Gainsborough at The Holburne

Visited the last day of the Gainsborough Landscapes exhibition at the Holburne Museum last weekend. A small but very interesting exhibition, surveying Gainsborough’s landscape output, his antidote to the drudgery of portrait painting.

This was a revisit for me, just to give them all another look before they travel on to Compton Verney. The exhibition comprised half a dozen large oil paintings, from all stages of his career, and several small sketches, putting the larger works into context.The sketches were done using a variety of media and supports, including chalk, graphite, watercolour and oil, some varnished, on paper, board and canvas. Quite a varied use of media.

Technically the oil paintings progress from a light and thin brushmark at the beginning of his career, to a darker, more heavily textured mark at the end. All the paintings display a technical mastery, and a detailed and accurate, if idealised or imagined, observational representation of rural landscape. However, stylistically they moved from a calmer, classical atmosphere in his early work, toward a darker, Romantic atmosphere in the his work. I even felt a John Martin-esque quality in his depiction of panoramic landscape and aerial atmosphere in the last work on display. In common with many artists at the end of the C18/beginning of the C19 Gainsborough travelled to the Lake District to come face to face with the sublime, and the awe-inspiring and threatening beauty of wild and rugged Cumbria; its lakes, mountains and waterfalls. A very good exhibition of rich and diverse work, placing the main work in an informative context.

Across the landing is a room full of his portrait paintings, many full-size, and it is interesting to compare these paintings from which he earned his living and reputation with his more personal landscape works.

Illuminate Bath

The last few days have seen a project called Illuminate Bath set up in Bath, consisting of projections and other light-based installations around the city centre.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to get into Bath during the week so didn’t see the Roman Baths illuminated, but we did see the rest. Clockwork City consisted of giant keys attached to everyday objects found in the streets, such as a telephone box, which, when turned, caused lights, sound and smoke to start. Pulse was a collection of short animations which related to the Georgian building they were projected onto. Animations included the cracking of the facade, and windows lighting up in sequence. Attracted to Light was a projected film covering the whole of a building, with butterflies flitting about and undisclosed activity taking place in various windows. These could have been isolated actions, or part of some narrative, depending upon how you interpreted it. There was also live drawing on a computer screen which was projected onto the Roman Baths. There were a number of other pieces as well.

The streets were quite busy with people looking at the art, and clearly enjoying it. It was good to see such large, bright and colourful images lighting up the dark and cold evening.

Face doodles

Its been a while since I posted some of my own work. So here are some strange sketches for your perusal.

An artistic pre-occupation of mine, to which I often return, is drawings of expressive faces. Quite often these are doodles and diversions, which don’t require much thought or planning. Occasionally I do some for a specific purpose, or with a clear intention (A bit cryptic, but I’ll show some later). Most often they are doodling explorations of facial expression. I thought I would share a few which I stumbled across recently, whilst thumbing through some sketchbooks. The ones included here are A4 size, and completed in pencil, water-soluble pencil, pen and watercolour and were probably made in front of the television!

They do have a general air of anxiety and worry, of gloom, doom and melancholy, which are some of my default emotional settings.

Walking in artists’ footsteps

Went for a stroll around Wellow last weekend. This is the old haunt of the Brotherhood of Ruralists, the group to which Peter Blake belonged when he decided to leave London and try the country life. This is a picturesque landscape of gently rolling hills, thick hedges, country lanes, beautiful old buildings, a few miles from Bath.

The art of the Ruralists exists in a peculiarly English tradition of landscape painting; one of detail and texture, of mood and atmosphere, of mystery and history, one where the imprint and connection with humanity is keenly felt.

Although the day started frosty, this had disappeared by the time we set out, and we hadn’t imagined it would be so muddy. We had a pleasant enough walk but it was cut short by our inappropriate clothing for the conditions. We will return and this time reach our destination-the long barrow!

Brian Selznick

Having been impressed with The Invention of Hugo Cabret, the original book and then film, I was on the lookout for his latest book, Wonderstruck. And this weekend I bought it and started reading it.

Making a start on the book, whilst the ladies shop!

Actually, I was also attracted to the book of the film. Aimed to a younger audience it is written by Brian Selznick, who takes us through the process of transferring book to screen, and the people involved in this, as well providing some background information about the history of cinema and automata. An interesting read, “lavishly illustrated”, that is a good accompaniment to the film, comparing page version to screen version.

Wonderstruck is the story (or stories) of two children set fifty years apart-a girl in 1927 and a boy in 1977. The girl’s story is told entirely in drawings, and the boy’s in text. Having read the first part of the book there appears to be an interesting relationship between the two stories. The drawings once again fill the page, and have a cinematic quality: using close-up, panorama, tracking and point of view. There is an attractive quality to the drawings; a strong outline and bold tonal technique used most effectively. creating rounded and textured forms, and a strong linear quality.

I’ll be back with more when I’ve finished the book…

at Bristol Harbourside Part Two

Following our visit to the Arnolfini gallery we wandered over Pero’s Bridge heading towards Park Street to visit Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

View towards Park Street from the Arnolfini. Cabot’s Tower on the left, Bristol Cathedral in the centre, and the Willis Memorial Building just visible above.

And here is the Willis building in close-up.

We couldn’t resist popping into Swinky’s for some jelly beans and to ogle the exotic American produce.

Art at Bristol Harbourside 1

Visited the Arnolfini to see the second part of their museums exhibition, The Museum Show Part Two,  today. We had enjoyed the first part so had high expectations. Thankfully it did live up to our expectations, though I did find the first part to have more stimulating exhibits. Arnolfini exhibitions can often be a case of message over medium, concept over content. Where they are often more successful there is a humour and playfulness present. Fortunately, that was the case today.

The children relished the opportunity to lounge around on the Oldenberg-esque and Surreal large soft food sculptures! The adults enjoyed the Greek-style vase constructed from pottery fragments (actually an Ikea mug). The strange beast whose skeleton lay across the floor aroused interest too.

In the same room as the soft sculpture were several other works that did strike me as homages to Pop Art classics. Such as this textile collage, which made me think of Hamilton’s “Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different…”, or Peter Blake montages.

Here are images of other works that caught our attention-Black and White paintings of important C20 American art works, with large paintings from newsreel film and publicity of the New American Painting exhibition. I do sometimes wonder how much meaning and significance I am missing in some of these “conceptual” works, but then I am a person of simple pleasures and understanding, and if you have to work too hard to divine the intention then it isn’t really worth it.!

http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/details/1170

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

My son and I have just been to see the new Martin Scorsese film, Hugo, a dramatisation of the book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick. Anyone who has read this blog before will know of my liking for illustrated books and graphic novels; for the narrative in imaginative visual form. The book immediately caught my attention a few months ago, when I read a review of it. I bought it straight away.

The book tells the story of an orphaned boy who lives alone in the walls of a Paris train station, and who keeps the many clocks there running. He has an antique automaton which he is attempting to mend, in the hope that it will connect him to his dead father. The boy meets an old man, and begins a journey of exploration through magic, fantasy and imagination, most importantly into the world of early cinema.

The film, being a dramatisation of an illustrated, and cinema-inspired book, is well suited to the 3D treatment, and Scorsese certainly uses all the techniques at his disposal to create a magical and visually attractive film. There are some beautifully composed visuals and tracking shots, over a nostalgic version of Paris, through a crowded train station, through snow-dusted streets, for example. We really enjoyed the film, particularly the gorgeous visuals, and the dreamlike evocation of Georges Melies experimentation in cinema.

The book itself is a combination of text and full-page illustrations, beautifully drawn in pencil. Very cinematographic, clearly inspired by film camera techniques and visuals. A book of wonder! Highly recommended! The book itself is a work of art, and would never work on a kindle!

There is a great website to explore as well at http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/index.htm

Bath Art Affair

More art. This time from the Bath Art Affair from November. We managed to get to some of the venues of this second fair before it finished.

Peter Randall Page had been invited to show work at the Octagon Chapel – a fantastic venue, as I have said before. An exhibition of both his drawings and sculptures. The drawings were large and on thick, textile-like, watercolour paper, or fabric canvas, in pencil and charcoal. Dark, expressive, structural, evoking natural forms. The sculptures were between hard and soft-hard stone yet carved to a smooth, cushion-like finish. A very good use of the space.

Rostra and Rooksmoor (“the friendliest gallery in Bath”) at the gift end of the art market had some lovely sculptures of Alice in Wonderland characters, and some interesting Giclee prints of paper collages. This by Patrick Edgeley we found particularly vibrant. His work reminds me of Peter Blake’s recent prints, and the work of Michael Craig-Martin and Patrick Caulfield.

Also at Rostra Gallery we happened upon more prints by a member of the Broadway clan, that notorious family of artists. This is by Ruth Broadway.

David Hockney in Yorkshire

David Hockney made an appearance on BBC’s countryfile this weekend, as the programme spent most of its time in the Yorkshire area. By Heck!

The “greatest living Yorkshireman”! (along with Alan Bennett and Geoffrey Boycott)

As well as a Yorkshire pudding baking contest, and a walk along the wold way, stopping to talk to Land Artist Colin Rose, the programme included a very good item on David Hockney. As a new exhibition is about to open at the Royal Academy the programme interviewed him to explore his recent landscape work inspired by the East Riding of Yorkshire (which just happens to be my birthplace). He has worked from the landscape in pencil and pen, paint, photography, ipad and now film.

The Royal Academy show promises to be a stunning exhibition, including large paintings, large multi-screen films, and ipad-created images. You cannot help but be swept up in his enthusiasm and the tremendous spirit of inquiry and investigation he demonstrates, not just of the landscape but of the ways it can be recorded, through traditional and new forms of technology. I have been reading some books about him recently, mainly interviews with him through the eighties, nineties, noughties, and I have a real sense of an artist engaging afresh with the world around him through emerging technologies, and new approaches to older technologies.