“The Stone Archive (Fields of Oblivion 2)” Watercolour on Saunders Waterford paper 559mm × 762mm
I am pleased to say that “The Stone Archive (Fields of Oblivion 2)” has been selected for the RWA 163rd Annual Open Exhibition in Bristol. It is difficult deciding which open competitions are of value, but the RWA attracts a large number of entries, has a professional process and good quality judges so I feel proud to have been chosen for inclusion and will be showing with some other excellent artists. The Varnishing Day Lunch and Private View are this Saturday, The show is open to the public from 4 October to the 29 November 2015
Wells Art Contemporary 2015 shortlist (screengrab from WAC website) featuring my name
I am delighted and honoured to be included on the shortlist for this year’s Wells Art Contemporary Awards. It is quite a new open competition for contemporary visual art that is gaining praise and respect in Britain and abroad. One of the reasons I entered was the quality of artists who entered in previous years, but the main reason was the high calibre of the judges who this year are Mariele Neudecker (Sculptor and multimedia artist), Donald Smith (Director of Exhibitions, Chelsea Space, who curated an excellent Derek Jarman show a while back) and Richard Wentworth (Sculptor and conceptual artist) These three judges initially viewed all the submissions anonymously and then the resulting shortlist was reviewed by a further panel “the 45 Park Lane Artists” comprising Sir Peter Blake, Brendan Neiland, Bruce McLean, Christian Furr, Joe Tilson, Martin Fuller, Patrick Hughes, Brad Faine, Donald Smith, and Tom Phillips.This process produced the final choice of works selected for the Wells exhibition which runs 9-24 October 2015 at the Wells and Mendip Museum. The prize winners will be agreed after the selected works have been curated. (The curator is Roy Ackerman.)
The piece that has been selected is a drawing, “Double Erasure – that soft spot in my heart” (pictured below)
“Double Erasure – that soft spot in my heart” Multiply-erased graphite drawing on Canaletto paper 500mm x 700mm
“That Matter We Talked About” Acrylic on canvas 400mm x 400mm
For my next show in the Round Tower at Black Swan Arts, Frome, I want to do a couple of collaborative pieces and for the first of them I need the help of other artists. The working title of the show is “Black Squares, Black Lines & Black Magic” and I want artists to make something, anything, that is their interpretation of or idea about that theme. It can be anything at all, in any format or media as long as it is exactly 4″ x 4″.
So if you are an artist in any discipline please send your contribution to me c/o Black Squares, The Round Tower, Black Swan Arts, 2 Bridge Street, Frome, Somerset BA11 1BB. Please do it NOW! I will be creating the piece during the show which runs from 6 November – 29 November 2015 so if you wanted you could bring me your piece (I will accept submissions up to 21 November) but you know you’ll forget – so do it NOW!
There is no higher purpose, no charitable intent, other than to create an interesting piece of art that is influenced by the chaos of multiple artists. I do not promise that your work will be used and if it is used it may not be obviously visible (those of you who know my work know that the work is often unseen!) When you send or deliver a piece you pass all physical and intellectual property rights to it as an object or idea over to me to use in any way that I see fit. Yes, I am asking you to make a small gift to me of your work with no chance of anything in return except the satisfaction that you will have played a small part in a web of art.
The one thing I do promise is that every artist from whom I receive something will get a publicly-visible credit at the exhibition. That name check may in itself become an artwork, who knows?
It is quite likely that I will also tweet the image and name of pieces sent in, but I make no promises on that in case time and numbers forbid.
So get cracking on your “Black Squares, Black Lines & Black Magic” submission and send it as soon as you can. Thank you very much in advance
*PS I need to have a physical contribution. So if you make a digital piece please produce hard copy for me to use. If you are a musician or a poet or dancer or whatever you can still take part as long as you make your contribution into some kind of hard-copy 4″ x 4″ submission.
“Cool It” Acrylic, Indian ink & metal on board 200mm x 200mm
Riding on the success of Bridport Open Studios I am launching myself headlong into preparations for my next show. It’s going to be in the Round Tower at Black Swan Arts in Frome starting 6 November 2015 under the working title, “Black squares, black lines & black magic”. It is a really brilliant space and I am determined to create a show that takes the building into consideration rather than just arranging my pictures nicely round the walls (round being the operative word!) I am also determined that it will not be just a static display: I want the show to evolve over the three weeks it is open. I haven’t the luxury of a proper residency, but I will be there each day the show is open and I hope to develop site specific work during that time. Of course the more people who come through and engage with me the less work will I be able to do, so I have planned two participatory pieces that will help ensure something new gets finished during the show – “with a little help from my friends”!
The first of these pieces will involve the help of other artists. After my meeting at the Black Swan tomorrow I will post an open call to artists to submit their take on the theme “Black squares, black lines & black magic”. I will be looking for submissions in any materials or media but they must be exactly 4″ by 4″. If you send something in it may be used in any way I choose, so you mustn’t expect to necessarily recognise your piece in the finished work, though I will publicly credit each artist. More details to follow very soon but in the meantime get your thinking caps on and get those creative juices flowing!
The other participatory piece will be an homage to Bob Law. As a painter of black paintings Bob Law has to feature somewhere in the process of making this show. I will be asking the help of all visitors in the creation of this piece and though I have got it pretty much planned out I will wait till the exhibition opens to introduce it.
Oh, and don’t think that just because “black” appears 3 times in the working title that everything is going to be dark and sombre. Those of you who follow my work will know that my black squares are often neither black nor square! But there again, people who know me know I can become a little “overfocussed” – dare I say “obsessional”? – which could mean it all does end up pretty monochrome! You’ll have to wait and see.
“Colourful Black Square 1” Acrylic on board 200mm x 200mm
“An Index of Metals (Thank You Brian and Robert)” Acrylic on canvas 400mm x 400mm
I am delighted to report that I sold 15 pieces during Bridport Open Studios and generated a lot of good feedback and met some wonderful people. My new works on canvas were particularly well received and i sold “An Index of Metals (Thank You Brian and Robert)” pictured above. I also sold “The Bit They Know About You” (pictured below) which is one of my favourite pieces, so I am particularly pleased that someone has seen its merits. I hope it gives the buyers much pleasure for many years.
“The Bit They Know About You” Acrylic and Indian ink on Saunders Waterford paper 559mm × 762mm
I suppose I am now going to have to change my Twitter header as the artwork I was using, “Mystery Evolves” (below) has also gone to a new home. I am fortunate too that quite a few smaller studies and collages sold, as well as the larger pieces mentioned in previous posts.
“Mystery Evolves” Ink on Somerset paper 559mm × 762mm
The first two days of Bridport Open Studios saw a steady stream of interested visitors and some good sales – and that was after me not really being set up properly. It’s a little more organised now and who knows, I might even be able to say I was ready! I am pleased to be showing a wide range of my work including new work on canvas, erasure drawings, field drawings, new watercolour pieces and a range of small “affordable” studies. I have aslo set aside some space for a selection of #Collage365 work
A selection of #Collage365 is on show at the studio during Bridport Open Studios
Outfall 2 Ink & watercolour on paper 559mm × 762mm
I have been pleased with the quality of visitors to my Open Studios this weekend. Most people have displayed a keen interest in my work and I’ve enjoyed meeting new people and talking about art. I’m also pleased that I have sold something each day – including today when I was technically not open! A visitor over the weekend called this morning to say they had decided to by “Outfall 2”, the piece pictured above. It’s quite a special piece for me and I am delighhted it has found an appreciative home.
I have also sold some of the small studies I framed up and another larger piece, “You Were Born And So You’re Free”
You Were Born And So You’re Free Ink on Somerset paper 559mm × 762mm
“Double Erasure – that soft spot in my heart” Multiply-erased graphite drawing on Canaletto paper 500mm x 700mm
It’s that time again and now I have a studio at St Michael’s in Bridport town centre it would be foolish of me not to open up and join in Bridport Open Studios. Since completing my #Letter365 project I have been busy catching up on a couple of years’ neglect in the garden but I have also been getting on with new work.
Thermopylae (not as black as you think) Collage, acrylic & ink on board 306mm x 306mm
I completed the erasure drawing I was talking about earlier (shown above) and have been working on black squares (as usual not always black, not always square!) and various field pieces. Some of the field pieces are on canvas! That’s the first time I have used canvas or completed a piece on canvas for 43 years! (It has been interesting!) I aim to add images of some of this work in the next few days.
I have also been moved to return to using wet-in-wet watercolour again and have been creating large field pieces, starting a new series of work under the working title of “The Stone Archive – Fields of Oblivion”. I will post some of these later too, including some small pieces I have framed up especially for Bridport Open Studios. These small nicely-framed pieces are designed as affordable introductions to my work and would make great gifts for loved ones or yourself! They are the sort of things people point to in my sketchbooks and say, “Ooh, that’s nice!” Since I have been working on larger sheets than my sketchbooks when I am trying out some ideas (especially the watercolour and acrylic stuff as I can do more while the paint dries) I thought I would isolate some of the ones that work best and frame them for sale.
As usual there is a “6×9” show to accompany Bridport Open Studios. This year it occupies the foyer and cafe at Bridport Arts Centre and I have entered some specially made pieces that explore my current themes and, some, move into new territory. The show opens on Wednesday 19 August and runs till 18 September after which it transfers to Black Swan Arts at Frome.
Tired but inspired after doing 3 shows in London: Agnes Martin and Sonia Delaunay at Tate Modern and Joseph Cornell at the RA.
After just three rooms of Agnes Martin I was ready to call it a day: either call it a day for my art career – for what point when she has done so much of what I’m exploring – or call it a day and go back home to the studio and get to work with renewed fire and vigour! As it happened I forced myself to be disciplined and make the best of the day in London.
I had been really looking forward to seeing Martin’s work after being recommended by a friend. I wasn’t disappointed, though the quality was variable ranging from averagely interesting to sublimely beautiful and completely enveloping. Some of the early work and some of her last seemed to lack a positive spark, seemed to be floundering, looking for a connection. The rest was hard-wired to her muse. Most of it I would love to take home with me and look after lovingly!
I may write in more detail about particular pieces, but over all I felt she was investigating similar areas to my current and recent work, that there is more than a superficial similarity in the way the finished pieces look.
I only scooted round the Delaunay because I was with my daughter and thought she may be interested in the costume and textiles. It was nice to reconnect to a few favourite pieces from my last visit, but it didn’t add to the positive inspirational effect of the day so far.
The Joseph Cornell was a disappointment and a delight: irritating and inspirational. I first came across his work in the early 1970s but never got to see the show in London around that time. At that time I was making sets and boxes – in a very different style – and was very drawn to and, possibly, influenced by his work. The disappointment was that photographs have shown them brighter and somehow more polished. In the flesh they seem a little dull. The delight was in the detail. If I had seen them in the seventies I would have been put off by the apparent slapdash construction, but now I can accept and cherish the poor mitres and uneven paintwork: it’s the ideas that captivate and intrigue and they are mostly put together perfectly. There was less humour than I expected: quite a few had fairly dark subject matter. I liked that many were physically dark, making you work to see what was there. I liked that the show connected me back to the best of the ideas and materials I was exploring back in college days that I have started to tinker with again.
Another Moment Waiting To Happen Ink on Paper 303mm x 216mm
I am delighted to announce that “Another Moment Waiting To Happen” has been selected for the Evolver Prize Exhibition at the Thelma Hulbert Gallery in Honiton from 4th July to 29 August 2015. It is only a small regional prize but I believe it attracts some of the best artists in the area so I am delighted to be ranked among such high quality. (Sorry for the appalling photo!)
