Wednesday 20 April 2011

Andy Warhole Exhibition Southampton

Very excited to take Joel to this show , easy to find the Hansard Gallery , well laid out show of video installations and photos  , some quite gruesome images of body parts with exposed muscle tissue ...not for the faint hearted ! the photos where stitched together and mounted in the frame.. theres a room with two screens  showing old interview footage and a large selection of literature on Warhole , great for research. There isn't a huge amount at this show but it is well exhibited. So for the Prints and Paintings we had to go to the other site  at the City Gallery.

Getting to the Southampton City Art Gallery and finding parking  is no picnic ! And parking was painful !  but we perservered and found  a neat spot in a road just beyond Asda and the expensive NCP car park  ! All disabled parking ! The show at this site was interesting ...alot of prints , movie posters and some of his iconic images, Marilyn Monroe , Elvis...

The thing about Warhole is he needs space  for his shows , as the impact is in the vast expanse of repeted image and the shere size of much his work . It just doesn't work if its all rammed into one space , its too much to digest.

The best exhibition of his work I've been to was in the Brooklyn Art Museum NY. Its VAST ! and each huge room may only have one or two walls of one repeted image , its fantastic !

So quite interesting show if you've not been spoilt by seeing his work in NY previously. The video footage is good value  if thats what you're into.

For Joel it was good to see the larger pieces and the repeted image works , and the simplicity of some of the images which give maximum impact.

Its quite a journey back out of Southampton on to the M27 and it was a hot day , but worth the effort I think .

Warhol exhibition - 27th March - 26th June 2011

Image of Andy WarholIn Southampton this spring discover the work of Andy Warhol (1928–1987), one of the icons of twentieth century art. Nearly two hundred works will be on show across two of the city’s galleries, Southampton City Art Gallery and John Hansard Gallery, as part of the ARTIST ROOMS 2011 national tour.

◄ Andy Warhol, Andy Warhol 1982. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London 2010. ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Acquired jointly through The d’Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008.

From the exhibition

Image of Warhol cow

Artist-rooms-logo John Hansard Gallery will showcase Warhol’s hugely influential film and photography, while Southampton City Art Gallery will exhibit iconic paintings, prints and posters, alongside an Andy Warhol ‘factory’ style activity space for young people and families. Accompanying the exhibition there are a wide range of events for all ages, from tours and workshops to seminars and a major conference.

◄ Andy Warhol, Cow 1976. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London 2010. ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Acquired jointly through The d’Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008.

Travel between the galleries Don’t miss the full Warhol experience – travel between the two galleries in just twenty minutes on the uni-link U1 bus

Tuesday 12 April 2011

B&J return to the grid... think Daffodils

Started at Barbara's, daffodil location in her garden , bit nippy so decided to pick them and relocate to my studio which is full of sun and coseyness... and let the painting commence .




Barbara had prepared the canvas'  last week. Green background and pink oil pastel grid on top. Using sticks / daff stalks /end of brush handle and a limited pallet they painted a flower each and swapped canvas', until the canvas was full.

Ready steady STUDIO O'Clock !





Hard to believe  but dream-team Tony and Nathan have pulled it off in just a week ! So studio is now up and running... Only electrics to install and its finished.

Paints out at Macfarlane-studio

Suns out and so's the paint ! Joel and Barbara get to it in Barbara's sassy studio ... painting over old canvas' , having drawn a grid on them in oil stick first. Barbara  getting the greys mixed and ready to slap on ....then they can take them to Cobnor and draw straight on them, next week or whenever weathers right .

Tuesday 5 April 2011

Studio a go go !

So Monday morning is D-Day for studio ... Tony arrived around 8am and dug in the sleepers for the base to sit on ... Joel had  removed the little holly tree ... tried to dig it up to transplant but some how a saw got involved  and...  well its gone anyway.

Tuesday morning looked like this ... impressive or what !

Dispite the rain they got the cladding on but couldn't start  the felting on the roof... but the front half with hatch window is all in place  and looking beautiful... and windows /doors  donated from Sally's and Chris' conservatory  are all cleaned up ,seals refitted and up n running ...

Thinking about flooring and decided to just put some lino in the area where Joel will be painting , so looking for a sample to put down as opposed to complete coverage ...Shane says he's got some samples going begging..

Using a type of chipboard as opposed to ply to line the room once the insulation is in , this will save on knotting ! then we can paint it ..B&Q are doing a good deal on white paint at the moment ...so white it is !

Niel is coming to quote for the electrics on Friday  and my brother arrives from France on Tuesday so he'll be roped in to help him !

Want to get Joel in and painting before Easter ... heres to Making it happen !