Open 2008
dal 21/11/2008 al 10/1/2009
Segnalato da
Andrew Vass
Susan Bonvin
Andrew Eden
Telfer Stokes
Rosie Greenhalgh
Nicola Naismith
Oliver Hein
Townley & Bradby
Gideon Pain
Anne-Mie Melis
Alexandra Drysdale
Caroline Lain
Oliver Soskice
Anna Salomon
Peter Gaskin
Bruce Gernard
Neil Henderson
Polly Read
Gill Hedley
Simon Wallis
21/11/2008
Open 2008
Kettle's Yard, Cambridge
The biennial exhibition returns to showcase the work of 20 talented artists or collaborations from the Eastern region. Some have many years' experience, others are fresh from art school. This year's artists have been selected by Gill Hedley and Simon Wallis. Their work takes in a range of media, from drawing to installations, alongside paintings, sculpture and films.
Twenty artists from the Eastern region have been chosen from a submission of
over three hundred for the Kettle's Yard 2008 OPEN. Some have many years'
experience, others are fresh from art school. Their work takes in a range of
media, from drawing to installations, alongside paintings, sculpture and
films.
There's much about the urban and suburban environment. Andrew Vass's
abstract paintings spring from the forms and textures of derelict urban
spaces, while Susan Bonvin and Andrew Eden collect shapes from the landscape
and develop them into elaborate reliefs. Telfer Stokes scours the scrapyards
for machinery parts which come together in sculptures suggestive of
buildings and man-made landscape. Painter Rosie Greenhalgh isolates
buildings behind screens of trees, suggesting ideas of danger and
vulnerability. Nicola Naismith looks inside the factories and makes works
with sewing needles, prompting thoughts about manufacture and labour.
Oliver Hein and Townley & Bradby comb similar territory and make work that
requires audience involvement. Hein is currently working on a commission for
the guided busway in Cambourne but here presents an installation where
pillows inflate and deflate according to whether we're paying attention or
not. Townley & Bradby perform carefully planned events a game or a picnic
with selected participants or anyone who passes by.
Gideon Pain's paintings and drawings pick up on fellow commuters who share
his daily trek to London and children in the street or playground. There are
drawings also by Anne-Mie Melis, inspired by plant genetics, Alexandra
Drysdale, including a sequence of Stations of the Cross, and Caroline Lain
whose tiny wash drawings derive from looking at pots.
Others have more formal interests. Oliver Soskice's recent, lyrical
paintings are almost abstract but derive from his experience of landscape
and still life, and our perception of light and space. Anna Salomon and
Peter Gaskin also test the ground between figuration and abstraction, while
sculptor Bruce Gernard uses digital technology to explore the distortions of
perspective.
The exhibition is completed by films using animation in entirely different
ways. Neil Henderson worked with the musician Evan Parker, visual artist
Polly Read, and a jazz concert audience to make a film that explores the
relationship between mark making and music. In short videos that play on the
subconscious, Daniel Bell brings familiar objects to life in a strange and
eery circus of the banal.
The Kettle's Yard OPEN is a biennial exhibition, providing a showcase for
artists living or working in the Eastern Region. Most of the works are for
sale. This year's artists have been selected by Gill Hedley, former Director
of the Contemporary Art Society, and Simon Wallis, once Exhibitions
Organiser at Kettle's Yard and now Director of The Hepworth in Wakefield.
Artists' talks: 27 November, Oliver Soskice & 11 December Andrew Vass,
1.10pm.
Opening november 22, 2008
Kettle's Yard
Castle Street - Cambridge
Free admission