We are looking forward to Pride & Prejudice, the new show from Dale Grimshaw at WellHung gallery and guess what? We have two signed posters of the flyer show (see left) to give away to two of our readers so get involved and refer to panel on the right.
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23 MARCH – 29 APRIL
Private View: Thursday 23 MARCH 6-9pm
Well Hung are delighted to announce Dale Grimshaw’s first solo show at Well Hung Gallery. Pride and Prejudicebrings together a body of work based on a ‘two worlds’ theme that Dale has been developing over the last few years. The work contains a strong political message, depicting portraits of threatened indigenous people, mostly from Papua New Guinea, which collide with familiar symbols of the privileged western world, producing a jarring effect that emphasises their powerlessness.
More recently, Dale has become involved with the political struggle to free West Papua from Indonesian occupation. This bitter and hard fought struggle is rarely reported in the West and through his work, Dale has been supporting Benny Wenda, the campaigns leader and long term champion Peter Tatchell, in raising awareness in the UK.
Due to Dale’s involvement with this Campaign his latest work is moving towards a subtler and more emotively lead approach to painting. Contrasting with the earlier, more graphic representations of Western culture, Dale has begun to incorporate softer references to his cultural identity, for example graffiti interspersed with decorative wallpaper motifs. This makes the figures themselves more personal and touching, reflecting his increased interest in the plight of individuals and the intensity of their cultural identity, which is so at risk.
Dale’s work has always been boldly figurative and has been inspired by his strongly held humanitarian beliefs. However, this political message is always achieved by an emphasis on powerful direct emotions and a deep empathy for his subjects.
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Background
Dale Grimshaw was born in Lancashire, in the North of England. During a difficult childhood, his drawing and painting became extremely important to him. He developed his skills at college, firstly with an Art Foundation course at Blackburn College and later to Degree Level, studying Fine Art at Middlesex University.
Dale Grimshaw has a successful gallery career, having exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally, including five solo exhibitions with Signal Gallery, London. His exhibitions have been widely recognised in the press and online, articles have been published in The Independent, Juztapoz, Art of England Magazine and Widewalls. His works are collected internationally, alongside celebrities including Adam Ant and The Prodigy.
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More recently Dale has been invited to festivals nationally and internationally as well as painting many iconic walls across London, where he lives.
Private view from 6pm until 9.30pm is on Thursday 23rdMarch. Music and refreshments will be provided, the event is open to all but please do email info@wellhung.co.ukto confirm attendance. Admission is, as always, free.
“Love Is The Drug”print from RYCA to win, yes it can be yours. We are offering to you lucky readers, the chance to win this awesome print which coincide with the artist, RYCA aka Ryan Callanan, upcoming show at Lawrence Alkin gallery
“I love creating work that people want to touch.”
Ryan Callanan
Following his sell out London show in 2014, two solo US shows and being named Artist of the Year 2015 during Brit Week in LA, Ryan Callanan returns to Lawrence Alkin Gallery with Ten Years Later.
Offering a retrospective interpretation of familiar pieces, Ten Years Later presents a brand new body of work representing a transition into a new era for the artist.
One of RYCA’s iconic piece – “Reservoir Dogs Storm Troopers”
Callanan commented:
“While the show will reference the work I’ve been producing over the last few years, it will be dominated by the new pieces. Rather than looking back, the show is about looking forward and offers a glimpse into the future direction of my work, where I want to go bigger and madder.”
For the past decade, Ryan Callanan, aka RYCA, has worked tirelessly as an artist and printmaker, developing techniques learned during his career as a sign maker. His use of pop iconography and lyric-based works has garnered wide appeal, with many noted celebrities including Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim, Russell Brand, Gordan Ramsey and Jose Mourinho collecting his work.
Marking a move away from the print and canvas works Callanan made his name producing, the show consists mainly of 3D pieces.
Ten Years Later takes the 3D pieces Callanan has previously produced and inverts them to create abstract convex works. He comments:
“Everything I’ve produced before has been completely reversed. Instead of reliefs that dome away from the viewer, the new pieces come out at you. Ironically they draw people in more, as they are curious to know what the works feel like and what they’re made of. The pieces are housed in acrylic casing, so while the viewer wants to touch, they can’t and are left wondering.”
We have been following the rise of Carne Griffiths, an artist painting with unusual mediums such as tea, who has become an established and respected figure in the art world.
‘Momentary’, his biggest solo show to date, he told us, is opening today to the grand public so we met the artist and asked a few questions –
Art-Pie – 1. Can you tell your readers about yourself in a few words?
Carne Griffiths – I’m a painter with a passion for drawing and nature, my background is as an embroidery designer, and I have a fascination with outsider art and with the unconscious process of Automatic Drawing.
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A-P – 2. Can you tell us about your creative process and where does your inspiration come from?
C G – My creative process is fuelled by energy – I like the spontaneity of painting also, watching what the materials do themselves on the page, how inks mix when left undisturbed… then from this chaos I like to manipulate the image – normally using fountain pens and calligraphy ink, I add fine detail, cross hatching and flowing lines to balance the composition. I like the combination of control and freedom, and the way the two elements combine in a drawing.
A-P – You are using interesting and unusual material, such as tea, to paint. What else do you use and how did you come about including these in your creative process?
C G – I generally use materials that give an unexpected or unknown effect – painting is intuitive, the tiny movements made when creating a piece of work are often impulsive for me rather than calculated – and this for me is the magic within the work.
A-P – “Momentary” at Lilford gallery is your next upcoming solo show. Without giving too much away, what can we expect from you in this show?
C G – Yes the momentary exhibition opens tomorrow – It is the largest collection of works to date, Lilford is a large gallery and I wanted to do justice to the space, the show is a response to the speed we are living our lives, the concept behind it being simply slowing down and taking time to look.. I have introduced new aspects to the work to reinforce this concept, a virtual reality drawing that you can walk through, and a mix in collaboration with Fluidnation’s Ben Mynott whose music influenced the work created and who in turn created a 3 hour mix as a backdrop to the exhibition.
A-P – 5. Any other business you want to tell us about?
C G – I will be about during the exhibition adding to the Virtual Reality drawing and also creating work on the black wall that has been prepared for the installation, the show runs until the 21st of August and being the first solo collection of work for 2 years I’m a little apprehensive and excited to show it.
His biggest show to date
Inspired by nature’s expansive colour palette these new works present a vivid alternate reality.
We only included a picture of one of his numerous and fantastic new pieces (see above) and we encourage you to get yourself down to the gallery, you will not get disappointed.
Although we did not include pictures for other works, Carne tells about below and we believe that after reading about it, you will feel the urge to go and check out the show – we certainly are…
‘Let’s stop time‘
invites the viewer to slow down and take time to reflect on the beauty within their surroundings, a chaotic solitary moment becomes a place for meditation.
‘Eternity‘
captures the beauty and chaos of a single brush stroke within which an alternate reality is revealed like a dream or a momentary glimpse into the life of a stranger all in a single moment.
In’Perfectly Still‘, the ‘Hourglass‘ and ‘Elevation‘
time is brought to a standstill and the beauty of nature among chaos is evident, all three works begin as an abstract composition, embracing chaos and the freedom of single strokes of paint, accidents and chaos in which we seek to find order. Rising from this chaos we find beautiful accidents of nature or creation depending on our beliefs and ideologies, it seems almost irrelevant how they occur.. what is common is the beauty in infinite detail.
The show opens today to the public. The gallery is open 7 days a week so you can pop in and see the works whenever is convenient for you!
Lilford gallery, 8 The Old High Street, Folkestone, Kent CT201RL
Pam Glew is a well-established, contemporary British artist, best known for her unique bleaching technique on fabric, vintage flags, and handmade vintage quilts. We’ve written about her previously and are excited to again with her fourth London Show since 2011, Wanderlust Hotel.
Wanderlust hotel?
Inspired by the goings on in legendary hotels such as Chelsea Hotel and Hotel Marmont,’Wanderlust Hotel’ is a fictional guest house frequented by illicit overnight guests and dark secrets. Self-staged photo shoots make up the majority of the subjects.
Populated by the weekend girlfriend, the bride, the maid, the mixologist, the sleeping porter, the receptionist and the VIP guest all swapping roles and sweeping in and out of the pictures frames.
Formerly trained in Theatre Design, in this series the artist explores an imaginary world; a fictional hotel, an invented environment and a narrative where the players in the hotel encounter each other within the hotel. The archetypes are empathetically reflected on in the Bellboy sleeping, and the melancholic maid, sometimes humourous (the Call Girl on a visit to Vegas encounters the ‘Glitter Gulch’ signage), and turned on their head (the bride has a revolver, who is also the same model as the call girl).
Acting is a common theme, and the ‘play’ idea is explored in the miniature hotel model. Here the hotel is bereft of people as if the residents are now only present in the paintings. The models in the work occupy more than one role, as a metaphor for how fate and luck play a part in our lives. In ‘Sisters’ the artist explores a meeting of 2 estranged identical twins. One of which is the maid, one the VIP. An imagined rift is between them as if they have not spoken in years. The heavy quilt is embellished with swarovski crystals which appears to elevate the characters appearance, the maid’s headpiece appearing more like a crown.
Let’s get technical
The medium Glew uses is dye and bleach. The use of fabric, and dyeing, washing and sewing is used as a metaphor for ‘women’s work’. Glew celebrates women in the history of art who have been overlooked due to an element of ‘craft’ in their work. Sourcing antique and vintage american quilts and national flags, the fabric of the work is as important as the image itself. Using quilts to insinuate sleep and slumber, the textiles are rich in both history and texture. Decontructing large American flags to just the stars they become less about the location and more visceral.
