Rowley Gallery Blog
James Read just sent us a few images of pieces he’s made for a group show at the Ultimate Picture Palace in Oxford. The exhibition is titled Oh Brother, Where’s Thou Art? and features cinema inspired works by Lorraine Berkshire-Roe, Andy Roe, James Davies, James Read and Jason Brown. Continue reading “Oh Brother, Where’s Thou Art?”
I first heard FIP a couple of years ago. My twin daughters who were students in Brighton came home with stories of illegal transmitters broadcasting this French radio station to the Sussex coast. Sadly Ofcom, the British media regulator, silenced the station by confiscating the transmitters. Nowadays the best way to listen is online at www.fipradio.fr. They broadcast a refreshing and eclectic mix of world music, jazz, chanson and film music, free from the inane chatter of manic egotistical djs and without interruption from advertising jingles. Listening to FIP is always inspiring and usually prompts a search for more information on newly discovered musicians. Highly recommended.
Not very long ago I visited a colleague at his studio. I’d been there before once or twice but this time I noticed a beautifully framed photograph high up on the wall opposite his work table. It was of Django Rheinhardt, watching over him like a guardian angel. It reminded me of a piece I’d read by Geoff Dyer about his musical hero, Don Cherry, and how he always liked to have a photograph of him above his desk. Don Cherry was a humble and sincere musical voice with a gregarious spirit, often finding the common thread linking music from different cultures, and I decided then he should be up there on my workshop wall too. His music has been with me since his days playing with Ornette Coleman and I followed all his explorations into what has since become known as World Music. He opened lots of doors and what he found there was always another aspect of himself.
Continue reading “Cherry Street”
Ever since my daughter saw the post about Pina Bausch she has been saying I should see the Gandinis. She saw them give a free performance of Smashed, their homage to Pina Bausch, last year in Greenwich Park. So finally I did, and I was not disappointed. Here is a short promo filmed on the South Bank outside the National Theatre. They are sharp and funny and dextrous and witty and skillful. I almost want to run away to the circus and join them! Continue reading “Smashed”
With the Olympic Games coming to town Greg Becker has been researching the often eccentric beginnings of many of the modern games that we know today. His findings are documented in these drawings which have now been published as greetings cards. Continue reading “Sporting Feats”
I couldn’t resist this one. It’s another from the Guardian’s Eyewitness series. Gymnast Jordyn Wieber performing on the balance beam, photographed by Timothy A Clary at Madison Square Garden, New York. It’s so perfectly framed you’d be forgiven for thinking it was done by The Rowley Gallery!
Sue just finished this quilt. She’s been working at it, on and off, since 1980. It contains fragments and souvenirs from 32 years. She framed it with fabric from Ray Stitch on Essex Road.
Looking for what to do next led to a magazine called Selvedge, a fascinating publication full of all kinds of beautifully presented textile related stories. Continue reading “Selvedge Etc”
Reading about the Mondrian/Nicholson show set me thinking about a small marble Figure of 1933-34 by Henry Moore which was recently sold for over a million at Sotheby’s. Continue reading “Tulips”
Here is a little home movie of Jelly Green painting a Charolais, one of her grandfather’s cows (hence the grandad song) from his farm at Dallinghoo, famous not only for dairy cattle but also for the Dallinghoo Treasure, a hoard of Iron Age gold coins discovered in 2008. Jelly will be exhibiting some of her own treasures at the Alde Valley Spring Festival from 21st April until 20 May. More of her paintings can be seen at The Rowley Gallery.
I ventured up to Sotheby’s, New Bond Street, to see a version of The Scream by Edvard Munch (1863-1944). The version consigned to the saleroom and auction next month in New York is a pastel drawing by the artist. The image of The Scream is reckoned to be only second to that of the Mona Lisa in terms of art awareness in the general public conscience, and is regarded as the archetypal image of angst and anxiety of modern man. Continue reading “The Scream”