Rene Gruau: Butterflies Through Others Eyes #21

Butterflies courtesy of fashion illustrator par excellence Rene Gruau (1909-2004).

Allyson Gee: Butterflies Through Other Eyes #20

These pieces of butterfly jewellery by Allyson Gee make quite a statement. The geometric, cage-like constructions encasing actual butterflies are so original. They were showcased at the Lesley Craze gallery which was in Clerkenwell but closed last year.

Prince Rogers Nelson 1958 - 2016

His Royal Badness! Thank U 4 the music,

and showing me there is a different way.
U remain 4ever in my life.

Nothing compares 2 U!
 

A Bigger Butterfly Ball

This is a new commission that has just gone out to it's new owners. At 80cm x 80cm it was one of the largest Butterfly Balls (here), I have been commissioned to make, (the usual size being 50cm x 50cm). After having it sitting around the studio whilst I finished the framing, I got attached to it, and genuinely found it hard to let it go. It is a lovely blast of Spring colour, but at least it has gone to a good, and very appreciative home.

Alison Watt: The Sun Never Knew How Wonderful It Was

Alison Watt hasn't shown her serene, fabric paintings in London for eight years, so it was a pleasure to see these new works at Parafin Gallery near Bond Street. They are studies of folded cloths, mostly devoid of colour - as she has a thing about the colour white. All of the paintings have a quiet, intimate, feel, and one can't help but make comparisons to their resemblance to certain intimate parts of the female anatomy in the focus of the creases and folds of the fabrics depicted. These paintings also reminded me of close-ups of Georgia O' Keefe's flower paintings. These new works are very calm paintings, created on a human scale in contrast to the other huge fabric inspired pieces she created as artist in residence at the National Gallery back in 2008. I really admired the eccentric, figurative works she created and gained fame for upon leaving Glasgow School of Art back in 1987, and I enjoyed seeing Watt make a slight return to the figure (which is something that she did so well), in this exhibition, in the painting of the cherub below.

Alison Watt: The Sun Never Knew How Wonderful It Was
until 7th May
Parafin
18 Woodstock Street
London
info@parafin.co.uk

Hilma af Klint: Painting The Unseen

There is a very good exhibition at the Serpentine at the moment. Hilma af Klint: Painting The Unseen, focuses on the surreal, abstract paintings of af Klint (1862-1944), which pre-dated the abstracts of Kandinsky, Malevich and Mondrian, (usually thought to be the first pure abstract works of art), by at least ten years. There is another show coming up at the Courtauld in June however, which will dispute this claim. It will feature the work of Georgiana Houghton who like af Klint was also a spiritualist, and channelled artwork through spirit guides, but unlike af Klint, publicly exhibited her abstract works (at a gallery in Old Bond street in 1871). No matter who lays claim to being the first abstract artist, this exhibition of af Klint's work is an extraordinary show of beautiful imagery.

Af Klint studied at Stockholm's Royal Academy of Fine Arts and exhibited traditional landscapes and portraits as well as creating botanical illustrations. During the late 1880s she formed a group with four other like-minded female artists who called themselves The Five (De Fem). In private they conducted séances experimenting with automatic writing and drawing.

In the course of one séance in 1905 af Klint recieved a message from a discarnate entity who the group named Amaliel, who encouraged her to create a series of works entitled The Paintings for the Temple, which were made up of mostly abstract works. The Paintings for the Temple were created between 1905 and 1915, and deal with themes of opposing forces such as light/dark, male/female, good/evil and symbols drawn from alchemy, science and a variety of spiritual philosophies.

What intrigues me about these pieces is the fact that these works were channelled from spirit to be used in a church-like temple, yet af Klint chose not to publicly exhibit these works in her lifetime, and stipulated in her will that the paintings remain hidden until twenty years after her death. Af Klint thought that these works would not be understood by critics and the general public alike, and despite Sweden's neutrality during the war, there was always the risk of her being branded a "degenerate" artist by the Nazis and having the work confiscated and possibly destroyed. Af Klint's paintings didn't surface until 1986 however, and have been causing a stir in the art world ever since.

Personal favourites of the works from this show are the series entitled -The Ten Largest (1907), located in the central gallery of the Serpentine space. They are huge paintings that deal with the theme of the cycle of life. They were painted on paper which was then pasted onto canvas. I was seduced by the gorgeous combinations of bold and pastel colours that af Klint used. They are so life-affirming combined together with the looping curlicues of her handwriting and the organic, nature/science-inspired imagery. They are also more successful in my opinion than those in which she uses representational imagery.

I really recommend this exhibition, it is one of the best of the year that I have visited so far. I'm looking forward to comparing these works to the abstract, spiritualist paintings of Georgiana Houghton when that exhibition opens at the Courtauld in June.

Hilma af Klint: Painting The Unseen
until 15th May
Serpentine Gallery
Kensington Gardens
W2
information@serpentinegalleries.org