Anthony Gormley Another Time, Sculpture in Margate

Another Time  is one of Anthony Gormley's solid cast iron figures that has been sited outside the Turner Contemporary Gallery. It  is a part of series of one hundred, solid cast-iron figures produced by Antony Gormley, that have been sited all around the country.

The sculpture is sited on the beach and is submerged at high tide. As the tide goes out the figure is revealed, becoming fully visible a few hours before low tide.

These figures are cast from Anthony Gormleys own body and  Antony Gormley describes these isolated forms, cast from his own body as "an attempt to bear witness to what it is like to be alive and alone in space and time"

Despite the notice not to walk out to the sculpture, many people find it irresistible and want to touch the figure of stand next to it and take photos.

I must admit I did walk out there myself, the walk along some old parts of structure on the beach is slippy with seaweed and shells!

The sculpture is here till the 30th November.
On the Turner Contemporary website you can see  Sarah Martin, head of exhibitions discussing the sculpture and a link to a TED talk where Anthony Gormley talks about his work.

I also worked digitally to place Another Time in other places in Margate.

Self Exhibition at Turner Contemporary

Image from MoMA

I've been to see the new exhibition Self at Turner Contemporary a few times now and plan further visits as there is a lot to see and appreciate. gallery website here

Image from Turner Contemporary website

 

I had to keep reminding myself that they were all self portraits at first, as my automatic tendency was to think who was the person in the portrait that the artist had painted?  then ah, I'd think that would be themselves. It is unusual to have an exhibition just of self portraits from many artists.
I made a few very quick sketches as I went round.

There is a wide range of work from the 1600's to present day and including the great self portrait from Van Dyck,  around which the gallery organized the exhibition.

There are quite a few women artists in the exhibition, which is good to see, including Mary Beale, Louise Bourgeois, Sarah Lucas and Gillian Wearing.

Other artists include Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Graham Sutherland, Edward Lear and Sir Francis Grant.


image from the National Portrait Gallery

I was particularly struck by a little painting by Richard Parkes Bonington  1914. The image is of the artist working on a painting,  the viewer looks at his back, with the artist wearing a long coat.

Image from National Portrait Gallery

The self portrait of Paule Vezelay is expressive and stylized in soft pinks and greys and there was something joyful about her.

Louise Bourgeois work included a five legged cat like creature in bronze which I was drawn to and a sketch of the sculpture on a piece of fabric.

The exhibition is well worth visiting and I will be going back to see it again. It runs till the 10th of May.

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.

New Installation at Turner Contemporary Gallery Margate

Outside the Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate. artist Krijn de Koning has made a site specific installation. I really like the work which is called Dwelling (Margate/Folkestone)  and consists of a series of walls in different colours making room like spaces.

The second installtion is in Folkestone as part of the Folkestone Triennial, which I haven't seen yet. Folkestone Triennial website here

I like the changing views as you walk around the space, all the colours and the shadows changing the colours too. The cut outs in the walls frame views around the gallery too and a glimpse of the sea.

The work is described on the Turner Contemporary website. link here

 "Dwelling (Margate / Folkestone) has a strong sense of place, having been conceived for two different locations in Kent. Both sites have a strong connection through their coastal locations and history as popular destinations for leisure and tourism during the 19th and 20th centuries. 

What both sites have in common is an attempt at providing some sort of protection or shelter: the fake Victorian caves or grottoes on the one hand, versus the hard-edged contemporary architecture of Turner Contemporary on the other. Both sites lend themselves to this notion of a ‘dwelling’, which in turn plays with the traditional idea of seaside pavilions and beach huts, a common feature of the UK coast. "

The Red Ladies come to Margate

I was down at the harbour and Turner Contemporary Gallery on Friday to see The Red Ladies from Clod Ensemble. Their website here  They are part of the Summer of Colour, website here  Lots more events to see and take part in on the website.

This is an ongoing performance that takes identically dressed woman, in black raincoats, red head scarfs, red heels and red cases and puts them in various site specific perfomances.

 Their appearance reminds me of 1950's styles and there is something a little bit menacing and a little bit exciting about seeing them appear, silent and purposeful.

The Red Ladies appeared inside the gallery, up on the roof, around the harbour and on the steps.

Some also took to the sea in boats, waving from a dinghy and a sail boat as they sailed around the harbour arm.

Members of the public looked on some amused some curious. I liked the juxtaposition of the Black Riders from Poland, and the Red Ladies. The bikers were also down around the harbour.

Late Night event at Turner Contemporary

On Friday the Turner Contemporary Gallery held one of its Late Nights, Paint and Play evenings.
The thing about having only one big gallery here in Margate does mean that I try to get to most of the events.

Friday evening had a number of events, Big paint with David Price, The Future of the United Kingdom with Jeremy Bailey and T-Shirt Hack with Blockcolour.


I went first to the Big Paint session upstairs in the Clore Learning Studio. Here David Price and Turner staff had set up the space with large sheets of paper, paints and a range of brushes and sponges. The aim was to experience a bit of the way Helen Frankenthaler worked on the floor with abstract shapes.

David explained well the ideas and potential way of working to us, though of course we had the time limiting factor of people waiting for their turn, different materials and groups of people on most work.

But despite that I really enjoyed having a go. I don't usually work on the floor or on such a large scale so it was good to just do that. As I worked, not having any pre planned ideas, I could see the potential for working in that way if I get a chance, with more of an idea of what I wanted to say. David was a good tutor too, encouraging and pushing people to really look and consider their work.

Downstairs in the shop Blockcolour had set up a Tshirt printing space, so I had to have a go. Queues were building up as I left.


In the Foyle Rooms Jeremy Bailey had set up an interactive painting installation where holding a control wand people could dance and move. As they moved projected on a giant screen appeared the person holding hi tech paint guns which sprayed colours and effects, while other projections of a postapocalyptic landscape appeared.

I enjoyed some of the children having a go and Jeremy took to the floor while I was there, but I didn't quite have the energy to have a go myself.

Outside with the light fading the harbour, lighthouse and the water shone with reflected light.

 

 

Making Painting, Helen Frankenthaler and Turner at Turner Contemporary

The Turner Contemporary gallery has a new exhibition called Making Painting: Helen Frankenthaler and J.M.W. Turner.  Gallery website here
Ruth and I went to the opening night last Friday and it was good to see the gallery full of people.

The exhibition has a good selection of Turner's paintings which I enjoyed looking at closely. Most of the paintings don't have a barrier infront of them, which is great for looking close up, and as there are some small works you can really see the details.



The Evening Star Image from John Lewis website

There are quite a few works that I'll be going back to look at again including The Evening Star which is a deceptively simple painting with a wide expanse of sea, sand and sky. On the beach a boy with a shrimping net and a dog and in the sky a single star. The star is a pale point of light, not easily seen in the print, but a reflection is also on the sea.
The painting is one of Turner's atmospheric works where the effects of light and subtle changes in colour are all explored. A lovely painting and worth studying.


In Boats off Deal just a few brush strokes indicate the boats sailing in a  choppy sea, with the beach in the background. The small painting has the same power of the elements that Turner seemed to love with atmospheric lighting.  I also enjoy seeing his pictures of local Kent scenes. Maybe the gallery will show all the Margate and Kent pictures they can find one day.

There are restrictions on copyright for Turners little graphite drawing of Coniston Fells 1799 so I can't find an image to show here. But I was struck by the sweeps of grey clouds the subtle tones in the landscape and a vertical object like a piece of a broken wooden structure.  I think I will go back to sketch that drawing in more detail.

I don't remember seeing any of Helen Frankenthaler's paintings before. This is her first major exhibition since her exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1969. I am really pleased that the gallery has been showing work by woman artists as most exhibitions still go to male artists.
Helen Frankenthaler was married to Robert Motherwell who is much more well known as is often the case with artists partnerships.

In this exhibition there are early works by her including Hotel Cro-Magnum 1958 which is a large vibrant painting, the name referencing the hotel that she and Robert Motherwell stayed in during a visit to Europe. The paint floods the canvas, Helen Frankenthaler painted with the canvas on the ground, the composition has suggestions of place and form and spontaneity.

Hotel Cro-Magnum image from Art Fund website

In the 1960's She painted Saturn with striking colours of yellow gold, turquoise and ultramarine. There is something of the night sky about the work and of the sun or yellow earth. A lovely quality of energy about the painting too.

Saturn image from BBcCwebsite

In 1992 her painting Overture is filled with green brushstrokes a swirl of green and yellow light and touches of pink and white a little like blossom. A darker passage of colour sits in the foreground. The painting has qualities of landscape that I really respond to.

Overture, image from Art Fund website

After looking at the paintings I was struck by how spontaneous they were, the difficulty in putting down in one move all that you want to convey in a work is very difficult I know. So these paintings impressed me with this singular translated vision and I wondered how many times she got the paintings just right.

So I was pleased to find this little quote from Frankenthaler about just this subject.


"A really good picture looks as if it's happened at once. It's an immediate image. For my own work, when a picture looks labored and overworked, and you can read in it—well, she did this and then she did that, and then she did that—there is something in it that has not got to do with beautiful art to me. And I usually throw these out, though I think very often it takes ten of those over-labored efforts to produce one really beautiful wrist motion that is synchronized with your head and heart, and you have it, and therefore it looks as if it were born in a minute." In Barbara Rose, Frankenthaler (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1975, p. 85)

I recommend the exhibition which is running till
 May 11th 2014.