Mr Lion exhibition at Turner Contemporary

We, Blank Canvas,  have a second exhibition, based on the mysterious and enigmatic Mr Lion, at Turner Contemporary, on show now till the 8th of January.   Link to the website here.

  In this exhibition called Mr Lion 14, we are showing a couple of short films with a soundtrack and a series of photographs which have been printed in the polaroid style. The work in part, reflecting the fictitious relationship we created to Mr Lion.

The film is as mysterious as the character of Mr Lion, using film we shot in various locations including, Dreamland, Quex Park, Turner Contemporary and Margate seafront.

Our photographs explore what we realized was the uncatchable nature of this figure, working with shadows, reflections, movements, balloons and spheres to indicate fragments of who we thought this Mr Lion was, and what sort of life he lead.

The exhibition invites the viewer to also explore this character, using the fragments and clues we provide. We also welcome any ideas about Mr Lion generated from the exhibition to our  twitter feed here

Experiments in photography for Mr Lion film.

We are finishing our project on Mr Lion at Blank Canvas with a film about this mysterious character.

 

All of us have different ideas about who or what he might be and have explored this through, sound, print, photography and other visual arts. This culminated in an exhibition earlier in the year at Turner Contemporary.

Following our explorations with Lucy Steggles, our lead artist and others, we have decided that Mr Lion is essentially ungraspable and this is what our film will be about.  At the moment all our photography and filming is being put together for an edit. And will hopefully be ready for a screening in the Autumn.

As part of this exploration of the ungraspable and mysterious, we have been using various props including, balloons, glass balls and shadows. I have enjoyed these experimentations and the painterly effects that some abstract photographs have. I can see more cross overs from these abstract works with painting.

Opening of Mr Lion Exhibition Turner Contemporary Gallery Margate.

 

Mr Lion opened at the Turner Contemporary Gallery last Tuesday.  It was good to see our group Blank Canvas's work on the gallery walls. Link to the exhibition here  Article in the Thanet Gazette here

 

We had been planning the show for a few weeks and my painting Call of the Wild rather than my artists book, was my choice in the end for the show.

 

We had the Lion bars, Battenberg cake, biscuits tea and coffee ready and some art tables for people to experiment with  making something.

There was an opening speech and Blank Canvas was praised for our work in the exhibition, for supporting Turner Contemporary and for being part of their vision for the gallery.

We had a lot of visitors and I think most people were interested and intrigued by the idea of Mr Lion.

The show is on till 22nd March 2015 Tuesday till Sundays 10 till 6pm

Mr Lion Exhibition at Turner Contemporary Gallery

Call of the Wild painting

I'm part of an arts group, Blank Canvas that meets at Turner Contemporary most weeks. We have been working on a project using an old card of Mr Lion that the lead artist Lucy Steggals found.
Lucy's website here.http://lucysteggals.co.uk/

This mysterious character has been explored through a variety of mediums including, photography, print, sound and stage and we have put together an exhibition which will open at Turner Contemporary on the 10th of February  till 23rd of March. Tuesday to Sundays

The opening event is on the 10th 4.30 till 6.30pm everyone welcome.  link to the exhibition on the gallery's site here  I am showing my painting, Call of the Wild.

I've been continuing to work on my Mr Lion sketchbook and would like to continue exploring the lions that were at Dreamland in Margate. I especially like the stories of lions being walked on Margate beach.

There is a great exhibition of self portraits on at Turner Contemporary too called self. More about that later.

Work on the Mr Lion Project

I have been working on some pieces for the Mr Lion project that we have been exploring in Blank Canvas at the Turner Contemporary Gallery. Link to Blank Canvas facebook page here.

Artist Lucy Steggals suggested the project following her own exploration of other figures from a series of old cards she found. Lucy's website here.

It has been an interesting few months, also working with other artists, playing around with ideas about Mr Lion's character, where he might live, what possessions he might have and what he looks like amongst other things.

We all have different ideas about Mr Lion and will be showing some of these in an exhibition, details to follow.

I have an artists book made from Japanese paper, collage and print, using the letters of the name Mr Lion and have a sketch book where I have been keeping ideas.