Saturday 12 October 2013

Wonderful Jan Svankmajer exhibition

Manifesto.
Tower of armadillos.

Last night I attended the opening of the Jan Svankmajer exhibition at the University of Brighton Gallery. 

When I was an undergraduate, Svankmajer's surreal, stop-motion animated films were a big influence on my fellow students, along with the macabre folk art/surrealism of Struwwelpeter, but I had never seen Svankmajer's assemblages (mostly models for the films) or his beautiful etchings before. This exhibition really blew me away, there was far too much to take in one one visit so I will certainly be going back.

Wooden boy.


I have become increasingly interested in  the idea of Surrealism beyond DalĂ­ in recent years – in particular thorough reading biographies of Lee Miller and Jean Cocteau and visiting Edward James' collection of Surrealist art at Pallant House, Chichester – as well as Svankmajer's own inspiration, the Cabinet of Curiosities of Rudolf II, so this was well-timed for me and full of inspiration. 

Feathered suit.
My phone photographs really don't do the exhibits justice, seen in the evening light, after coming in from the deluge, they were magical, inventive and a more than a little bit disturbing.


Wednesday 9 October 2013

New prints ahoy!

I may have been quiet but I have not been idle. Tomorrow, I will be finishing off some Push Me Pull You prints and bringing home some reprints of my new Pageboy prints! 

Push Me Pull You.

The technicalities of printing on a wallpaper which was designed to be wiped clean means that it has to be printed in a particular way and drying time is very long.

Pageboy.
With the deadline for Christmas Open Houses looming, I have more prints up my sleeve (well not literally up my sleeve, nor in an actual pipeline, but you know what I mean) so expect more to come during October and November.

The Age of Aquarius.




Wednesday 2 October 2013

Marthe Armitage 'Back to the Drawing Board'

Saw this fantastic woman on 'The Fabric Of Britain' last week. 

This is what I envision for myself when other people talk about "retirement"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0VMLZm-BNo