contemporary art in a community setting
Simon brought the Grennan and Sperandio paintings to hang at the Angels. The paintings show significant sites around the geographic areas of the city. They had been identified by CN4M workers as “hot-spots” of CN4M activity. The artists took that information and visited the sites, to try to feel what the places were like. So the paintings are based on their own subjective response. Next they made images, manipulated these to reflect their responses and then sent these to be turned into oil paintings by renderers – those technicians who spend their whole time reproducing the images of others in paint. So the application of the paint bears no relation to the feelings – the image is everything – the painting is simply a way of producing it.
I’d already seen the work in reproduction – on j.pegs – but this was my first encounter with the actual paintings. They surprised me in scale, and the richness of the oil paint. Despite the apparent distance of the artists from their production, the paintings had a warmth about them. The hanging in the centre was also surprising. They looked just right with the faulty flouresent lights, the tables, safety information and the hat stand.
Simon and I kept missing each other as I pulled into the car park, he pulled out. I had to dash over to The Waterloo Centre at the appointed time as I know how mad busy they are.
