Happy Hallowe'en

Joseph Plateau (1801-1883) - Phenakistoscope

The Winter Show: Cambridge Contemporary Art

I was delighted to be invited to exhibit work at Cambridge Contemporary Art's Winter Show which starts tomorrow and continues until 20th November. Up for sale will be one of my lovely dress pieces - Pequeña Princesa Roja. It is one of a trio - including black and white versions - created from the same dress pattern, and based on the Infanta figure from Velazquez's famous Las Meninas painting. The black version was sold last month.

I have also had requests for a smaller version of the 1m square Interstice pieces that I create, (above), and on display at CCA's Winter Show will be a 50cm x 50cm version in silver leaf (below). All artworks are hand-cut and come in ash box frames. Contact CCA or myself for further information about availability.

The Winter Show
until 20th November 
Cambridge Contemporary Art
6 Trinity Street
Cambridge 
www.cambridge gallery.co.uk

The Boldness Of Calder: Jewellery By Alexander Calder

A great exhibition of the unique pieces of jewellery created by sculptor Alexander Calder this.

Calder (1898-1976), renowned for his mobile sculptures, actually began to make jewellery as a child for his sisters dolls using copper wire. He then carried on creating jewellery to make money during the war, and even after he found fame as a sculptor. His jewellery pieces were exhibited in galleries as early as 1929.

Calder was very 'hands on', not only designing each piece himself, but making all of them  too by cutting and hammering them into shape using relatively simple materials such as brass, silver wire and ebony. He rejected approaches by companies such as Tiffany's who wanted him to create exclusive editions for them, in favour of making one off pieces specifically for friends and as personal gifts.

Calder had a small select client base of forward thinking, strong women such as Peggy Guggenhiem, and Georgia O'Keeffe. It is statement jewellery, as bold and striking as their extrovert personalities, definately not for the timid.

No, these aren't the refined techniques and outcomes of the haute jewellery created by the likes of say Lalique, or Schlumberger. They are more immediate and raw, and the better, and more striking for it. They are completely unique and have a very different, very sculptural aesthetic. 

 
There is something very primal about Calder's choice of shapes which are reduced to the basic geometries of spirals, squares and oblongs. They seem to have more in common with the jewellery pieces of much earlier, primitive cultures than 20th century jewellery. Surprisingly this is the first UK show devoted to Calder's jewellery and it is well worth a visit before it closes.

photographs with the models are courtesy of Alexander English

The Boldness of Calder: Jewellery By Alexander Calder
until 5th November
Louisa Guinness Gallery
45 Conduit Street
London 

Autumn's Urban Wildlife

Autumn Song

Know'st thou not at the fall of the leaf

How the heart feels a languid grief

Laid on it for a covering,

And how sleep feels a goodly thing

In Autumn at the fall of the leaf ?

And how the swift beat of the brain

Falters because it is in vain,

In Autumn at the fall of the leaf

Know'st thou not? and how the chief

Of joys seems-not to suffer pain

Know'st thou not at the fall of the leaf

How the soul feels like a dried sheaf

Bound up at length for harvesting,

And how death feels a comely thing

In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?

Dante Gabriel Rosetti

And so Autumn comes calling. The days grow shorter, and a little colder, and as I spend time gazing out of the windows I find that we're being visited by a variety of creatures looking for either food or warmth. It was nice to observe this Jersey Tiger moth (above), at close quarters through my mottled bathroom window without disturbing it.

We've also been recieving visits from this foraging fox. It's so cautious and moves so quickly but is a beautiful specimen. I hope to catch him/her again on a future visit.

Perhaps not so beautiful was this monster (below), lurking in my bath and unable to scale the steep sides to escape. It was huge, and appeared to be missing a leg, but I managed to scoop him up and wrestle him out of the window so he could continue on his way.

I was really surprised, but happy to see this frog during a recent spot of rain. Initially, from a distance I thought it was just another fallen leaf, but then saw it hop, so dashed for the camera.

It appeared to love the wet conditions before darting out of sight under the garden shed.

Autumn

The leaves are falling, falling as if from far up, 

as if orchards were dying high in space. 
Each leaf falls as it were motioning "no".

And toight the heavy earth is falling
away from all other stars in the loneliness.

We're all falling. This hand here is falling.
And look at the other one. It's in them all.

And yet there is Someone whose hands
infinitely calm, holding up all this falling.

Rainer Marie Rilke

Ai Wei Wei - Cubes And Trees

I made the journey back up to Cambridge this week to pay a visit to Cambridge Contemporary Art, and also to visit Downing College's Heong Gallery to see their second exhibition - Ai Wei Wei: Cubes And Trees. 

The grounds of the college are so beautiful, the students are so lucky to have such an inspiring campus on which to pursue their studies.

I wasn't familiar with Ai Wei Wei's Cubes, and I must admit that although the premise of a group of cubes didn't seem particularly enticing - I had solely gone to this exhibition for the Trees sculptures - these 1 metre square cubes which are enriched by the materials they are made from, really enhanced my viewing experience. They were fantastic. The four cubes are made from crystal, ebony, Pu'er tea and Huali wood. The Crystal Cube was amazing, it gave some fantastic optical effects as it reflected and refracted the light.

This Huali wood Treasure Box had a wonderful marquetry surface and was, intriguingly, like a bee's hive with various hexagonal openings cut into its surfaces to reveal some complex inner constructions.

This  Cube in Ebony was a wonderful exercise in surface pattern. So seductively textural and mysterious with its richly, dark carved surface.

And lastly this Ton of Tea cube (above), did what it said on the tin, and was literally a ton of tea. It too was also full of alluring, fibrous surface textures and the faint aroma of the Pu'er tea plant. The Cubes viewed, it was then time to head outside into the grounds of the college to view the Trees.

I really do enjoy Wei Wei's trees, and had previously encountered them in London at the RA (here). This particular 'copse' at Downing consists of seven trees planted outside the Downing College chapel. They are so clumsy, lumpen and lifeless, but have an ungainly grace of their own, especially when compared to an abundance of the real things in this particular setting. 

I love the rusted rods, nuts and bolts which hold them together and also the beautiful gnarled textures of their constituent parts - some of which are hundreds of years old.

The artist says of the trees:-

'We assembled them together to have all the details of a normal tree. At the same time, you're not comfortable, there's a strangeness there, an unfamiliar-ness. It's just like trying to imagine what the tree was like'.

The following is a poem by Ai Wei Wei's father - Ai Qing who was a poet.

Trees

One tree, another tree,

Each standing alone and erect.

The wind and air

Tell their distance apart.

But beneath the cover of earth

Their roots reach out

And at depths that cannot be seen

The roots of the trees inertwine.

Ai Qing, 1940

As I made my way out of the city centre back to London I smiled as I saw this lovely, mid-century cubistic, stone-work tree installed on the side of a building.

Unfortunately the exhibition closes tomorrow, but to see a short time-lapse video of Ai Wei Wei's Trees being installed at Downing College click on the video below.