflect on the universal, recurring themes of nature and creation in art, from paganism and celtic symbols to the free-flowing abstract patterns of 1960's psychedelia. as in life, so in art. nature is rarely far removed from the subject of art..
[emille gallé, glass vase]i liked looking at and contemplating this glass vase; glass is the perfect medium to express ideas of nature & renewal, from its molten materiality and fluidity of lines to the way its solid form attracts, consumes and reflects the light, the light of life itself - it really glows (and grows on you).minimalism rejected the motifs of nature and, later on, conceptualism had no need to show the 'appearance' or a likeness of nature to express a new idea about it. so, i wonder, have we now lost touch with nature? and, perhaps more importantly, what is nature, exactly?this exhibition reaffirmed how elements of nature continuously feed into art and design (even now, in this brutal, austere age) and i will visit again as the exhibition is on until december 2012.so, naturally enough, when i later had the opportunity to take an leisurely walk through the fine city's royal arcade it was with revitalised and more knowing eyes...
i learnt, via the bbc programme, that these tiles were designed and manufactured by a company called 'daltons', who also created the mosaics in one of harrod's foodhalls. this really is a fine example of art nouveau in architecture, perhaps even better than paris...however, on leaving the spendidly preserved tiled architecture of the 'royal arcade', a small sign of modern day reality was waiting directly opposite, as if to quietly express, just in passing, nothing lasts forever...
'this store is now closed' (repeat, closed) - a sad sign of the times, past times indeed...past times, as its name suggests, traded on a nostalgia for historical, old-looking things (homewares, accessories). i once received the gift of a drawstring brocaded handbag which came from 'past times'; it was obviously a brand new handbag but it had a bohemian aesthetic or style which one might easily associate with the pre-raphaelites, and i liked it...while on my way out of the fine city, i spotted this architectural abstraction, comprised of metal, plywood and some panes of glass - but it's just a redundant office block. it is always fascinating to discover mundane, semi-derelict buildings looking ready for redevelopment (or total destruction) which unintentionally reflect a very pared-down, minimalist aesthetic - wood veneer never really goes out of style...
[an office block in modern times]...