Exhibitions

I had an unexpected treat when I visited Anthony Eyton to collect the paintings and drawings which are going to be included in ‘Now and Then’, an exhibition of current figurative artists living and working in the East End opening here on the 28^th November. Anthony is no longer living in Spitalfields, but he had a studio in Hanbury Street at the end of the 60’s, when he was drawn to Spitalfields and Whitechapel by the noise, colour and vibrancy of the area.

He had managed to get most of the paintings together, but was still unable to find a couple, so that meant a lot of rummaging through stacked up paintings, looking for the elusive ones. Nothing nicer I think, because of course we discussed the paintings we came across as we searched, in a much more companionable way than you’d expect given that I hadn’t met him before.  We were drawn together for the time being by the magic of seeing old friends for him, and the magic of seeing the many facets of his work for the first time for me.

This painting, from his studio in Hanbury Street in 1981, encapsulates for me his view of the East End at the time. No sky, just an overwhelming sense of buildings one after the other, run-down, but not depressing.  A sense of lives lived on top of each other, but where someone has made a tiny patch of green amongst the endless brick.  His is a gaze of great fondness for the city and although his paintings in the exhibition are mainly about the buildings, you sense a great love of life at the heart of them all.

 

This is by Laura Knight who is exhibiting her ‘Pottery Marks’ at Town House from 17 November – 3 December. I like the way she takes something old which has been in ordinary daily use for sufficient time that people take it for granted, eating off their willow pattern plates without thinking about it, and she takes it, turns it round in her hands and considers it, making us stop and look anew. Because we see something every day, it is easy to overlook the beauty of it: familiarity breeds not quite contempt, but perhaps indifference and it is good to be made to open our eyes to the freshness of that original design. In particular it’s difficult, perhaps, to appreciate how exciting the arrival of Chinese art and design was for Europeans in the mid eighteenth century and interesting to see how those new currents that influenced Chambers and Chippendale were then appropriated for general use, inevitably acquiring their own popular stamp. Laura brings it full circle making us appreciate the force of that original design.

Pottery Marks by Laura Knight at Town House.
18 November – 3 December 2011
Tuesday – Sunday 11.30 – 6
Private View 17 November 6 – 9

Kerry and Gemma approached me with their idea for this exhibition earlier in the year and I was intrigued by the idea of the juxtaposition between old and new and the idea of a walk in Cabinet of Curiosities.

This is what Kerry and Gemma have to say about For Our Freedom Years, currently on at Town House

‘for our freedom years is a reaction to womens’ ‘culture’, to the idea that as women we share the same ideals, beliefs, ethos and problems, fundamentally the same identity. An identity that is expected and in many cases embraced by many females in today’s mainstream society. The name, of both the exhibition and collective, stemmed from a well known glossy womens’ magazine whose aim is to guide us through our ‘freedom years’. They want to be a friend to young British women who ‘shop when they want, go clubbing when they want and they don’t have millstones like mortgages and kids around their necks’. This doesn’t feel particularly relevant to us, part of their target audience, who can’t quite comprehend why our freedom must disappear.

This exhibition will draw upon and utilize our own experiences as women in order to re-evaluate the notions of femininity. The show will be held in Town House, a homely antiques dealership where the work will interact with the objects and space, transforming it into a collection of female oddities. We have worked with the atmosphere of Townhouse in order to create an installation, where the antiques and art interact, the anti white walled gallery. The space will become a part of the work, creating a walk through cabinet of curiosities.

for our freedom years was curated by Gemma Donovan and Kerry Clark, with the intention of creating a platform for discussion surrounding the way females position themselves within contemporary culture. Both of the artists work with the stereotypes of women and how they view themselves within them. This show hopes to create a network with individuals who share our ideals, rather than those ideals placed on us by popular culture.’

for our freedom years Gemma Donovan and Kerry Clark at Town House
28 October – 11 November
private view 28 November 6 – 9pm
Tuesday – Saturday 11.30 – 6.00