Ben Oakley and No Format Gallery present a new show of over 40 artists helping everyone get into the Christmas spirit! Opening preview night Friday 7 December from 5.30pm til late at No Format Gallery.
With an array of ‘urban’ work by artists such as Guy Denning, Ray Richardson, David Bray, Static, RYCA, Pam Glew, Carne Griffiths and more there should be an arty treat for everyones stocking.
Ben Oakley says: “come along its going to be a right old knees up with over 40 top notch artists, many in attendance”
EXHIBITION VENUE:
No Format – Second Floor Studios & Arts, Harrington Way, London SE18 5NR
Train: Charlton Woolwich Dockyard DLR: Woolwich Arsenal
Bus: 180, 177, 161, 472
All media enquiries/invitations: info@benoakleygallery.com
We made our way down to one of our favorite art galleries to check out the new set of works from Dale Grimshaw that makes up his new show entitled “Moreish”. Having seen a few previous shows from the same artist, we knew that we were up for another display of strong emotions from the artist and we were right.
This time, the artist looks at the notion of “excess” that is spreading in modern societies and which seems to affect an increasing number of people. Here is what the artist had to say about it “It is a case of enough is never enough. The ‘haves’ want more and the ‘haves not’ can pay for it. Once we get that acquisitive taste, we just want more and more”
As the title of this show suggests – Moreish, the food element is everywhere in Dale Grimshaw’s pieces and they are piling on top of each other and dripping down faces of the characters the artist using in his paintings. This certainly gives a sense of a “too much” but also of a “waste” which “moreish” behaviour might lead to. The color palette used here – black/dark background in most cases combined with fiery colours, clearly translate the negative artist’s view on that notion of excess spreading in our societies according to him. A a result, the atmospere of the show is rather thick and heavy and you can almost feel its weight on your shoulders.
It is also worth pointing out the variety of characters that are depicting in Dale Grimshaw’s work, from the sweet and soft women’s faces to the rather alien looking “thing” which, apart from perhaps warning us what will happen if we embrace “excess, will add even more tension to the show.
From a more technical point of view, Dale Grimshaw’s techniques are just amazing. Oil and acrylics are the main mediums for this set of new works while canvases and wooden boards are the main supports used here. If we had to pick a piece out of the lot and on a pure aesthetic point of view, ” The Platter” (oil on board) would be the one. The color palette is striking. See pictures below
The Platter
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The show runs until the 23rd November 2012 Signal gallery | 32 Paul Street London EC2A 4LB | 020 7613 1550
Sarah Hervey has a note in her sketchbook, it reads, “Wittgenstein maintained every statement rested on unproven assumptions and illogical associations”.
With regard to language there are four problems outlined by Bertrand Russell in his 1922 introduction to Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus:[1]
First is a problem of what actually occurs in our minds when we intend to mean something.
Second is the relationship between thoughts, words and sentences and what they refer to.
Third is a problem of constructing sentences to convey truth rather than falsehood – in a logical sense rather than in a factual sense of true and false.
Fourth, what relation must a fact have to another in order to be capable of being a symbol for it.
According to Russell’s essay, the fourth problem is what concerned Wittgenstein and it is at the heart of Sarah’s note to herself, which is positioned in relation to this image in her journal:
Images of Assumptions, (c) Sarah Hervey, sketchbook collage
“In the language of everyday life it very often happens that the same word signifies in two different ways – and therefore belongs to two different symbols – or that two words, which signify in different ways, are apparently applied in the same way in a proposition [a statement]…[t]hus there easily arise the most fundamental confusions.”[2]
Ludwig Wittgenstein
The problem of clear communication is further complicated by psychology, the first of Russell’s four problems with language, and identity, the second. What does it mean to be vulnerable? We all know what it feels like and so we feel we can describe and understand it. But can we? David Minton a fellow exhibiting This ‘Me’ of Mine artist, asks Sarah if she thinks his male vulnerability is an attribute of feminine vulnerability, wondering “if the view of ‘masculine’ is dependent on the view of vulnerable as ‘feminine’?” It’s a compelling question.
Jane Boyer: Much of the vulnerability you are interested in and you explore is based in gender issues and ageing. Can you tell us what it is particularly about vulnerability, experienced through gender and age, which interests you?
Sarah Hervey: I think there has been a lot of research into why women live longer on the whole and have a resilience somehow, yet the way we are supposed to attract men is to be vulnerable, the weaker sex, so there’s all that dynamic which is interesting. Because I have this idea about skin and how your history shows on your face, so if you’ve had a life where you’ve felt vulnerable it will begin to show. As your body gets older you just appear more vulnerable because your skin gets thinner, your bones aren’t as strong, you find it more difficult to hold your head up straight and keep your back straight and so your body starts to cow. The different way men and women deal with that interests me; how we feel about that is the internal part of skin, then the way society looks at you is the external part. I mean, the essence of being female or male is different and I feel it is important to struggle to understand more precisely the positions of men and women within these boundaries. My point of view is as a woman. I can’t understand my own vulnerability and the vulnerability of women without understanding the vulnerability of men.
Read more of our interview, Without Any Voice. If you are enjoying reading about the issues involved with This ‘Me’ of Mine, follow the blog by clicking the ‘follow’ button under the heading Follow blog via Email at the bottom of each page and engage with us by leaving a comment, follow us on twitter @thismeofmine or like our facebook page, facebook/ThisMeofMine.
VETA GORNER at the BEN OAKLEY GALLERY, Greenwich
Preview Evening 9th November 2012, 6.30pm – 9.30pm
A fresh and exciting solo exhibition of new works by Veta Gorner. Veta is a multi-instrumentalist high quality Printmaker. Using her own Press she creates unique etchings, lithographs drypoint, screenprints, colographs and processes that have not even been named yet.
Technically excellent her works are strong in colour and delicate in content, they carry a dense raw energy that are aesthetically balanced, some built up from layers of the finest hand made papers with waxes and thread woven through, it is in the detail that you can read the time consuming journey that goes into each individual piece.
Ben Oakley comments: “This new body of work sees Veta experimenting on an open brief with no real narrative, some natural abstract fluid forms effortlessly merging with bolder but subtle architectural influences.
Veta shares time between her London & Swedish Studios always observing the cultural differences in each country and around the world, she is engaged and fascinated in the parallels of life as they overwhelm and delight us simultaneously.”
VISITOR INFORMATION
BEN OAKLEY GALLERY
9 Turnpin Lane, Greenwich, London SE10 9JA
DLR: Cutty Sark Greenwich ( 2 minutes walk )
Overground Train: Greenwich Station ( 5 minutes walk )
Opening Times: Thursday –Sunday 11-6pm
Monday –Wednesday by appointment.
All media enquiries /invitations: contact Ben Oakley:
The third edition of the contemporary art in editions fair, Multiplied, returns to Christie’s South Kensington this October. Christie’s is pleased to announce forty-one international contemporary galleries will be participating, in what continues to be the UK’s only contemporary print fair.
Once again the salerooms in South Kensington will be transformed during Frieze week. The fair will be open to the public with free admission from 12-15 October 2012.
We have included below a few examples of what you will be able to purchase –
CFPR Editions Carolyn Bunt | And when I had looked up it had gone 1 (2010) | Pigmented Inkjet Print
Parasol Unit Foundation Adel Abdessemed | No Smoking (2012) | Neon, wall-mounted
Fashion Illustration Gallery Francois Berthoud | V (Orange) 2011
We made our way down to one of our favorite art galleries to check out the new set of works from Dale Grimshaw that makes up his new show entitled “Moreish”. Having seen a few previous shows from the same artist, we knew that we were up for another display of strong emotions from the artist and we were right.
