Art – Page 40 – Frames of Reference

Recent Etchings

I learned how to do etching from Bartolomeu dos Santos when I was a student at the Slade School of Fine Art in the late 1970’s. After I had graduated, no longer having easy access to a print room and a shortage of funds meant I had to improvise equipment in order to carry on printmaking. I developed my own way of applying aquatint and a converted mangle gave me rough working proofs for a couple of years. The search for part time teaching work took me to the Northeast of England, where I immediately became a member of Charlotte Press in Newcastle. There I had open access to a well-equipped print room and could further develop my technique and produce editions. Continue reading “Recent Etchings”

On Painting

“True wisdom comes to each of us when we realise how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” (Socrates?) Continue reading “On Painting”

Wall Of Light

In 2012, Irish TV viewers were asked to choose their favourite painting. Ardal O’Hanlon chose Sean Scully’s Wall Of Light, Orange Yellow in Dublin City Art Gallery, The Hugh Lane. He got my vote.

Kind Of Red

A quintet of five new paintings by Sean Scully entitled Kind of Red, at the Timothy Taylor Gallery. This is painting as a martial art: prepare, focus, get to work; there’s a no-nonsense approach to these blocks of colour thrown onto huge sheet metal plates, rocking in rhythm across the wall. It’s easy to imagine Scully dancing before them wielding a fat wall-painting brush. And in the exhibition catalogue there’s a wonderful, curious and perceptive essay by Richard Williams. Continue reading “Kind Of Red”

All That Other Mother Jazz

My new exhibition, All That Other Mother Jazz, starts next Tuesday, in the fair city of Portsmouth. Come along if you can. Cheers, Jonny.

Jonny Hannah / The Rowley Gallery

Matisse, Scissors, Paper

We finally got to see Henri Matisse: The Cut Outs, the long awaited exhibition at Tate Modern, though perhaps a wet bank holiday Monday during half-term was not the ideal time to visit. Continue reading “Matisse, Scissors, Paper”

The Bullfinch

The bullfinch is surrounded by fragments of information describing both the natural and man-made world. There is a sense that this information has been sought, viewed and downloaded on a hand held screen. This is indicated by the excellent wireless signal displayed in the top right hand corner.

James Read’s The Bullfinch is included in this year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.

See more by James Read at The Rowley Gallery.

Aftermath

This exhibition at the Art Workers’ Guild in Bloomsbury features work produced during both the Great War and in the uncertain years which followed. Continue reading “Aftermath”

Paul Nash & Swanage

For one of my 65th birthday presents recently I received a superb little book, now something of a collectors piece, called Seaside Surrealism: Paul Nash in Swanage by Pennie Denton. Continue reading “Paul Nash & Swanage”

Foam To Femme

Much of last year I worked with my Pharmacopoeia partner, GP Liz Lee, on a commission for Denmark. Medicinsk Museion is a combined research unit and public museum at Copenhagen University, which in recent years reinvented itself by developing insightful, contemporary exhibitions alongside their historical collection of medical equipment and artefacts. Continue reading “Foam To Femme”