Where possible, Fridays are now my 'London Gallery ' days : travelling after 10 am cost £17.90 with a Network railcard in comparison to the £47.80 travelling at peak time in the morning for EDAM on Wednesdays!
So far I've been to the Annie Albers at Tate Modern and Oceania at the RA and with ' Black and White' with Ashley Hanson still in my mind , I've been hunting down relevant artworks while I've been in the area, discovering a whole section in the 'In The Studio' display of Tate Modern ( above) and some exciting works by Paul Feiler in the Redfern Gallery in Cork Street ( below)
Entering the prestigious galleries in Mayfair no longer scares me as much as it used to - if you have a genuine interest in the work , I've found the staff to be helpful and often generous with catalogues and cards etc . At the Redfern, there was roadworks going on outside and I think they were glad to see anyone!I sketched these 2 pieces : Oval and Blue ( above) and Porthleddon deep Blue 1962 ( below) to get to grips with their proportions and compositions. Also to try and work out how many layers there were and in what order - I just loved the flashes of yellow, blue and brown at the edges of shapes. What at first glance might seem to be a slapdash application of white is actually very carefully painted. I was also very aware of the importance of edges ( as with Patrick Heron)
While his earlier more organic work is more to my taste, his later geometric 'portal' works ( above) are mesmerising when you see them in the flesh, the subtle layers of colour drawing you in
( reproductions just can't do them justice) The title 'elusive space' for the exhibition was very apt.
The previous week, in Tate Modern while paying homage to the 'Cage' paintings of Gerhard Richter in section 'In the Studio' ( I visit them every time I go there), I revisited the 'Painting in White' section I'd studied during the 'Ways into abstract painting ' course, particularly the work' holes' of Shozo Shimamoto '
This time it was the 'White Painting' by Michael Buthe that grabbed me, reminding me of the work of Simon Callery . I hadn't heard of him before but it looks like his work is well worth exploring further ( article here)
Michael Buthe |
Jack Whitten |
Shozo Shimamoto |
Piero Manzoni |
Despite loving colour, I'm finding the exploration of a neutral palette very satisfying at the moment. It allows me to explore texture, layers, marks and composition and tone without the extra complication of colour ( although I'm still struggling to get to grips with charcoal). Time perhaps to look again at those gessoed/ primed pieces of old quilts I've been hoarding??
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