Affordable Art Fair, Bristol (18/05/12)

Last week I had the good fortune of returning to Bristol to go to the Affordable Art fair at Brunel's Old Station. As a first-time attendee, I was surprised by the overwhelming amount of work on display yet a little mystified by the atmosphere - that of an upper-class cattle market. The lower limit of £40 for artworks was hard to be found, perhaps because art dealers know that the sort of people who attend affordable art fairs do not look for bargains, but instead wish to celebrate their own embourgeoisement in a show of wealth. 

Although there was a lot to see, and in some respects much diversity to the work on show (I was pleased to see wax and resin implemented within the category of painting), I was left jaded at the lack of inventiveness in the majority of paintings. On the whole, I found them to be unsurprisingly commercial and, in most parts, highly generic. This is not to be taken as outright criticism, as it is to be expected at an art fair; the general public are invited to purchase a piece of art for their homes, not a sensational, avant-garde masterpiece. In complete contrast to most of what could be seen at the fair, it is often felt amongst art students and emerging artists that boundaries need to be pushed, albeit in terms of subject matter or media. This does not seem to be true of 'contemporary fine artists' as they are often known. 

While I am always in awe of artists who can skilfully handle egg tempera, or have a mastery of charcoal drawings, or etchings and so on, it is predictable and tiresome to see endless landscapes, women in beautiful dresses, Matisse-alikes etc. The general standard of paintings on show was high, however they possessed such a stylistic appeal that I found it difficult to admire the workmanship.

On a positive note, there was plenty to enjoy about the art fair. The Degree Art stall was a world away from the bustle of high-end art dealers in other stalls, and I really enjoyed Brighton artist Maria Rivans' box-collages a few stalls down. 

Louise McNaught (Degree Art) - Wilder

Sophie Derrick (Degree Art) - Head of O.B.

Maria Rivans - Party Area 2

I also thought that the sculpture on show was incredibly dynamic and offered so much more. Perhaps it is the tactile nature of a 3D object that draws the viewer to it, but I was largely impressed by the range of materials utilised by sculptors in the fair. There was a strong theme of animals, as ever, but each artist seemed to have a highly characteristic approach and an individual take on their subject. Beth Carter's mythological bronze statues were dazzling, as were the amusing Pug 'furnishings' dotted around by Dominic Gubb.

Beth Carter - Cat and Pigeon

Dominic Gubb - Leather Pug

F.N. Souza

"i can't differentiate good from evil, purity from perversity and all the nice little recipes for human conduct laid out in platitude and sermons and if i could, i'd always choose evil and perversity, hell and brimstone, fornication and corruption."

From the Migrations exhibition at Tate Britain.

London galleries - highlights (08/04/12)

Euan Uglow at Browse & Darby - Radical Clarity
I was lucky to spot a small announcement for this exhibition in Galleries magazine, and the works included really made the visit all the more worthwhile. Having studied some of Uglow's works in college (I had chosen several figurative paintings to reference purely on aesthetics), I hadn't really gained a true understanding of his practice until recently; some of the featured paintings really consolidated my feelings towards the work. 

Euan Uglow - "The Quarry, Pignano", 1979-80

In particular, "The Quarry, Pignano" had been a key influence in one of my A-level projects and I had admired Uglow's use of colour and strong form. However, as with all paintings, it is not until you see it face-to-face that you really grasp the fleshiness of the paint and its application. "Sue Wearing a Blue Swimming Cap" and "Marigold" also caught my eye with their bold composition and subtle line.

Chris Orr at the Royal Academy - Lithorrgraphy
After a wander around the Johan Zoffany exhibition, the smaller Tennant Gallery offered some light relief from Georgian conversational painting in the form of a selection of humourous prints in Orr's seemingly distinctive visual language. I found them engaging for the collage and illustrative elements; also for the childish captions and the overt nostalgia. The imagery largely reminded me of Ladybird children's books (Things to Make and Do, Read it Yourself, etc.)

Chris Orr - "I Want to Dress Up Like a Green Grocer", 2000

I was also very much reminded of a documentary I had watched about Eduardo Paolozzi and his early obsession with collage which of course led to the Bunk! series and more.

Eduardo Paolozzi - "Collage", 1953

Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries - Annual Exhibition
A highly rich and diverse amount of work was on show here from both established and unknown painters, with an inevitable tendency for realism. With such a saturated market for photorealism in portaiture, the paintings that appealed to me most were a little more experimental with material, media and composition; they just seemed much more characteristic of the individual subject. 

Notable work included:

Malcolm Ashman - "Mask"

Tony Noble - "Portrait of a Man in a Striped Shirt"

Graham Flack - "Elliot II"

Sally Cutler - "Camberwell Heads"

Picasso and Modern British Art at Tate Britain
Several of my favourite works were shown - including "The Frugal Meal", "Girl in a Chemise" and some excellent (and previously unseen) pencil portraits, and I enjoyed the highlights on Picasso's work in theatre design. The general feeling of the exhibition was a little lacklustre for me, but after seeing "Guernica" at the Reina Sofia in Madrid a few years ago, perhaps my expectations were a little high.

Pablo Picasso - "Girl in a Chemise", 1905

Pablo Picasso - "The Frugal Meal", 1904

That said, the rooms that displayed the works of Francis Bacon, Graham Sutherland and David Hockney alongside Picasso's were a pleasant surprise and very informative to me in detailing his respective influence upon each artist. The Hockney prints were a particularly welcome sight.

David Hockney - "The student: homage to Picasso", 1973