Sonia Boyce Turner Contemporary Margate Turner Contemporary You have to let the power of this work inculcate into your senses. It’s an ‘immersive installation’ – allow yourself to be immersed! At first it just seems to be random videos of female singers alongside wallpapering of faces and patterns, but talk to the curators, read the guidelines, think and work at what you’ve now learned and let the works, work on you and the exhibition speaks volumes. What performed best for me was the gold boxes supporting the CD cases: iron pyrites, fools’ gold contrasting with the real gold of the black female artists’ genuine works. But what do we see first? What are we in danger of mistakenly holding up as more valuable? With contemporary art, you have work at it. The interpretation is not done for you, the image … Continue reading Sonia Boyce Turner Contemporary →

We find here an influence of the Fauves, Impressionists, Post Impressionists particularly Vincent, a little Alfred Wallis and naivety, moving onto self confidence and assurance to develop a unique personal style. A potent mix of styles. Fred Yates – Cornwall’s Lowry – and I’d like to ignore influences and look at Fred’s work as ‘standalones’. They deserve that and not some spin off from other artists. This is Fred Yates – Cornwall’s Lowry Never heard of him? That would not be unusual and it’s only thanks to the brilliant Penlee House Gallery in Penzance Cornwall that we stumbled, albeit deliberately, on this most unusual and inspiring artist. A brief bio… Fred Yates was born in 1922 (hence the exhibition at Penlee) He had a twin brother Arthur, both raised in an apparently cold, undemonstrative household. We are told that Fred … Continue reading Fred Yates – Cornwall’s Lowry →

This is a stunning piece of art installation presented at Southampton’s Hansard Gallery in September 2022. Mahatma Ghandhi to Adolf Hitler It is in the form of a steam cloud against a darkened background upon which a scrolling image is projected. The image is an historic letter written by India’s Mahatma Ghani just before WWII in a gesture of peace and friendship. The installation is by India’s contemporary artist Jitish Kallat (b 1974). Who refers to Gandhi’s letter as essentially a plea for peace and refers to Hitler as ‘My Friend’. Plenty of space here for contemplation is there not? Mahatma Ghandhi to Adolf Hitler Art-Tales is a magazine blog site following the journeys and reflections through the art world of artist, sketcher, art historian and critic Al Beckett. Merely to amuse, inform and entertain, Art-Tales is aimed at people … Continue reading Mahatma Ghandhi to Adolf Hitler →

The New Art Centre Roche Court near Salisbury Wiltshire is a breath-taking open air sculpture park set within the dramatic hills of southeast Wiltshire. Gormley and Caro Roche Court It is a pure joy to wander through the gardens against the backdrop of the stunning landscape and enjoy the spaces occupied by the modern and contemporary works of art. In 2019 on BBC Radio 4, Antony Gormley spoke of sculpture changing the real world, being no longer a mere reference to it and no longer dependent upon it. Sculpture doesn’t need a wall, a room or even a label to exist. Its presence occupies its own space and thus it can alter people’s behaviour. Gormley and Caro Roche Court Cast your mind to some of the world’s most dramatic and successful architecture and sculpture. Consider the landscape, the room even: … Continue reading Gormley and Caro Roche Court →

Discovered an interesting theory and concept whilst visiting Akureyri Art Gallery and Museum, Iceland – PICNOLEPSY. ( Iceland Akureyri Picnolepsy Bollason Virilio ) I cannot do better than reproduce the text itself from the Museum. So with thanks, the source from Akureyri Museum … When Gustav Geir Bollason began work on Sandtime Psalm of Fading Flowers, he was reading Paul Virilio’s Aesthetics of Disappearance (1991), in which the philosopher describes what he calls picnolepsy, a condition marked by momentary cognitive absences, temporary disconnects. As the picnoleptic flickers in and out of consciousness, they compensate for these ‘epileptic’ discontinuities by glossing over them. Perception is thus a polished version of actual sensory experience – just as our eye stitches together discrete cinematic frames for the illusion of seamless movement. With the acceleration of information and hyperstimulation of modern life, these gaps … Continue reading Iceland Akureyri Picnolepsy Bollason Virilio →