A Private View With Rosy James

Rosy James at the Rose Tinted Gallery, Greenwich

Last night my wife Des and I were at Rosy James's Private View for her show in Greenwich. Rosy was in an invited guest artist in the Dimorphic Group Art Exhibition at the Rose Tinted Gallery. Having become firm friends with Rosy's Twitter "persona" @BrookwoodRosy it was wonderful to meet the lovely Rosy herself in the flesh. We were certainly not disappointed... in the lady herself or her stunning work!


Rosy showed the four pieces below at the show, and though having to contend with space restrictions they are the first pieces you see as you enter the gallery and, for me at least, were the stars of the show:

Lost Text in Violet & Grey

Lost Text in Vermillion

Mortal Coils

Internal Routes

Because it was a group exhibition in a fairly small space, as I said, Rosy could only show four pieces but Des and I were lucky enough to see more of Rosy's work that she had brought with her in the basement beneath the gallery, including several works that had become favourites of mine through viewing them on Rosy's blog and website.

As is the problem with viewing artworks in general online, seeing them on the web came nowhere towards preparing me for the delights of these works "in person". Flat reproductions can give one no idea of the textural and painterly qualities which are such an important feature of Rosy's work. Colour combinations are also somewhat exaggerated compared to the reality of the subtle and more restrained virtues of Rosy's deeply refined sense of colour. Rosy herself is an artist of obvious passion and her work communicates this with a resonance that live long in the memory. I would urge you to see her work too for real at any opportunity you may get, both now and in the future.

On a personal note, Des and I feel we have made a lasting friendship with Rosy whose warmth and utter passion in what she does is both obvious and compelling. It is a friendship we shall value and feel privileged to have made!

Rosy's Posterous Blog
Rosy James Website

For Your Tomorrow...

The Birth of Hope and Reconciliation

“When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today.”

The Royal British Legion

The Pencil Of Nature

"The most transitory of things, a shadow, the proverbial emblem of all that is fleeting and momentary, may be fettered by our 'natural magic', and may be fixed forever in the position which it seemed only destined for a single instant to occupy."

William Henry Fox Talbot, Some Account of the Art of Photogenic Drawing, 1839

Among the terms used to describe photography in its infancy were "fairy pictures", "natural magic", the "black art", "magic pictures" and "nature's marvels". Such concepts can be readily seen in the work of William Henry Fox Talbot, arguably the "true" inventor of photography, constituting as it did a mixture of mysticism and rigorous scientific experimentation.

In the opening pages of his seminal work, "The Pencil of Nature", Talbot listed the benefits he believed his invention would bring to both art and science. The book is not only recognised as the first commercially produced book to be illustrated with photographs but also constitutes the first philosophy of photography... its causes, effects and possibilities.

This was all taking place at a time when modern science in Europe was emerging. However, in many ways Talbot remained essentially a creature of the 18th Century insofar as he was influenced by a certain strain of mysticism which suffused his thoughts on the aesthetic possibilities of the new medium. In other words he was as much interested in the, to use his own term, "marvelous" aspect of photography as in its scientific aspects.

In my latest series of images, "The Natural Order", I have meant to convey something of this sense of the "marvelous" in regarding the natural world. Unlike my illustrious namesake, who was an accomplished botanist, I have little interest in the scientific details of my subjects. Nor do I have any wish to "show" in detail any aspect of them, for to show is to reveal and by revealing remove any sense of wonder or mystery. I have, therefore, used the term "photogenic drawings" to describe them, the same term that Talbot used to describe his images.

These images make no attempt to convey what I saw... I'm not sure they even convey what I felt in any expressive sense. They are arguably nothing more than an arrangement of light and shade that may reflect, more or less, a certain "look" which I wished to impose on the subjects, that is all.

Should the viewer see them as merely "visually pleasing" or decorative, then that's OK too...

You can see the full series on my website, Objectively Speaking:

The Natural Order :: Photogenic Drawings

Between The Flesh And The Spirit

Joel-Peter Witkin: Guernica Variations

The photographic work of Joel-Peter Witkin has been much on my mind of late. His work, easily and often dismissed as nothing more than an exploitative, ongoing horror show, does not make for comfortable or easy viewing. I myself own a copy of the Germano Celant definitive volume of his work (at least up to the mid 90s) and, even as an admirer of his work, I have to admit that it is a body of work I find difficult to view. I don't often do so, therefore.

And yet Witkin can not be so easily dismissed. The best of his work has an austere beauty that forces the viewer to confront their own ambivalence to the subject matter and feel a little uneasy about the relative surface delights of the actual treatment of it. His prints, seen in the flesh (if you will pardon the pun here), are sumptuous and viscerally exciting. And yet, and yet... one finds oneself caught between the oscillating feelings of both not being able to look away and the almost stomach churning notion of guilt when one realises just what one is being drawn to look at and the source of one's fascination. After all these years, perhaps alone in the canon, the capacity to shock of Witkin's images remains obdurately undiminished.

So is Witkin, as so often has been the accusation, depraved? Is his choice of and treatment of his subject matter merely and gratuitously exploitative? Well, "normal" is a term I would hesitate to apply to either Witkin or his work, but depraved? I think not. His body of work has by now accumulated a consistency and continuity that mitigates against any such easy conclusions.

In relation to his work, Witkin himself has quoted the following lines by William Butler Yeats...

I'm looking for the face I had
Before the world was made.

It has been said of his work that...

What distinguishes Joel-Peter Witkin from his contemporaries is a restlessness and desire that leads him to places others fear – the dark side where every glimmer of light is authentic. His milieu is nothing short of the greatest mystery that’s occupied humanity since its very beginnings, the ultimate question of life and death – questions that by their very nature are ultimately unanswerable, except in those personal, brief, and experiential moments when art bridges the gap between the senses and the intellect. No one occupies this ground better than Witkin.

Witkin makes art that can’t be dismissed or ignored. In fact, it achieves the status all art yearns for: no one, on seeing a Witkin image, can remain ambivalent. But this isn’t only a product of what Witkin chooses to photograph. No, it’s in how he takes this material and transcends its limitations. Using cadavers, hermaphrodites, hunchbacks, and others commonly known as freaks in general society, Witkin creates visual paradoxes that challenge our perception. Often criticized for sensationalism and the exploitation of his subjects, he actually lifts and redeems them and makes them central to his spiritual quest. Once photographed, they enter the eternal stream of art.

Of course the viewer must decide for his or her self if all this is indeed so, or apparent. And so below I include a link to a fairly representative selection of his work. It is not for the faint hearted or easily disturbed. If you would in any way feel uncomfortable about viewing graphic representations of the sort of subject matter outlined above, then don't go and look. You have been warned...

Masters of Fine Art Photography - Joel-Peter Witkin

Chris Billington and a Cornish Heritage

I am very excited that on the occasion of his new solo exhibition, Cornwall Heritage: Mines & Monuments, that Chris has agreed to write a few words about himself, his work processes and a brief introduction to the exhibition.

Chris sits comfortably alongside a long line of artists who have sought to capture the most special quality of the quintessentially Cornish light and atmosphere. With his dazzling colour sense and firm grasp of both form and content, Chris is surely up there with the best of his illustrious predecessors.

You may also remember Chris as one of the "star turns" of Anthony Gormley's recent "Plinth" extravaganza in Trafalgar Square!

I am very proud to be able to count Chris amongst my "Twitter" friends.


Cornwall Heritage: Mines & Monuments

I feel honoured and humbled to have been asked by Ian to write a few words about myself and my practice, and also my forthcoming exhibition.

I came to painting late in life, suddenly, inexplicably and totally out of the blue, I experienced an absolutely overwhelming desire to paint.
Almost completely self taught, and with absolutely no previous knowledge, but as though spirit driven, I am fortunate that my paintings have been very well received, and have sold well from the outset. My work is already in many private collections throughout Cornwall, the UK and internationally, including London, Moscow and New York.

I work in an instinctive way, focussed on a belief in simplicity and colour – aiming for a balance and a sense of pictorial space defined not only by the picture’s composition, but also it’s feeling, it’s sensation, until it arrives at its own spatial equality on the surface of the canvas.

Often with no direct visual reference, and working with an abstract minimalism that I feel usually gets closer to the truth than representational art, I seem to have developed a near spiritual intensity from nowhere and I have a life affirming desire to create and I am totally dedicated to life in the studio where I frequently paint for 50-60 hours a week.

This coming week, from August 18th, I shall be displaying a selection of new work for my first solo exhibition to be held at Falmouth. Entitled “Cornwall Heritage: Mines & Monuments”, it features 18 paintings depicting selected mines and monuments.

I have a strong connection with the Tin Mining industry. Not only had I spent many years working at Mount Wellington and Wheal Jane before their closure but also my forefathers had worked in the mines all over Cornwall and since at least the early 1600’s.

The mines and monuments were visited over a period of three months during the autumn of 2008, and painted during the following months, with the exception of Wheal Jane and Mount Wellington, which were painted entirely from memory and imagination. Working from my studio in Falmouth these powerful abstract and semi-abstract paintings are sparked with energy and strong vibrating colours influenced by the unique shapes and imagery of Cornwall, the land I grew up in.

Because of my relationship with tin mining these images are close to my heart. I am delighted to have produced work that brings to mind a vivid impression of my Cornish ancestry.



Chris with Geevor 2008/9 Acrylic on canvas 70cm x 75cm



Levant 2009 Acrylic on canvas 75cm x 75cm



Wheal Jane 2009 Acrylic on canvas 145cm x 110cm

All Images © Chris Billington 2009



Bio:

EXHIBITIONS

July 2008 Penzance Art School Summer Exhibition (GROUP)

August 2008 ‘Coast Exhibition’ Queens Hotel, Penzance (GROUP)

Nov & Dec 2008 Christmas Exhibition, City Gallery, Truro (GROUP)

Jan 2009 onwards The Lane Gallery, Truro (GROUP)

April 14 – 18 2009 Truro City Arts Festival (GROUP)

May 2009 Cornwall Open Studios (GROUP)

May 2009 Fal River Festival (GROUP)


CURRENT EXHIBITION

August 18 – 24 2009 ‘Cornwall Heritage – Mines & Monuments’, Falmouth Poly (SOLO)


FORTHCOMING EXHIBITION

Oct 17 – 30 2009 ’90 Years – 90 Artists’, The National Trust, Botallack Count House (GROUP)


PRESS

August 2008 The Cornishman

August 2008 The West Briton

March 2009 Cornwall Today

May 2009 The West Briton

July 2009 The West Briton

August 2009 Inside Cornwall


Contact: www.chrisbillington.com

Links: http://www.cornish-mining.org.uk/news/news.htm

Chris is @billingtonart on Twitter.

The Art Of Painting

No... not the Vermeer masterpiece but nevertheless an image I very much like for two very good reasons.

One, it was taken by my wife. And two, it's a picture of a little person who regularly lights up my miserable existence! Her name is Carmel, she has recently reached the great age of 3 years old and she is the daughter of my friends and neighbours, Kirsty and Pete.

We had been watching Carmel rapidly produce sheet after sheet of painted masterworks when, quite suddenly, she decided that, for a true expression of her artistic intent, paper would no longer suffice. Her masterstroke was to dispense with all concepts of figure and ground and bravely paint her own legs blue. An artistic statement of almost breathtakingly sophisticated invention. I had been witness to a breakthrough moment in the history of the art of our times!

The image below captures the moment when the artist posed in triumph for the camera. Some images can assume monumental importance as the mute documents of the great events of our time. This is one of those images.

If you want to read more of Carmel's adventures, do go and see her mum, Kirsty's blog on the trials, joys and frustrations of bringing up a little person eagerly discovering the world in leaps and bounds.


Image © Desirée Talbot 2009

The Work Of Danielle Kelly

Anybody who follows this blog certainly knows how much I admire the work of NYC photographer, Danielle Kelly. I have already written, in The Sum Of The Parts, about Danielle's stunning image, The Speaker, a print of which now hangs on the wall above my monitor here as I write this.

This image has now become a part of a larger set of equally stunning images that Danielle has created, entitled light shadow project. Wishing to provide a showcase to introduce her now completed piece I asked Danielle to write a short piece outlining the motivations and thought processes that led her to compile this dazzling set of new images. She has kindly agreed and her introduction follows these words.

Please note that you can see the complete project at Danielle's own website, along with more of her beautiful images.


light shadow project

My creative motivation stems from shooting mostly in available light as well as a study of the way light, or the lack of it, can transform the atmosphere of a scene. For me it also signifies depth... to take the mundane and turn it into something dramatic, or even "other worldly".

I grew weary of taking pictures of concrete things and striving for the perfect exposure, so sought, instead, an alternative way of seeing, using the light that existed naturally.

With the light shadow project I focused on metaphysical rather than literal subject matter. I found that I was able to add a new dimension to the communication between image and viewer, yet still retain my unique and personal voice as a photographer.

What exists in light also exists in darkness...

The trees spoke to me first... I adored the shapes and gestures that added another dimension to my images.

I then turned my eye away from the obvious and saw something more...

Something that expressed depth through the images. Things that take place behind or, at times, in front of the subject...

A certain light, occurring only at precise times of the day, that is decisive and not at all random. Almost like something left behind, as in a history or memory... something ghostlike.

A great photograph for me is one that motivates emotionally. It contains a sincerity in both conception and execution that comes from deep within.

My light shadow project embodies this for me.














All Images © Danielle Kelly 2009

Bio:

An emerging photographer in NYC, Danielle Kelly has an ardent passion for following light, contrast and composition. Her eye is uniquely penetrating but ever changing.

Currently her focus is black and white photography featuring street, portrait and landscape photography, shot mainly with available light in and around NYC.

Danielle is @daniellekelly on Twitter.

www.dkellyphotography.com
dkellyphotography.tumblr.com

Rude Food

As part of her day job, my wife, Desirée, shoots food (and other stuff) for a well known international food retailer. The image here wasn't shot for them but for her personal work.

She says the butternut squashes sort of caught her eye. She says the shape appealed to her.

Well... quite so. But is it art?


Image © Desirée Talbot 2009

Walkies

As I've said before I never carry a camera when I'm out. My work is rarely, if ever, dependent on "place" or location. When I'm out, therefore, I don't look for images, I look for ideas. I prefer to look and think rather than record.

"Walkies" is what I call the images you get when you go out with a camera looking for shots. Some people like to do it. My wife, Desirée, loves it.

Though not my own preferred way of working I have nothing per se against this modus operandi. I will say, however, that the results can so often be trite and repetitive. I quickly tire of being told what I already know and equally quickly of being shown it. I'm not interested in being shown what I could perfectly well see for myself (were I present, of course!). I want to be shown what I might not see or, more to the point, notice.

So here I'm showing some shots my wife has taken while out and about in London. I was with her at the time she made these images. They're not images I would have made. They're not images I would have noticed. If I had, I wouldn't have seen them in the same way.

That is why I like them.











All Images © Desirée Talbot 2009

A Blooming Talent

Yeah alright, I know my article titles get worse! Forgive me...

Forgive also the fact you may detect a note of understandable, if slightly biased, pride here too.

Apropos of my previous article, "Shoot What You Love Best", my wife, Desirée, would like it made clear that she doesn't only photograph wooden objects. This is indeed true; she shoots other stuff too. Stuff like, errr well... as you will see here, flowers.

Now, I'm not a great fan of most floral photography. It can tend towards the "cutesie" and mostly bores me witless. But I would definitely make an exception for the two images here. I like them...

But then I guess I would, wouldn't I!



Images © Desirée Talbot 2009