ARTISTS TALKING

# 77 [9 December 2009]

The Never Ending Multi-Story is a collaboration of four artists, each exploring the idea of alternative existences to that which they have become accustom to.
With each artist recently graduating from University, this exhibition enables the viewer to see fresh work emerging onto the contemporary art scene and gives insight into the direction the industry is moving towards.
Charlotte Radcliffe explores the idea of a hybrid world.  As we constantly strive to improve our surroundings with modern architecture, state of the art technology and the integration of cultures; our previous marks remain creating a juxtaposition between old and new.  Amongst the developments and re-developments, pockets of existence become lost in the process and it is these spaces, or ‘non-sites’ as Charlotte refers to them, that are explored through her work.
The paintings are abstract in their style, but are also representational of the themes and objects which have been explored, allowing the viewer to be able to place and relate to what they are seeing.  It successfully engages the viewer and invites them to visually explore further.  The colours that have been used seem to have been inspired by urban graffiti art; this demonstrated by the use of bright colours presented in a style to that which we see regularly tagged to walls and buildings in our day to day lives.  These colours are then composed with earthy tones and a darker feel is created through this.  An urban landscape is created where nature can be seen fighting to exist against the waste and unwanted items that we have left to be consumed and become a part of these ‘non-sites’. It is an exploration of an evolved hybrid landscape not belonging to any particular part of our society due to it being forgotten or deliberately ignored.  The idea of mixed elements is demonstrated well as she explores flat painted areas composed alongside sections aimed to be visually three-dimensional. 
There is certainly a feel of warfare explored in her work with colours associated with common camouflage being used together to create an urban jungle, and this could symbolise these ‘non-sites’ fighting to be seen and acknowledged.  It also plays with the idea of the nature battling with the artificial as we impose our ways upon the earth.  All in all it creates a visually rich experience and will hopefully encourage the viewer to think about the issues that the artist has addressed in her work...

# 76 [18 November 2009]

The Never Ending Multi-Story

Joss Cole, Anwyl Cooper-Willis, Chris Hill, Charlotte Ratcliff

21 November – 18 December 2009

Preview Friday 20 November

It is a fact of space science that there is such a body in the universe as a black hole; in a theory of quantum physics is proposed that at the centre of such a structure there is a form known as a singularity. A singularity it is surmised may provide a gateway between our universe and an infinite number of alternatives, which run unseen alongside our own. The theoretical notion of infinite alternatives may in some way relate to our own fantasies of alternative realities in which we may have taken different paths at one point or another in our lives.  Who or what would we be if we had turned left instead of right, rich and famous, happy. We always lean towards the positive, in some way feeling that our current experiences are somehow in complete, and that there must be somewhere better.

The four artists that feature in “The Never Ending Multi-Story” have not only just encountered their own singularity, in graduating from their respective arts degrees, but also explore ideas of alternatives through their works. These ideas document our relationship with our environment and how we exist there. Power, struggle, harmony, fragility and conflict are among some of the elements that are contained within the artists’ works. 

# 75 [9 October 2009]

John O’Hare – The Trouble With Monuments

6th – 20th November
AirSpace Gallery Window
As part of Dialogue Box 2009

       
In my practice I appropriate and manipulate familiar objects in order to challenge processes of recognition and interpretation. My work examines the public reception of the artist’s work and its problematic impact upon the determination of the artistic vision. Whilst artistic style and content can be borrowed or appropriated there is still a faith held in the importance of the artist’s work and of their ability to transcend the everyday or have something valuable to impart. The appearance of my work is based on arbitrary decisions with the aim that they will receive their credence and consequence by the viewer, resulting in me playing with the aspirations to meet fleeting judgements of taste that also determine engagement.

The Trouble with Monuments is a play on the classical figure and its display (something often reprised with shop window displays of mannequins); an obese torso complete with ambiguous stains becomes a monument to the larger, fuller figure, yet one that is also characterised by its interpretation as a messy glutton. The desire to impart some truth about the contemporary human body through a figurative work conflicts with being unable to resist forcing an interpretation on something that might be better served by saying nothing. This conflict continues with the materials used to render the plinths and what they support; both the plinths and references to classical style accentuate the metaphor of the plinth and display techniques as things that focus attention, bringing about a dialogue, and with it expectations.

www.airspacegallery.org
airspaceinfo@btinternet.com   
01782 261221

# 74 [9 October 2009]

...

As well as the film was the installation of an interactive clay wall that allowed visitors to touch and manipulate the clay in whatever way they wanted.  This was very popular with children visiting the gallery and allowed them to experience the feel of the material as well as creating some of their own works of art above the clay wall.  I felt this was an important aspect to the exhibition as the viewers could touch the clay to get a sense of what the artists were feeling and what it was like to use the material. 

A striking contrast to the clay wall was the bed of clay that sat opposite the wall.  Alexandra Engelfriet created a performance which involved manipulating the clay with only her body and the aid of water to wet the clay.  This was very intense as she recreated the techniques used in the Marl Hole film.  To be confronted with what you had viewed on a screen and to see how the material reacted in the flesh certainly put things into perspective.  Even though the area of the clay which she was manipulating was on a minute scale compared to the quarry, you realise just how exhausting working with such a material in this way is.  As the clay become wet and sticky, Alexandra had to fight with the material to free herself ready for her next move.  As the performance progressed you could see the fatigue consuming her as well as the material covering more and more of her body resulting in an epic struggle; again symbolising with the pottery industry and the struggles which it faced in its later years being consumed by capitalism and eventually being exported abroad to allow greater profits.

Over all I felt the exhibition was a great success.  The aim of the exhibition to confront the traditional idea of clay and its purpose was certainly achieved as well as symbolising the history and industry of the area.  Hopefully this will give new hope to the area by presenting the potential of ceramics in the art industry and recapture the enthusiasm of the material that was once felt whilst the Pottery Industry was still thriving. 

Stacey Booth

# 73 [9 October 2009]

Marl Hole 3rd - 31st October 2009

at AirSpace Gallery

as part of British Ceramics Biennial, Stoke on Trent.

The concept of Marl Hole was to challenge the traditional ideas and methods that have been applied to clay, and demonstrate a fresh approach to the material whilst using very primitive techniques.

Neil Brownsword, Alexandra Engelfriet, Torbjørn Kvasbø, Johnny Magee and Pekka Paikkari joined forces to make this work possible.  The artists visited Etruria Marl located in Staffordshire to embark on both a physically and mentally challenging task, to manipulate the landscape in order to create interventions which demonstrated the history and relationship between the creator and the material.  Over a period of just five days, each artist was confronted with the material in its rawest state and had to decide in what way they would alter the landscape to create their piece of work.
The event was filmed by Johnny Magee which clearly shows the strength and determination of the five artists as well as the exhaustion they face along the way.  The sheer scale of the Etruria Marl is daunting enough, but despite that the artists successfully created their work whilst enduring the elements and having limited resources.

Johnny Magee manages to capture the emotions and thoughts that the artists experience throughout his filming and this is achieved by focusing on the struggles and exertion that takes place.  If the film were to solely focus on the finished pieces, then the purpose of the project would have been lost.  It is only when you see the individuals using parts of their bodies to manipulate the clay and the sheer force needed to do it, that you start to appreciate the work on the level that it is intended.  The exhaustion felt by the artists is sympathetic to the past workers of the pottery industry by both demonstrating the back breaking work that they would undertake daily and scale of the industry at the time.  The fact the Etruria Marl exists from the now extinct pottery industry and that it looked so desolate and empty despite its vastness before the artists arrived; symbolises with the death of the industry and the large hole it has left within the area and its community.

continued...

# 72 [9 October 2009]

A Brave New World

AirSpace Gallery

September 2009

It seems that barely seconds have passed since that time when the world was full of boundless possibilities. A small muddy patch in the back garden might have been the site of a pitched battle between a legion of Lego men and incongruous plastic dinosaurs, or perhaps the space around the bed was a shark infested sea, you are the captain navigating between the perilous jagged wardrobe or the threatening bite of the cracken (usually an older family member in a bizarely patterned Christmas sweater).

Before the rot of tv and national insurance contributions sets in the world is your oyster and a thing of your own creation.

Talk to an average person on the street and ask them to describe what is meant by ‘abstract’ or ‘surreal’ and you might possibly be there for infinity. Now if you were to approach a former pupil of either Forest Park Primary school or Clarice Cliff Primary School at some time in the future and the answer would be there instantly.
For twelve days in each school over a period of around three months, David Bethell, Eleanor Babb and myself have been exploring 'Strange New Worlds' through a series of workshops with 7-8 year olds in year 3 classes. The children were put straight in at the deep end with the exploration of surreal and abstract concepts, in order for them to create an environment both distant but somehow familiar to us as viewers. The days of experimentation would culminate in an exhibition of artworks at AirSpace Gallery. Lasting just over a week the exhibition showed a combination of large-scale sculptures, experimental drawing and photography, and clay maquettes; each piece owing its existence to the creativity and imagination of a young mind.

Amongst the works were glimmers of recognisable memories from another time, distant maybe, but in reality not that far away. The power of art to develop a sense of wonderment was evident at the artists' first viewing of the final curated show. Not only were they seeing their own work in a new light but that of their compatriots from across the city. A spontaneous and almost unconscious critical debate occurred as similar and different themes emerged, and were either praised or derided.

Sometimes it seems as though the creativity of childhood is lost to the tedium of the everyday adult world of MOTs and risk assessments, and the constant drive to formalise what we do. However creating and viewing this work alongside those enquiring minds has shown me at least that that ideal state of mind is still just underneath the surface.

Andrew Branscombe

# 71 [13 August 2009]

Jin Han Lee – Beyond and Within

as part of Dialogue Box

AirSpace Gallery Window

18th – 31st August

An easy explanation of my current paintings is the awkward and strange relationship between layers created by using masking tape.  I create edged patterns, gradation, and big brushstrokes. I want to disorientate the viewer through the various techniques employed in my paintings, the dynamic created through use of spontaneous and  planned actions within each work reinforcing this state.  Tension and spontaneity are repeated between images and layers. 
By using “masking,” I am producing something that is not a picture in a picture.  My method is to paint over the masking tape then remove the tape so that the act of masking is an act of drawing.  The act of painting is not simply just placing colour onto the canvas but also the removal of the masking tape which cuts through the colour.

Using masking tape allows me the chance to focus on each image, as to show the image, I have to block the image.  There is a disjointed space within the image, between what is seen before and after the masking tape is removed, by cutting the tape I expose the core.

www.jinhanlee.com

# 70 [9 August 2009]

bernard charnley – the instability of spaces

as part of Dialogue Box-AirSpace window

5th – 14th August

The installation of paintings comment on the paradox of fragility but strength of  spaces, the ones we construct in our heads or those social and personal that we occupy, shape and exchange with everyday.

In location in the dialogue box, the floating random double suspension of the images in their box frames, and of the frames in the window space, opens a colourful conversation in the air. It is a playful exchange on its own tensions and contradictions that speaks also to the dynamics of our own desires and dreams.


www.bernardcharnley.co.uk

# 69 [9 August 2009]

Ecce Home Tesco

The show opened on the 26th June, introducing Stoke on Trent to Shaun Doyle and Mally Mallinson’s Devolution Theory. A theory that sees a Tesco dystopia where the human skeletal structure has devolved to cater for the new Tesco life, where the young are enrolled into the compulsory Tesco Youth and Tesco monuments are built to celebrate the chain.

A combination of strangely realistic skeleton figures and museum like artefacts create a history for our predicted future, the show is predominantly amusing, the children at the pre-view were seen to be pointing and laughing at the figures. Yet at the same time there are haunting undertones, could this actually happen? Or is it already happening? It was recently reported that the sale of forks was massively out numbering the sale of knives, could this be the beginning of our downfall, one hand shovels food while the other rests on the television remote. It could be that we are closer than we think to the fork shovelling seen in Doyle and Mallinson’s videos.

# 68 [15 June 2009]

Ecco Homo Tesco

27th June-25th July

In their latest work, 'Ecce Homo Tesco', Doyle and Mallinson present a range of horribly convincing and uncomfortably satirical dioramas, a conflation of contemporary concerns and debates. Dark yet humorous, modern props and scenarios are made to strange references loaded with pathos, mirroring society and our times: 'Behold the lazy, track-suited lager swilling man'.


Museum mounted skeletons and display cases of fake artifacts are installed in a celebration of regional museum displays and scientific hoaxes. Drawing on source material from bigfoot movie footage, fossil remains and commercial advertising, Doyle and Mallinson expand on ideas explored previously in 'Ecce Homo Erectus' recently shown at Venlo Stadhuis, NL.