Thursday 23 May 2013

Mark Hearld at the Yorkshire Museum

Earlier this year I fell in love with the beautiful art work of Mark Hearld. I was lucky enough to see an exhibition of his work at YSP in February that was inspired by the park and the animals that live there (see separate, earlier blog post), before seeing some more of his work at the Yorkshire Museum in York in April.

The exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum has now finished, so sadly my post comes too late for anyone reading it to then go and see the exhibit, and for that I apologise. However, I hope you get as much pleasure from viewing the pictures I took of my favourite paintings from the exhibit as I did looking at them in person.

The exhibition featured Mark's illustrations from the book, A First Book of Nature. Mark Hearld lives in the beautiful city of York, but takes his inspiration from the ' flora and fauna of the British countryside'.


 A painting from the Spring section of the book.

 I think this one was from Autumn, judging by the colours and the pumpkin.

 Hmmm this could be Autumn or Winter, what do you think?


 As the painting says, Spring! I love this one.

 Another gorgeous Spring painting.

These are from the Winter section. I think they're fantastic, I'd love to have some on my walls at home.

Mark doesn't appear to have an official website but if you google him he features on numerous websites, including the one below, which details when his studio is open for visitors (ooooh...)

www.yorkopenstudios.co.uk/artist/Mark-Hearld

You can also look on http://www.stjudesprints.co.uk/collections/mark-hearld

Tuesday 21 May 2013

Yinka Shonibare and Gareth Evans at YSP

Oh my god, I can't believe I've missed my blog's birthday! It was 1 year old on 08.05.13. I seriously thought I'd set it up at the end of May 2012, not the beginning, doh!

Can't believe I've been doing this a year now, where has that gone eh?

One thing is for certain with my blog, your never long away from your next post about YSP! So here's my latest.

When I last popped to the wonderful YSP in April it was to see the Yinka Shonibare exhibit in the YSP Centre, Underground Gallery and Church and the work of Gareth Evans up at the Longside Gallery.

I've definitely seen some of Gareth's work before. I quite like his 'floor height' work.






Yinka Shonibare's work was like nothing I've ever seen before. It was colorful and bright, political and poignant. It spoke of global warming, the pointlessness of war, race and stereotypes.

The works displayed at YSP until 01.09.13 span a decade of his work and include films, photography, painting, collage and sculpture. This is truly an exhibition not to be missed.

None of his works feature human faces or human skin tones, so as to remove a racial or cultural context from the object. He also uses taxidermy and modern devices such as mobile phones alongside one of the oldest gadgets of control, guns.

Most of his creations or characters are made from, or wearing, batik fabrics. They look African and certainly make the viewer think of Africa, but they were in fact first massed produced in Holland, a juxtaposition that no doubt appealed to Yinka.

There is a particularly sad 'sculpture' of two 'men' shooting each other through a wall of eggs. Eventually they will shoot a hole through the eggs and kill each other. The shattered eggs, I presume, reflect the wasted lives due to wars fought between abstract political figures or leaders/ kings. There was something particularly sad and futile about this piece, it got its point across perfectly!

Actually, just checked the YSP website, and the piece is called 'Egg Fight' and actually represents conflict between Protestants and Catholics. Oh well, I was close!

There was also a beautiful film being shown in the Church. 'This visually seductive and moving piece features a singer in the guise of Lord Nelson’s estranged wife Frances Nisbet, performing Violetta’s poignant death aria of the same name from Giuseppe Verdi’s 19th century opera La Traviata'. Its really very beautiful- certainly worth a watch if you are visiting the rest of the exhibition.

I liked everything of Yinka's that was on display. I loved how different it was. The attention to detail was beautiful, as was the color patterned fabric used throughout. I like how he was tackling the common issues of the day (of any 'day' really)- political strife and upheaval, war, racism, global warming and food shortages, the rich being rich and wasteful etc but in such a unique and engaging way. His work seems whimsical, but also slightly unnerving. Its almost like the works are alive and watching you back with judging, aloof eyes. They are reflecting back at you the uncomfortable truths of human nature and society, but this is confusing- because they are colorful and bright and often look like children's play things.

There's also a sculpture of his in the gardens above the Underground gallery which is supposed to look transient and moved/ shaped by the wind. I think it captures that billowing, free flowing movement of fabric in wind very well, a wonderful large scale sculpture designed for the public domain.

 'Wind Sculpture' in the gardens above the Underground Gallery. Beautiful.

 I love how even the cannon balls are made from batik fabrics.

One of the human/ animal mix figures pointing a gun. These 'half-human, half-animal embodiments (are) of an insurrectionist spirit, waving replicas of Colonel Gaddafi’s golden gun'. I find them extremely powerful to look at and deceptive in their colorful garb.

Sorry there's not more pictures, the gallery attendants wouldn't let anyone take any photos- I had to be very covert to get these 2 (no restriction on photographing the outdoor sculpture though).

All in all, I highly recommend the Yinka Shonibare exhibition. It really is fascinating and there's plenty to see.

Also on at YSP now is new outdoor sculptures from Josephsohn, 'Seizure' by Roger Hiorns and work by Anna Collette Hunt. I can't wait to get back there and check out all 3.

For more information, you can visit the following websites-

http://www.ysp.co.uk/home
http://www.yinkashonibarembe.com




Sunday 19 May 2013

Aesthetica exhibition at St Mary's, York

St Mary's is an ancient church in York's city centre, a stones throw from Clifford's Tower and next to the Jorvik Viking Centre, Fenwicks and Topshop/ Topman etc. It opens for the main visitor season as an exhibition venue, largely showing installations. Every year, York Art Gallery either commissions an artist to create a site-specific installation that is then housed within the unique space of York St Mary's, or an artist is invited to exhibit their existing work there.

I went for my maiden visit on April 14th to see an exhibition of shortlisted works from those artists who entered the Aesthetica Art Prize competition.



Exterior shots of the lovely St Mary's.

To give you a bit of background-

The Aesthetica Art Prize is an annual award given by the international art and culture publication Aesthetica Magazine. Distinguished by its dynamic content, merging compelling critical debate and stunning images, the magazine engages with all aspects of visual art and culture, attracting an audience of over 140,000 worldwide.
The Aesthetica Art Prize is a celebration of excellence in art from across the world and offers artists the opportunity to showcase their work to wider audiences and further their involvement in the international art world.

A bit of useless of information for you- I had a poem published in Aesthetica magazine, Issue 3 in September 2003, woo, get me!

Anyway, this exhibition has now finished, but my highlights are below.

These photos were my favorites in the exhibition, by Damien O'Mara, particularly the top one.

I'm sorry but I can't remember the artist of this lovely sculpture. If anyone knows please get in touch and share the knowledge!

A view across the church taking in some of the works on display.

Kyunghee Park's installation, in the foreground, Poppy Whatmore's in the background. 

A shot of Poppy Whatmore's piece. I wasn't surprised to learn this was a students work! But it certainly looked like a labour of love.

To be honest, I enjoyed looking round the interior of this beautiful church more than looking at the art work (shame on me, but its true). Below are some of the lovely curiosities from inside the church building.




If you'd like to find out more about St Mary's or Aesthetica magazine here's where to look-

www.aestheticamagazine.com
www.yorkstmarys.org.uk

Currently on now at St Mary's is the pottery or Julian Stair until 07.07.13.


 

Sunday 12 May 2013

William Turnball at Chatsworth, April 13

Shame on me, I went to see William Turnball at Chatsworth waaaay back at the start of April (Easter weekend in fact) but am only now getting round to blogging about it- dreadfully slack of me I know! But, in my defence, I've been very busy and this will be a particularly big post.

Turnball at Chatsworth is on until 30.06.13 and I highly recommend you go see it- there's a whooping 39 sculptures in the gardens alone, not to mention 38 works being exhibited within the house- 77 Turnball pieces in total. Now that is value for money! I've seen Turnball's work before at the fabulous Yorkshire Sculpture Park, but the volume of pieces in this residency is astounding.


As you can see from this shot of the house, the snow was still upon us. In fact, my friend and I wondered if we'd make it, several regional roads had been closed during the week due to the heavy snow fall, but our fears were unfounded and we made it there fine. In fact, we got quite lucky with the weather- it stayed dry, wasn't too windy and the sun even came out later on.

Lauren, my dear friend whom I went with, standing next to 'Large Blade Venus'.

Me, standing next to 'Horse'.

'Large Horse'. I love these, they're primal, simple and remind me of something you might see near a stone circle on a hill top! They also remind me of Fiona Clai Brown's horses. I just love the simplicity and the materials Turnball uses in his sculptures.

'Large Horse' from opposite side.

'Aphrodite'. Makes me think of an alien being!


Front and side view of 'Horse'. I like the simple detailing on the horses mane.


Top is 'Angle' and below is 'X'. Hmmm not sure about these!



Top is me posing next to 'Large Siren'- looked like a cello to me and Lauren. Obviously, its supposed to represent the curves of a woman's figure (although don't quote me on that! Might be totally wrong!)

Middle is the rather ugly 'Aphrodite' (another one) and bottom is 'Large Spade Venus'. I love the colour.




Top is the cool 'Trojan'. I like the detailing on this.

Middle is 'War Goddess' and bottom is ''Standing Female Figure', 'Figure' and 'Idol 1' (left to right).





Top is Lauren posing next to 'Female Figure'. A very good imitation of the piece I think!
Next down is the beautiful 'Leda', followed by 2 shots of 'Head'. My pictures don't do this sculpture justice, the engravings on it were fabulous- very subtle.





Top is 'Metamorphic Venus', below that is 'Idol', followed by 2 shots illustrating the fantastic spring weather at the time (take that at face value or as sarcasm- your choice!). The snowy view from the top of Paxton's Rock Garden was pretty cool though (no pun intended!)







Top is me and Lauren (awww), middle is 'Figure 2', bottom is 'Figure'. Looks suspiciously like a banjo if you ask me!


And so, we come to the pieces exhibited inside the house. Up close, this painting is made up of various shades and textures of brown and black paint. It is called 'Head'. I kind of like it, although its far too erratic to look at for long.








This painting is called 'Landscape'. My pictures doesn't show the detail of the white paint under the red line, but it was brilliant- thick splodges and lines of white paint, slowing receding as your eyes move down the canvas. Looks like an angry red rain cloud dumping thick white rain or snow. I love this piece.








This cool character is 'Mask'. I liked the playful expression on this sculpture's 'face'.


These three paintings are 'Head', 'Head' and, ur, 'Head' (left to right). Not much imagination in the titles is there?!





Here are 'Mask' and 'Mask 3' (left to right). I like how smooth and emotionless they are. Like icons ancient man may have worshipped to.


Last but not least is '15- 1958'. I really like the simplistic colours of this painting and the way the black paint seeps and encroaches on to the simple bright red. It makes the painting, despite its bright colours, dark and foreboding. Great use of the black paint, like something nasty and sinister is arriving and here to spoil the fun/ day.

Featured in this post is just a sample of the fabulous works on display, both in the gardens and Chatsworth house. I love the work of Turnball- its simplicity and mysticism. This residency is more than worth a visit- there's plenty to see and lots of variety. He's certainly one of my favorite sculptors so I was thrilled to get to see so many of his sculptures in one exhibit, as well as some of his paintings, none of which I had seen before. Remember, you've got until 30.06.13 so get planning your trip now!

For more info visit the 'Whats on' pages of the Chatsworth House website- http://www.chatsworth.org