Staff Research Seminar

Jamie Dobson, Course Leader, Graphic Communication and Andrea Gregson, Senior Lecturer Fine Art. spoke about their practice based research.
Jamie spoke of his work with light, engineering and photography. Although he said that there can be a taint to commercial success I was extremely impressed to find that his Robot Trace (left) had been bought by Adobe and reinvented as the Trefoil logo on the Acrobat packaging.
The pieces that I found most interesting were those formed by three lengths of illuminated electroluminescent wire spinning, at varying speeds, from a central point. The idea is a simple one but the effects are myriad and the photographs that record the work are superb.(Below)

















Andrea Gregson spoke of her residency at the Garden Museum (formerly the Museum of Garden History) and her 'Peepshow Boxes'. The idea of peeping into hidden worlds has an element of voyeurism about it but we all love being let in on a secret. 'A World Within' (above and below) reminds me of a rough packing case from the outside but the inside is covered with soft buttoned padding which could be interpreted as luxurious upholstery or as the inside of a padded cell from a lunatic asylum. The contents of this piece resemble pieces of fine white broken porcelain the texture of which contrasts wonderfully with the padding and rough timber.
The piece in the garden cemetery (left) fascinated me as the broken ceramics stacked on the internal shelves reminded me of the way bones are stacked in charnel houses when, like the broken ceramics, they are no longer fit for their original purpose. There was also an element of 'grave goods' about the idea of objects inside a wooden box in a grave yard.

Karen Purple - Terre Verte

Karen Purple has built up a personal archive of materials found on hers walks in the Oxfordshire countryside from which she frequently extracts materials with which to conduct her experiments with natural colours.

In her exhibition, Terre Verte, is an impression of her studio with neatly tied bundles of her samples of natural pigments on linen, canvas, cotton and wool fabrics. Alongside these are jars of the ground pigments and samples of what they are ground from, such as Crab Apple on linen shown above left.

Her pictures and their titles, such as 'Of Oak and Iron' and 'Shadow Parcels' (right), evoke the moods of nature and are built up of many subtle layers which deserve time to observe their hidden relationships.

Underscan

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's Underscan, North Terrace, Trafalgar Square, 5pm - midnight. From either end of the terrace two powerful spotlights cast shadows of passing pedestrians onto the pavement.

In theory the motion of these shadows is tracked and interacts with video portrait projections on the floor. On the day that I visited there were obviously technical problems being sorted out, by technicians up ladders, and the video projections were either animated or still as opposed to interactive. The 'sleeping' image shown above should have 'woken up' as the shadow passed over it.

However it was still interesting to see peoples reactions and to watch them try to interact with the video people. Those images that physically reached out to their audience seemed to be the ones that gained most active responses.

To coincide with the installation a retrospective of Lozano-Hemmer's work is being shown in the digital suite at the ICA

National Portrait Gallery

On the way to see the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery I came across the stunning new commission portrait of Zaha Hadid by Michael Craig-Martin. This vivid digital portrait changes colour constantly, sometimes the changes are subtle and almost imperceptible, sometimes almost violent in their mood swings, always mesmeric to watch.

Also on show is Champions: Portraits by Anderson & Low. Striking nude studies of internationally famous athletes that celebrate the physiques of sports men and women at the peak of their careers. Classically posed and shot in black and white, to support the Elton John Aids Foundation, these are stunning photographs that question the vulnerability of even the super-fit to HIV/AIDS.Diver Carlie Gidman is pictured left.

The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize was well worth the visit selected from the entries of over 2,500 photographers were some very moving images set alongside classical portraits and some that asked deeper questions. Of the prize winners my favourite is Bag by Hendrik Kerstens which is being used for the publicity (right)

Claire Morgan: Periphery

Claire Morgan: Periphery is showing at the James Hockey & Foyer Galleries, UCA Farnham until 10th January 2009.
Fantastic Mr Fox looks at mans impact on the natural environment. The 'cage' into which the fox is apparently about to walk is constructed from scraps of plastic, a comment on the way in which man impacts upon the land with his careless disposal of 'unnatural' materials. Just above ground level tiny scraps of meat are suspended, perhaps evidence of the fox's lunch? Foxes, in common with other scavengers are frequently maimed and killed as a result of mans carelessness. Wounds from broken glass or jagged metal are common and ingesting plastic can prove fatal.
Cats & Dogs looks quite different from different angles and deserves to have time taken in observing the play of light and shadow and the different densities of the structures within the work. The way in which the density of the plastic scraps impacts on the appearance of the two glossy black crows is fascinating. Crows are often portrayed as menacing but here among the white plastic scraps they take on a surreal beauty that is echoed in the shadows cast on the walls.

Leaves suspended inside the Foyer Gallery continues into the outside spaces as if passing straight through the glass wall
At first glance a beautiful trail of crisp autumn leaves, closer inspection reveals not only dead leaves but also the remnants of dead birds posing the question why is a dead leaf beautiful and a dead bird not?

Surface Matters

Surface Matters: Machine Drawings by Tetsuo Fujimoto at the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation. Encompassing the macro and the micro the large wall hangings flow and undulate as almost three-dimensional landscapes when viewed from across the room, however when view at close quarters they can be almost overwhelming and force the viewer to really concentrate on the macro of what is before them.
On Friday 14th November I was fortunate to be able to attend 'Tetsuo Fujimoto in conversation with Lesley Millar', a wonderful experience. Professor Fujimoto spoke at length in English and, with the help of digital images, provided delightful insights into the background to his work. He took questions from the floor (translated for clarity by his son) and responded generously, imparting gems of knowledge in English. His wonderfully gentle sense of humour shone through when he spoke of his work as 'just sewing', we all knew that it is so much more. After the main talk we were treated to a demonstration of his working methods. With the larger pieces taking three months to make, the layer on layer of stitching gradually builds to a richly textured surface that deserves to be given the honour of time spent viewing it - the more you look the more in tune with it you become. I shall continue to take great pleasure in viewing his work every time I enter our library at Farnham.

Salisbury Arts Centre

Housed in an old church Salisbury Arts Centre has a regularly changing series of exhibitions, events and performances. The current exhibition, Hang it!, focuses on non painted wall hung works.

Maike Barteldres is a jeweller who works with non-precious stone such as slate. When incorporated into jewellery the intrinsic details of the stone become apparent and take on a preciousness of their own. For this show Maike is showing larger pieces of slate that incorporated jewellery. She says that 'nothing can exist in isolation, by working jewellery into a larger wall piece I give it a context when it is not being worn'. 5 part wall piece from slate holding one silver ring (above left).

Carol Farrow works with hand made paper which she works onto with linen thread, acrylic paint and wax. She often combines pieces for an almost sculptural quality and allows her colours to flow freely. The top surface of wax can produce an almost leather-like quality that, visually at least, turns the vulnerability of paper into the toughness of hide. Curve, 145 x 94cm (above)