RA Summer exhibition 2017: focus on marks

296 Leonard McComb

 Is it really 2 months   since I started this blog post?!  Searching for images among the  multitude of files on my computer I came across the 'RA' folder and got side tracked for a while.  It's useful however to see after a time period whether the things that initially attracted me about certain pieces of work   still hold and whether there's  new things to enjoy.

I had 2 visits to the Summer exhibition this year . Looking at the website in between made me realise I'd missed  some pieces  and I went back for  a closer look.   Besides subject matter ( seascapes , coastal features, boats ) it  was often the details that drew me in: the juxtaposition of colours; slight variations in surface; combinations of media ; textures. Most of all the marks, particularly in woodcuts  and drawings; text as marks; brushstrokes  and scraffito.

Well known artists and names new to me - one the joys of the Summer Exhibition    

307 (detail)

307 Suzy Fasht

63 Jeanette Hayes

217 J.F.K Turner

242 John Renshaw

573 Sara Dodd

613 Anna Gardiner

717 Nik Goss

(oil on herringbone fabric)

940 Christine Hardy

849 Neil Bousfield

895 Caroline Isgar

926 Wendy Robin

980 Hughie O'Donaghue RA

54 Terry Setch RA

199(detail)

199 Ashar

1029 Archie Franks

556 Celia Cook

786 Lucy Farley

67 (detil)

67 Deborah Westmancoat

90 (detail)

90Alison Wilding RA

95 (detail)

95 Mick Moon RA

114 Susan Absolon

178 Nik Pollard

187 Nik Pollard

194 Peter Matthews

286 Michelle Dow

518 (detail)

518 Stephen Cox RA

561(detail)

561 Jo Gorner

496(detail)

496 Rebecca Salter RA

593 Rebecca Salter RA

937 (detail)

937 Rebecca Salter RA

958 (detail)

958 Tom Cartmill

799 Martin Davidson

Artworks as triggers of memory

 

A day off work  to finally get to see the Anselm Kiefer exhibition at the Royal Academy ( fitting in a few more exhibitions at National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery for good measure). Amazing, monumental and thought provoking. After starting with a display of books, the 'Attic' paintings are powerful  and I love how the wood grain effects are continued throughout his work - the woodblock prints used in the  'forest' of the last room (below) were fantastic. 

The materials he uses are diverse : straw, mud, sunflowers and seeds   and they have meaning for him. The way he uses lead is fascinating - I particularly liked the books 'under the linden '  and large pieces studded with diamonds were just magical in how they caught the light.

The pieces that I spent most time with were in room 5: ' sands from the urns' (below) based on the clay brick ziggurats of Mesopotamia. Hand -pressed mud was used for  clay tablets and bricks and he is quoted as perceiving " a secret connection between writing and building"  wondering whether bricks , like tablet, could hold memories of people , of events, of time.

I was reminded of our visit to Syria  almost exactly ten years ago,   visiting Ugarit , Dura Europas and Mari , in awe of being somewhere where the ancient past is tangible  and hugely saddened by  what's happening there now .  

 

 Ugarit

 Euphrates

Mari

 

Ziggurats of Pastries in Hama

 

After  treating myself to a delicious lunch at Savoir Faire, I headed off to  the National Gallery  to see the 2  very different seascape inspired displays.   I've long admired the dramatic  paintings of  Maggi Hambling  but I was rather disappointed with these 'Walls of Water' .  Lots of lively marks and use of paint but   for me  all pattern and lacking in content and composition.  Her  monotypes on this theme  like they might be more interesting

 

 

 

Whereas the paintings by Peder Balke  were far more inspiring especially the smaller sketches. I liked how often the waves were suggested quite simply  - it looked like he might have used a painting knife in a similar way as  demonstrated by Susan Gray on my Slapton painting courses.  

On my way home I popped into the National Portrait Gallery  next door to see the Grayson Perry exhibit ' Who are you' .

You could hardly get near his  'self portrait'  City of Days  for people staring intently and giggling. Complex, funny and profound,  like the Reith lectures and  'Tomb of the The Unknown Artist'.

The 'comfort blanket' a tapestry  in the shape of a bank note   was witty but the most powerful pieces were the ceramics  displayed among the Gallery's collections

I spent a lot of time in front of the  beautiful  yet disturbing 'Memory jar', representing memories torn into shards through Alzheimers.