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CCA are delighted to present two original and unique hand-thrown and hand-painted ceramic vases by British contemporary artist Dan Baldwin.
Untitled
Baldwin started working on ceramic about six years ago and views this work as an extension of his painting practice. Each pot is worked on by hand combining paint and stencil work and featuring many of the key motifs in Baldwin's art. He is fascinated by the contrast between the feminine and sensuous shape of the vases and the dark subject matter that populates them. Each vase is unique and in Untitled and Victims of Catholicism we can see the diversity of Baldwin's vision. Unitled is one of the largest pots that Baldwin has worked on, standing some 64 cm tall and elegant in its slender form. Baldwin uses a monochrome colour scheme, the simplicity of colour and surface texture contrasting with the complexity of the design. In contrast Victims of Catholicism is rounder and more robust in form, these characteristics echoing in the exuberance of the palette and boisterous composition. Baldwin does not shy away from addressing hard questions in his work, or from dealing with controversial subject matter. His work is too, is always personal, reflecting his life experiences and thoughts.Victims of Catholicism explores the ideas of innocence and evil (recurring themes in Baldwin's oeuvre), as well as Baldwin's thoughts on the death of his grandparents at the hands of the Nazis.
Victims of Catholicism
These works of art are beautiful and tactile objects, and in their fragility take on a greater immediacy. The complexity of design is a feast for the eyes; there are so many compositional elements to absorb and each connected in some way to the others- telling a story, firing the viewers' imagination and intellect. The texture created by Baldwin is also fascinating; the contrasts between the shine of (real) gold paint, stencilled elements, photography, glazes, brush strokes, impastoed paint drips all combined in a riot of colour.
Baldwin recently donated one of his vases Icons to a Great Ormond Street Hospital charity auction, where it sold for an impressive £12,000!
CCA are delighted to present a series of new releases for the new year- silkscreen and digital prints as well as originals.
Sir Peter Blake completes his Homage to Rauschenberg Series with the release of Homage to Rauschenberg I, III and V.
  
He also continues his on-going 'Found Art' series with three new pieces, Found Art: Buttons, Found Art: Beatles and Found Art: Alphabet
  
Not Our Type Darling (coming to the website soon!), Monsters of the Universe, Homage to Barnett Newman and Tired of London- Tired of Life- 4 new works from master printmaker Brad Faine:
 
 
Dan Baldwin has made a silkscreen edition of his painting Love, as well as another hand-painted pot Victims of Catholicism (coming to the website soon!).
 
Storm Thorgerson revisits his iconic Pink Floyd album covers in PF40 Best Of
And last but not least we are delighted to have two original pieces by British contemporary pop artist Dave White, Sure Shot and Forgotten Tomorrows (coming to the website soon!).
Sure Shot
Continuing his long integration with the world of music and popular culture Sir Peter Blake has designed the Brit Award Statuette for 2012. The choice of artist for this prestigious project couldn't be more appropriate; a quintessentially British pop artist re-designing an iconic symbol of British music.
Blake is following in the footsteps of last year's chosen designer, Dame Vivienne Westwood. Soon after the Brit awards began in 1977, the small golden statue became one of the British pop industry's most sought after awards. Blak'es design is typical of his work and perfectly captures the embullience, fun and Britishness of the awards. The statuette is patriotically coloured red, white and blue, echoing the union flag which appears on the base of the trophy. The word Brit runs vertically along the award and on the bottom Blake has featured pop art symbols that have become synonymous with his work (and which also feature heavily on the CCA Art Bus!),
Brit organisers are delighted with the design,
'We feel hugely honoured that Sir Peter Blake accepted the challenge of designing the trophy this year- the result is imcredible. Having created possibly the world's most iconic album cover art with The Beatles, Sir Peter's work is synonymous with the best of British music'.
Of course Blake has worked with many bands over the years, creating album cover artwork for Oasis, Ian Dury and the Bloockheads, Band Aid, the Beach Boys and Paul Weller to name a few.
Interesting article in the independent last week about a survey of 1000 British painters and sculptors across the coubtry, asking them to name the British artists who have most influenced them. Sir Peter Blake features in the top 10, once again demonstrating that he is an artist's artist.
David Hockney topped the list with Turner coming in second. 20th century masters featured heavily; with Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Stanley Spencer also featuring in the top 10. Of contemporary artists Blake, Banky and Grayson Perry have been singles out by their peers as inspirational. Jack Vettriano (find limited edition prints by him here) also features in the list; it's great to see a self-taught artist who has been looked down on by the art establishment.Interestingly the Young British Artists (Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Marc Quinn et al) failed to feature on the list.
The poll was undertaken by a thousand artists between 20 and 65, including recent art school graduates and established artists. It is a pretty balanced list spanning artists over four centuries. Though I am sure that in five or ten years time the results of the poll might be completely different, it is interesting to see which artists other artists really admire.
Top 10 most influential British artists, according to a poll pf 1000 British painters and sculptors:
1. David Hockney
2. JMW Turner
3. Grayson Perry
4. Francis Bacon
5. Jack Vettriano
6. Lucian Freud
7. Thomas Gainsborough
8. Sir Peter Blake
9. Banksy
10. Stanley Spencer
To mark his 70th birthday Brendan Neiland has a new solo show opening this week at the Redfern Gallery- featuring his latest paintings and prints.
Neiland at 70
11th. October until November 10th, 2011
The Redfern Gallery,
20 Cork Street,
London,
W1S 3HL
Telephone | 020 7734 1732 / 0578
Fax | 020 7494 2908
I was Brendan’s tutor at the Royal College of Art in the
1960’s, and i’ve followed his career with interest since then.
The last four years have seen many changes, and it has been
a period of introspection and total full time commitment to
his painting, the first time he’s been able to do this for some
years. In this exhibition ‘Night and Day’ Brendan has
pursued his lifetime exploration of the city, but the work has
taken on a new, more abstract direction. In the ‘Nocturnes’,
a series of paintings at night, the excitement of the night city
as a pleasure ground, together with feelings of slight
foreboding, are brought into focus through the forms and
vibrant colours. Based on reality, the work becomes mystical
and abstract. The ‘Nocturnes’ have influenced the ‘Day ’
series in subtle ways. This is very exciting new work.
Sir Peter Blake,
October 2008
Brendan Neiland has been a great friend and supporter of
The University of Sheffield for several years. In 2002 the
University commissioned Brendan to paint the University
Library and this striking painting now hangs there. The title
of the painting is the University’s motto - Rerum Cognoscere
Causas– and means “To Discover the Causes of Things”
(from Virgil’s Georgics II, #490). Through art we are constantly
discovering new things about ourselves and the world we
live in. The University thanks Brendan for all his support
and is delighted to be sponsoring this exhibition catalogue.
Professor Keith Burnett, FRS
Vice-Chancellor, Sheffield University
Popfather Sir Peter Blake is unveiling canvas versions of his The Buttelfly Man: Homage to Damien Hirst at Art London on Wednesday night. The new canvases- 5 in the series- will be produced in a tiny edition of 10. We do not have images of the new works as yet...but watch this space as we will be adding them to the website.
Sir Peter will be attending the private view at Art London next Wednesday evening, and will be adding his signature to the new canvasses on our stand (34). The new works reflect a growing interest from the artist in 'super-sizing' things; he made large canvas versions of his Vichy Trio silkscreens last year (the Homage canvasses will be on a similar scale), and his Found Art works are based around massively enlarging objects that Blake finds of interest. I have to say, that with the immense amount of detail that is packed into the collage compositions, it will be a real pleasure to see them blown up.
To see the canvases in the flesh, come and see us at stand 34 next week at Art London (further details on our news page)
CCA are thrilled to present new original work by Dan Baldwin at Art London next week. We caught up with Dan to find our more about them....
CC: Dan, fans of your prints may not be aware of your work with vases, could you tell us how this came about, and what appeals to you about this medium?
Dan Baldwin: The vases started about 6 years ago by accident. I was doodling on a cheap pot from the pound shop that I'd bought- I'd been buying dog sculptures from pound land, hand-painting them and selling them in Selfridges. Then I had a lightning bolt moment in the studio where I thought of creating a range of vases with my spontaneous doodles on them. Over the years I've developed them to become an extension of my painting practice and they have proven to be a very successful part of my output. The contrast between a beautiful feminine pot and darker subject matter interests me, and I think it is why they are successful; they are unique, unusual and beautiful.
CC: Could you tell us a little about the particular vase that will be on display at Art London?
DB: This is the largest vase I have made to date (I must clarify I am not a pot-maker, I work with a potter) 60/70cm high. It has to be made in sections on the wheel- very difficult! For the next series we are moulding in clay to create 3-D raised elements protuding from the sides.
(an earlier example of a vase by Dan Baldwin- not the vase to be shown at Art London)
CC: Thunder Coming is one of your new paintings, why did you choose to make this piece on wood rather than canvas like your other two new works?
DB: I hadn't painted for a month or so, and I just had the urge to make a piece just for me, just to paint. So I cut some wood as it was all I had, and just lay down colours and shape and it become Thunder Coming .
CC: Thunder Coming is a very powerful and ominous title, could you pick up on the main themes you explore in this work?
DB: Each painting takes on its own feeling; this had a real static tension about it, like an electricity buzz and it made me think of thunder, and animals hiding, also a radioactive feel to it- a storm brewing up. It explores the chaotic harmony between science, nature and man. The title could also have a double meaning; that's something I love playing with- when you see the crucifix with flames...the storm is brewing....
Thunder Coming
CC: Love. This painting has a completely contrasting atmosphere from Thunder Coming, it gives off a sense of joy and relaxation on a sunny afternoon. Is there a storty behind this, does the ice lolly hold some significance?
DB: Yes- massive significance. I worked in a video shop for five years or so in Hove whilst I was still on the road to being a full-time artist. It was a great shop; specialised in arthouse cinema and always played good music, and was generally a bit of a hang-out. Annie (my girlfriend) was a regular customer of the shop, I remember serving her for years. One day she stopped coming in. Two years later I was walking along, back from Milan, just off to the train, and I saw Annie coming towards me. I did a double-take and so did she, we had this moment in the street. Months later, one summers day, she walked up to me with an ice lolly, holding it in her hand and said 'you look like you need this'. It was the first time she ever spoke to me and she almost didn't go through with it out of a nervous fear, but she felt she had to make contact. Another six months went by, I was single, so was she, I asked her out for dinner and our date lasted 36 hours. That was five years ago and now we have an 11 month-old baby.
The piece Love was originally going to be called Peach, as that is Annie's favourite colour. Then it became Peach Video Girl, and as the painting grew I changed it to just Love. There is a lot of symbolism in the work: the poppy, the orchid, the swallow, the little girl, the little boy, a bird feeding its young, and the skeletal hand/figure searching for its love even in the afterlife. It was the beginning of this series I want to make called Spectrum; more about colour, harmony, beauty. I also like the melting ice lolly as a metaphor, there's something striking about it, dropped by a child or discarded- left to melt....
Love
CC: Spirit. Does the title refer to the human spirit- the gift of imagination and determination? Or does it refer to a spiritualism in the religious sense? How important is faith as a theme in your work?
DB: I think it is all of the above. It took on this feel of another world- a higher place- up in the clouds- a place not of this earth. It went throuh weeks of layering until I was happy with it. I didn't want to call it 'Heaven' or 'Purgatory', but wanted it to be outer-worldly. I have faith in my life, not a religious faith, but a positive thinking; I've always had the feeling that I'll be ok- an inner faith, or a voice- but don't think of that as God, its my inner voice that's what I listen to. Some paintings are like a battle to get right. This one was; I had to keep painting over things, cleaning up, re-working. You go through the fight sometimes to make it come good, like you're pulling it and pushing it, and you like this part but not that etc, you work through that until it is solid and balanced and it all unites together. Even if the message isn't clear it's the evocation of feeling that is important. In this piece there is nature, death of nature, religion, anthropology, evolution, conflict. There's a child-like element to it too, a bit of snakes and ladders, of fairy tale, floaty....that's why Spirit worked well as a title.
CC: Thanks Dan!
Spirit
We are giving you a teaser of the new silkscreen edition by Tom Phillips CBE RA that will be available to purchase online from next week: Raphael Revisited.
Raphael Revisited- signed limited edition silkscreen print by British contemporary artist Tom Phillips.
Raphael Revisited
Silkscreen version of Tom Phillips' 1972 oil on canvas 'After Raphael', inspired by Phillips' fascination with the Golden Section. The Golden Section is a divine and ideal proportional relationship, a geometrical term that has fascinated architects, artists and mathematicians from the Renaissance onwards, it has been seen as a mystical harmony that pervades all nature.
Phillips writes, 'As in the paradox of the poet freed by rhyme, the ratist can be liberated by a system of great rigidity.'
When we think of the renaissance fascination with this theory works such as Leonardo da Vinci's 'Vitruvian Man' or the buildings of Palladio spring to mind. Phillips' preoccupation with mystical proportions 'crops up whenever my work causes me to look back to an Italy or a Greece of the past for inspiration'.
Raphael Revisitied is a transcription of a Votive picture, Umbrian School c. 1490-1500 that Phillips became fanilair with at the Walker Art Gallery whilst judging the John Moores Prize in 1971, and which has been attributed to the young Raphael. Phillips has reworked this image according to the Golden Section. This is a process that Phillips has experimented with throughout his career, 'It was in the seventies however (this obsession seems to return at regular intervals) that I made my most concentrated effort to construct a picture according to the dictates of such a network of co-ordinates'. Having decided to make a work based on the little votive picture Phillips examined the work and found a lack of geometrical basis in the original, 'This very absence of order decided me to abandon the copy and work on a picture in which an imposed system would conflict with the compositional arrangement of the original'.Phillips also changed the format of the work from landscape to portrait.
Votive Picture, Umbrian School, c.1490-1500
Phillips created a version of the picture in the form of a diptych with one canvas showing all the constructional elements and the other the finished painting. He also made a larger single version After Raphael that combines both elements on one surface where the network of lines which guided every nuance and interval of its configuration can still be clearly discerned. It is from this version that Raphael Revisited is reproduced.
An excerpt from After Raphael features on the cover of Brian Eno's 'Another Green World' album 1975.
Abstract artist Charlotte Cornish talks to us about her work, inspiration, and life as an artist:
Describe your ethos as an artist/How would you describe your work?
CC: I see myself predominantly as a painter and printmaker. Printmaking has always been an important part of my practice and has greatly informed the approach I have to making my paintings. I build my paintings up in layers of applied paint - dripped and poured - in much the same way that I make the stencils for my prints. I very much think in terms of layers. Colour is central to my work and I am continually fascinated and intrigued by the qualities of colour and the power of colour combinations.
Striking a Balance I
What Inspires you?
CC: I am greatly inspired by places I have travelled to or visited, and all of my work is drawn from personal experience.
Did you always want to be an artist?
CC: I grew up surrounded by art - both my parents were art teachers who also made their own work and weekends were often spent in museums and art galleries. I think it must have been in my blood!
What is an average day in the life of Charlotte Cornish?
CC: First thing, my dog gets a good walk, then into the studio - I usually paint for at least four hours every day. This seems to be the minimum amount of time for me to settle in to the work and feel like I've made good progress. If all is going well, I spend longer there, especially if I have deadlines for exhibitions or commissions. The rest of the day is often spent at the computer doing admin - replying to emails, sending images of work to galleries or prospective customers etc.
Kindred IV
Who is your favourite artist/ artwork?
CC: Over the years I have been influenced and have admired many artists work. I was very shocked and saddened to hear of the recent death of John Hoyland. I have had great respect for his work and have closely followed his practice as an artist ever since meeting him at The Slade School of Art many years ago. I will really miss the opportunity of continuing to experience his work.
What do you think of the Arts in Britain today?
CC: The Arts in Britain today are incredibly diverse and this is, in many ways, very exciting, allowing for many possibilities and forms of expression. Personally, I continue to be drawn to the medium of painting and printmaking, and so most of the exhibitions I visit tend to be of painters or printmakers work.
Portal II
What is your favourite exhibition space?
CC: I love the Tate Modern! I was lucky enough to go the opening of it and this made a lasting impression on me - such a great space.
What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?
CC: Probably making a living from my work - it's a roller coaster but I've survived so far!
Which talent would you most like to possess?
CC: It would be pretty amazing to be able to look in to the future... although, I guess I would want to only see good things!
One book to take to a desert island...
CC: Ooh - just one - that's hard...I may have to think about that one for a bit longer...
How would you like people to view your work in the future?
CC: I hope my work captures, or hints at, something universal about what it feels like to be alive and I so would like to think that this would continue to communicate to people in the future.
Name a current exhibition that you would like to see/would recommend
CC: Hoping to get to the Royal Academy and see Albert Irvin's print exhibition and also Frank Bowling's works on paper exhibition.
Next in our 'Getting to Know...' series the quirky and wonderful artist Patrick Hughes. As well as having some now very rare prints by Patrick dating from the 80S, CCA have been delighted to publish new silkscreen editions with him in recent years. Patrick currently has a retrospective of his work '50 Years in Show Business' at Flowers Gallery, London.
CC: Describe your ethos as an artist/How would you describe your work?
PH: My work is oxymoronic, bitter/sweet, serious/funny, simple/complicated, reasonable/daft.
CC: What Inspires you?
PH: I am inspired by artists and writers of a similar persuasion: Magritte, Klee, Duchamp, Kakfka, Lewis Caroll, Samuel Butler.
CC: Did you always want to be an artist?
PH: No I wanted to be a writer, but I thought NF Simpson's play One Way Pendulum was so perfect that I thought I should be a paradoxer in art where there was not so much competition.
CC: What is an average day in the life of Patrick Hughes?
PH: I get up at 6.30, my assistants come at 8 when I make them tea or coffee, lunch is 12.20 to 1.10, the studio colses at 4.40 Monday to Friday. In the evening TV or theatre or reading with my wife Di. Running around the park, playing table tennis five times a week.
CC: Who is your favourite artist/ artwork|?
PH: Paul Klee is my favourite artist because I never knew what he was going to do next. March of the Viaducts is one of his best.
Colour Process (1984)
CC: What do you think of the Arts in Britain today?
PH: I never think about the Arts in Britain today, I am only interested in what I am interested in. I read the paper cover to cover every day, and watch the TV news. I am not British, I have got a Citizen of the World passport, and I am as interested in British art as I am in Croatian art or Malaysian art: nationalism is the biggest mistake of the nineteenth century, or any century.
CC: What is your favourite exhibition space?
PH: The space inside your head.
CC: What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?
PH: To have always done what I wanted to do, without studying at an art school. To have become learned by reading books silently.
CC: Which talent would you most like to possess?
PH: To run like the wind.
CC: One book to take to a desert island...
PH: A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh
CC: How would you like people to view your work in the future?
PH: Profound, witty, imaginative, unique.
CC: Name a current exhibition that you would like to see/would recommend
PH: Magritte in Liverpool, Hughes in Cork Street and Shoreditch (Flowers Gallery).
Paper Roses (1985)
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Posted By Clare on Thu 26 Jan 2012 04:22 
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