Art – Page 66 – Frames of Reference

Jelly Green At Kensington Place

Three big new paintings by Jelly Green go on show at Kensington Place from Tuesday 7th August. Their large north wall has inspired Jelly to stretch out and paint on a much larger scale than before.

The cows in this new series of paintings graze on the water meadows in the Alde Valley. One of the lovely things about this particular herd is that unusually they are a mixture of breeds from Simmentals to Belgian Blues and Charolais, which provides a much wider palette of colours and forms. These three paintings are my largest pieces yet. There is something really intimidating and challenging about working on this scale: the potential for failure is magnified, the empty space to fill completely daunting. But when they work, it’s a huge relief and a painting that is hard to ignore.

A Sense Of Scale

In the past I have made a number of very large scale public artworks including a ceiling mural at Charing Cross Hospital which was 10 x 6 metres and a mural for the special care baby unit at Frimley Hospital which was 10 x 2 metres. Continue reading “A Sense Of Scale”

West Sussex Beaches

Christopher Corr has been teaching this summer at West Dean which involved taking students on excursions and field trips to local beaches such as Littlehampton, Selsey, West Wittering and Worthing, where the weather was variable (not tropical) but typical of British Summer Time.

Olympic Flame?

This just in from Philip Maltman: Modern Day Greek Warrior for the Greek People.

Dancer With Cymbals

This marquetry panel was designed by William Arthur Chase and made by The Rowley Gallery, circa 1920. It looks like the wood inlay is pine, sycamore, perhaps cedar, and oak-burr for the hair. It is titled Dancer With Cymbals and by its size and the way it is framed you’d be forgiven for thinking it might actually be a tambourine. It was recently discovered at auction and very kindly returned to its maker courtesy of the good folks at JHW Fine Art. Thank you, James.

What A Corker!

These are three frames we made recently, containing a triptych made out of various wine and champagne corks, depicting the pixelated figure of a reclining nude. They are seen here at one of the restaurants where the corks were collected. If I’m not mistaken that looks like a Richard Smith painting on the wall behind, so I’m guessing this is The Boundary in Shoreditch. Continue reading “What A Corker!”

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion

At first sight this year’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion resembles a giant table on the lawn with fairy lights hung beneath it. It was designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron and artist Ai Weiwei, the same team that created the National Stadium, aka the Bird’s Nest, for the Beijing Olympics. Continue reading “Serpentine Gallery Pavilion”

Caine’s Arcade

I just saw this sweet video and couldn’t resist it for Frames of Reference. I can remember building stuff and wishing for an audience too. It’s instinctive. It’s what boys do. But this little boy is a prodigy.

A Space Called Place

Kensington Place has recently been refreshed with a bright new interior. The large mural by Mark Wickham depicting a view of The Long Water in Kensington Gardens has been in place since the restaurant opened 25 years ago. It has become almost synonymous with Kensington Place. But now it is due for a holiday. In its place will be a new exhibition space and The Rowley Gallery have been asked to select the artworks for this exciting new development.

More details to follow soon. Watch this space.

Plot 52

Here is a little piece about Greg Becker if you can find it. I probably should have been able to edit it but that degree of sophistication is beyond me at the moment. Please go forward to 3:40 and continue until 7:20.