Kashif Nadim Choudry comission by the Studio Group at Turner Contemporary.

The Studio Group at Turner Contemporary commissioned Kashif Nadim Choudry to make work for the Sunley Gallery. The exhibition is on till the 23rd April.

The installation called The Three Graces was made with the support and work of the Studio Group members and local artists and craftspeople.

I had a very tiny part cutting out some fabric for some of the flowers in one of our Blank Canvas sessions

"Kashif Nadim Chaudry (born 1976, Nottingham) uses elaborate textiles techniques to create sculptures and installations that explore themes of identity, religion and cultural heritage. The Three Graces is a large-scale installation of three richly decorative monumental figures inspired by triptychs in eastern and western culture." (from The Gallery website)

The installation wraps itself around the space with vine like plant forms, and other spherical forms, and horse skulls are brightly decorated with beads, threads and layers of fabric.

A Calming Stone,A Blank Canvas Happening at Turner Contemporary.

Blank Canvas organized a happening at Turner Contemporary last week, called A Calming Stone, as part of the closing day events for their exhibition.
We collected stones and pebbles from local beaches and arranged then in the gallery on one of the benches, over spilling to the floor.

The simple act of arranging them in size, colour and shape, turned an ordinary collection of random stones into something much more interesting and attractive.

Our plan was to invite visitors to select a stone, or rather let a stone select them, they could take their stone with them as they walked around the gallery and then return the stone to a sculpture on the floor, or select a stone and add it to the sculpture straight away.

We also encouraged visitors to think about why they chose their stone and if they wanted to, allow the stone to absorb any thoughts they wanted to leave behind.

We were returning all the stones and pebbles to the sea, and any thoughts left in the stones would be washed away in the sea.


Well a lot of visitors were interested in the event, talked about their choice of stones, love of collecting or memories of collecting from their childhood.

For some, the stones called to them straight away, others took their time. Visitors described things such as the texture of their stone,the patterns and suggested images they could see on the stone, the noise it made, what it reminded them of and qualities like love.

 Some took their stones away with them as they explored the gallery and became quite attached to them. There is something very tactile and soothing about holding a stone or a pebble.

Everyone however wanted to be part of what was a ritual in someways, and added their stone to the growing sculpture on the floor. We had envisaged a spiral but went with what the visitors co created.

After the event we collected all the stones and pebbles together and all took some of them with us to return them to the sea.

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

Venice Agendas and the Breadman at Turner Contemporary.

Tatsumi Orimoto

Not being able to get to Venice for the Biennale, I was intrigued to see that Turner Contemporary were advertising, the Venice Biennale comes to Margate. with a day called  Venice Agendas.   Crossing Borders The Right to Fail.

The day featured talks, performances, discussions and films. with a whole series of events streamed live through the Periscope App.  This is an app that works on phone and tablet primarily, so I could set it up on my pad.  Turner Contemporary were streaming a lot of events in their gallery on the day too.
This meant I could  watch Jon Adams's performance in Games with the Waterhorse, at home before I went down to the gallery in the afternoon.


 

 I was interested in seeing the artist Tatsumi Orimoto, who has performed all over the world, especially as 'Breadman' Strapping loaves and baguettes of bread on his face, Orimoto travels by train and bus and walks in public performing his communication art. Bread has many associations, with the body, as food, currency and with poverty, but for Orimoto its also about investigating how people respond to him.

Yesterday Orimoto took the Loop bus from Broadstairs to Margate as Bread Man, he is filmed on these performances, and at Turner Contemporary, I watched his travels on the bus before he arrived, smiling at the other passengers expressions to this strange sight.

The weather was terrible, really strong winds, so it was a struggle for Orimoto to walk to the gallery, where he also held a drawing performance, Breadman Performs Lies and signed pieces of bread for visitors.

Breadman Paints Lies

I enjoyed seeing him and watching the performances, Orimoto intrigued me, an elderly Japanese artist, who has been performing Breadman for 30 years or more across the world, he was engaging with a sense of humour and obvious love for his mother, who is also a part of his life and art.

 

In the downstairs gallery there were a series of lovely photographs showing Tatsumi Orimoto's performances and his mother often with bread too. I asked Orimoto if his mother knew much about his art, (she has Alzheimer's) he said not, which I thought was sad, she is in hospital while he travelled to do his performance this time. Orimoto said he is the sole carer for his mother, Art Mama, they share a traditional house in Kawasaki.



Artist Ruth Proctor also performed OK, Set, Drop at one of the exhibits in the Risk exhibition. I watched and filmed as Proctor climbed the 4metre scaffolding and dropped backwards onto a stack of cardboard boxes, with a loud bang.

Disarm (Mechanized) Pedro Reyes

I watched the Disarm(Mechanized) performance by Pedro Reyes, Reyes has for some years been transforming weapons, seized by the Mexican army from drug cartels and turning them into musical instruments. They are controlled by computers and perform in the gallery regularly.

So good to see these events, which left me with a desire to find out more about the artists, especially
 why they were doing the things they were doing.

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.

Grayson Perry at Turner Contemporary

photo from Turner Contemporary website

 

I have down to visit the Grayson Perry exhibition, Provincial Punk, at Turner Contemporary a few times, since its opening. I still haven't watched all the videos, but have spent time with the pots and tapestries and maps that Grayson Perry makes so well.

In the first room there is a good selection of his pots, from the 1980's to the present day. I responded to the Anti Thatcherite, class war themes, sexual freedoms and anti war messages, collaged, written and painted on the vases and pots of various types.

photo from Turner Contemporary website

Grayson Perry describes them as "stealth bombs"  as they are visually attractive and decorative at first glance, then a closer inspection shows the messages he wants to convey.

Photo from Turner Contemporary website

In the other gallery rooms, some of Grayson Perry's collages, maps and videos are showing, along side his large tapestries, including the Walthamstow Tapestry, which I'd seen in Walthamstow when it was first exhibited.

 

The maps and tapestries include many of the labels we seem to be in love with as consumers, as well as modern tribes and tourist destinations. The tapestries are bright and visually arresting, woven in Flanders, as were so many historic pieces. I am pleased that we still have places left doing such crafts.

Photo from Turner Contemporary website.

I made a few visual notes in my sketch book and will spend a bit more time looking at the work again.

Photo from Turner Contemporary website.

The exhibition is on till September 13th   and is well worth visiting, though if you have young children be aware that there are some themes that are adult in nature, the gallery is closed on Mondays.