Fran Williams – contemporary artist who marks

May 22, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer

We have had the chance to ask a few questions to Fran Williams

ART-PIE:Tell us about yourself in a few words?
FRAN WILLIAMS: I explore the process and of paint and its emotional impact through mark making. Using the human form as a vehicle to create emotion with paint.

A-P: What is your process/approach when making art?
FW: My process is one of discovery through continual manipulation of paint and surface…throughout the smudging and hacking away of paint I get an idea of the ‘personality’ of a potential painting before choosing a pose which I feel will bring a readable emotion to it.Its all about the overall energy a of a painting…detail and meaning are secondary whilst Im creating it… the titles and meaning I attach afterwards come from things I have been thinking about outside of the studio.

A-P: Where/what do you look for inspiration?
FW: Everything everywhere is inspiring in one way or another…the changabilty of the sky is something Im inspired by all day…its a continual reminder of the impermanence of any experience which is something I find very useful should I ever have doubts on whether I could /should do something…it reminds me to just do it, and enjoy the journey.

In terms of artistic fuel Im always looking at the art of the Symbolist Painters such as Odilon Redon and Jean Delville…aswell as contemporary and mixed media artists such as Celia Paul and Dave Mckean.

A-P: Any upcoming shows?
FW:
Solo show ‘Helpless Angels’ opens at Bo-Lee Gallery May 14 – June 11
Affordable Art Fair – View Gallery May 13 – 15
Signal Gallery Group show in June
Blackhall studios London- Bo-Lee gallery group show June 13 -18

Make sure to check Fran William’s website

We thank you Fran Williams for taking time to take part in this interview. Find below a few pics of her best work. All three pieces are using oil/acrylics on canvas.

BLOG, FEATURE

10 mind blowing sculptures from all around the world

April 12, 2016 Pierrick Senelaer 1 Comment

We came across these mind-blowing sculptures and could not resist sharing them with you. Defying gravity or just beautiful, you can decide for yourself. We hope you’ll enjoy them.

Why not telling us about them in the comments below?

Name: “The Immigrant Sculpture” by Bruno Catalano
Location: Portugal
Meaning: Symbolizing luggage full of dreams but an empty heart, because you are leaving everything behind.

Name: “Popped Up” by Ervin Loránth Hervé
Location: Budapest (Hungary)
Meaning: Promotional piece for Art market Budapest (2014). The temporary sculpture combines art with nature, surprising visitors while welcoming them to the Eastern capital.

Name: Jeju Loveland
Location: Jeju island in South Korea
Meaning: Jeju Loveland is an outdoor sculpture park which opened in 2004 on Jeju Island in South Korea. The park is focused on a theme of sex, featuring 140 sculptures representing humans in various sexual positions.

Name: “Hippo Squares”
Location: Taipei Zoo (Taiwan)
Meaning: The square is the brainchild of former zoo Director Chen Pao-chung, who came up with the concept while looking for ways to complement the African Animal Area. After consulting with employees and designers, Chen greenlighted the square and it went on to become one of the facility’s signature nonliving attractions.

Name: Not known
Location: Tuen Mun Park (Hong Kong)
Meaning: Not known

Name: “The Rundle Mall pigs”
Location: Rundle Mall, Adelaide (Australia)
Meaning: The four pigs won Adelaide City Council’s Rundle Mall National Sculpture Competition for the upgraded Rundle Mall in 1997. South African-born and Sydney-based sculptor Marguerite Derricourt was the winner. Her four bronze pigs were unveiled on July 3, 1999.

Name: “River God Tyne” statue by sculptor David Wynne (1968)
Location: Newcastle Town hall (UK)
Meaning: It portrays the river God in human form, a fountain within his outstretched hand coursing a constant stream of water along the tortured and twisted torso of the aquatic diety.

Name: “Octopus plays Chess” by Leigh Dyer
Location: Hasting Old Town (UK)
Meaning: These fantastic pieces that live in the Chess Square, George Street, Hastings Old Town.

Name: Yorkshire sculpture park (UK)
Location: Yorkshire sculpture park (UK)
Meaning: The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is an open-air gallery in West Bretton near Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, showing work by British and international artists

Name: Rock sculpture by Smaban Abbas
Location: Terminal 3, Cairo airport (Egypt)
Meaning: ?

CONTEMPORARY ART, PREVIEW

Jester Jacques at the Other Art fair

April 23, 2013 Pierrick Senelaer 1 Comment

This is it. Last stretch before the start of The Other art fair and the display of delightful artworks as usual. We are also looking forward to see our friends at Jester Jacques gallery who will hold their fort in the bar area – nice.

True to themselves and always believing and supporting of the emerging art scene, Jester Jacques gallery will most certainly please use with a pertinent selection of artists for the fair. Artwork from Rob Bellman, Chris Daniels, Super Future Kid, Steven Quinn and Nicholas Goodden will be showcased.

We have included below our favorite artwork for each artists and hope to see you at the fair.

Nicholas Gooden

Super Future Kid (left) | Chris Daniels

Steven Quinn (left) | Rob bellman

URBANISM

Central St Giles – urbanism at its best

October 19, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer 2 Comments

I did not expect to walk through what, actually, turned out to be a truly enjoyable experience. I am talking here about the new urban development named Central Saint Giles, comfortably wedged between Bloomsbury and Soho in London.

I suspect the sunny weather that day helped here, but I was truly amazed by the imposing and colorful buildings that make up this very modern workplace, which includes office space, shops, restaurants, cafes, apartments and an outdoor public piazza. Bright green, yellow and orange are the colours used for the huge facades, which clearly make them stand out amidst the surrounding urban buildings.

While enjoying a walk on the spacious and bright piazza, I was happily surprised to encounter a couple of sculptures, one of which is by the artist Steven Gontarski; a five-meter-tall piece, adding another layer of colour to the landscape.

Urbanism like this can be beautiful, by either inspiring the architect (Renzo Piano) or being integrated into it.

http://www.centralsaintgiles.com/

Ob 08 by Steven Gontarski

CONTEMPORARY ART, INTERVIEWS

Value which is of Value

December 15, 2012 Jane Boyer

10 x 10 by Kate Murdoch — 10 x 10, ©2008 – 2012 Kate Murdoch

“If there is value which is of value, it must lie outside of all happening and being so. For all happening and being-so is accidental.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein
6.41, Tractatus Logico Philosophicus

This quote from Wittgenstein is a profound statement on the nature of occurrence and existence – ‘happening and being-so’. Whichever way we look at it, occurrence and existence is accidental. The beauty and simplicity of Wittgenstein’s statement sweeps away the clutter of chance and places value squarely in purpose. It suggests circumstance (context) is a force of chance. This ‘Me’ of Mine asks if purpose can challenge the force of chance.

Wittgenstein’s rational view makes folly of the attempt to find meaning in happening and being-so, but he leaves the door wide open to search for meaning in value and purpose. Kate Murdoch does just this through her work. She encourages her audiences to explore their purpose. Through her interactive exchanges, Kate presents situations which involve an active interchange between the public and her work, often with the public’s participation the greater force in the creation of art. Her audiences not only participate, they actually become part of the art through their active purpose. The generosity of this, both on Kate’s part and on the part of the audience, breaks down the barrier of the ‘art experience’ and presents an experience of art.

Read our interview, What Are You Prepared to Give in Exchange, for This ‘Me’ of Mine. Kate and I discuss value, emotion, memory and communication.

JB: …It could be said the value we associate with an object is in relation to the depth of emotion we experience in any given situation. Do you feel this to be true and what have you observed about this relationship through the interactive aspect of your work?

KM: …The emotional attachment we make to any given object can determine its worth in emotional terms as opposed to its monetary value. The very act of bartering adds an emotional reality to the process of exchange that currency somehow lacks…

This ‘Me’ of Mine is very proud to call Art Pie our Media Partner.

We are equally proud to call the four galleries below our Venue Partners. Click on a logo to find out more about the good work these organisations do.

PREVIEW

The Regent's canal art festival

May 18, 2012 Pierrick Senelaer

I like walking down the Regent’s canal, just for a stroll but also to spot street art. Many famous street or graffiti artists such as Banksky or Team Robbo have let their spray cans go wild on the walls of the surrounding buildings or bridges along the path.

Come to the canal this summer and get away from the Olympics madness and enjoy art, from performances, visual art to music. The Regent’s canal festival will be held from the 13 to the 15th July 2012. The submissions are being taken right now and until the 10th June 2012 so hurry and get this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Link to follow to submit your work – http://bit.ly/JzTdbk

“Regent’s Canal Festival celebrates the 200th anniversary of the formation of the Canal, while engaging local communities provides an excellent platform to deliver a wide range of artistic disciplines – such as audiovisuals, performances, visual arts, live experiences, events and music.

The Regent’s Canal Festival is taking place alongside the canal, crossing boroughs from Little Venice to Limehouse Basin. The Festival will be transforming the Regent’s Canal into an artistic and cultural hub raising awareness of environmental issues through the arts.

In order to create this, we are looking for art works that thematically fits our artistic vision, enhancing the look and feel of being surrounded by water.

The pieces may be interactive or purely visual spectacles, they can potentially incorporate elements of water or fire but they must be relatively durable and suitable for all weather conditions. Floating and light sculptures are particularly welcome.”

This application is most applicable to existing art works that you would like to exhibit to a wider audience. But if you have a new project that you like to create for the Festival don’t forget to send all the budget details.”

Deadline for project submission: Friday 1st June, 10pm

For all enquiries please contact laura.bottin@regentscanalfestival.org.uk

If you are interested in hearing about the upcoming programme of the Regent’s Canal Festival please email info@regentscanalfestival.org.uk to join our mailing list.

Follow as http://www.facebook.com/regentscanalfestival

BLOG

Ronzo’s cockroaches and secret walls win

August 21, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer

We bring you our encounter with Ronzo‘s secret walls appearance at Streefest, street culture festival showcasing live art, which happened last May in East London.

We have also included pics from the Whitecross street party whose Ronzo was one of the thirty artists taking part on the event. His now famous cockroach figure could be seen lurking on building roofs.

BLOG, PREVIEW

Hibernate winter show at Hang Up gallery

December 16, 2015 Pierrick Senelaer

Hibernate is an amazing selection of works from some of Hang-Up‘s favourite urban and contemporary artists.

With brand new limited edition prints and original artworks from the likes of Mark Powell, Pure Evil, Delphine Lebourgeois and Joe Webb as well as sought after collectors pieces from Takashi Murakami, Banksy and Invader.

We included below some of the pieces from the show

WHAT – Hibernate
WHERE – 81 Stoke Newington Road, Stoke Newington, London N16 8AD
WHEN – until 31/12/2015

Banksy - Christ With Shopping Bags | ART-PIE — Banksy – Christ With Shopping Bags – Signed Limited Edition Screenprint of 82

Delphine Lebourgeois | ART-PIE — Delphine Lebourgeois – Superhero I – Limited Edition Screenprint of 35

CONTEMPORARY ART

Lego art: be prepared to be amazed

October 11, 2013 Pierrick Senelaer

When Ole Kirk Christiansen came up with the idea of that brick we call LEGO, I can say with confidence that he was most probably miles away from thinking that one day, people all aver the world would use his brick, and in some cases, ton of them to create pieces of art.

There is even today some sort of art movement that has sprung. How about that?

One very recent example of the frenzy that surrounds LEGO and art can be this life-sized Star Wars X-Wing fighter that was made from 5,335,200 individual bricks. Yes you heard it, over 5 millions of brick were used. It was 11 feet tall, 43 feet long 44 feet wide, and weighed almost 46,000 pounds. This is, as of today the largest model ever built.

But while some art purists may argue that the Brick X Wing is not really art but more a clever engineering poroject, and we would tend to agree, some other artists we feel, have really taken the brick and turn into an art medium.

Nathan Sawaya is certainly one if these artists (we already published something about him) and has gained a recognisable art LEGO style with his Dali-esque statues that are intricate and perception-bending. We have included some of Nathan Sawaya’s works at the bottom of this post.

Other interesting artists are Katie Walker who builds mosaics, we have included one example below.

Katie Walker