Piccasso's Vollard Suite

There is a rather wonderful exhibition currently in the Print room of the British Museum. It shows off the complete set of 100 etchings created by Picasso in his classical period, between 1930 and 1937, and commissioned by the art dealer Ambroise Vollard. This set of etchings is known as the Vollard Suite. 

The prints reflect Picasso's obsession with his young mistress Marie-Therese Walter, his interest in classicism, and brief flirtation with Surrealism. The Suite is divided into themes which include, The Battle of Love, The Sculptors Studio, Rembrandt, The Minotaur and The Blind Minotaur, and the last being three portraits of Ambroise Vollard. The display is complemented by the inclusion of etchings by Rembrandt, (the best ever etcher?), Goya, and also classical busts and ceramics.

Among the prints my favourite image is Blind Minotaur Led through the Night by Girl with a Fluttering Dove 1935. This beautiful, atmospheric image in which a young girl with a dove leads the blinded minotaur through the night, hold its own against many of his actual paintings. It is an image full of tenderness and pathos and I wonder how it would have looked had Picasso developed it into a large painting. There is a beautiful contrast of light which emanates from the bodies of the characters, and the rich black of the night scene.

Whilst some of the plates would have benefited from more work by Picasso, the exhibition displays his inventiveness and mastery of line and composition. It is one I shall definately be returning to again before it closes in September.

Kaleidoscope: a new screenprint

I have been working with the wonderful people at Jealous Gallery and print studio to create a new screen-print - Kaleidoscope (Red). It was nice to visit their new premises in Shoreditch and observe the process, as I haven't done this form of printmaking since teaching, a good few years ago. The project was handled and printed by the fantastic Jess (a star in the making!).

The print makes its debut at the Grand Designs Live show at the Excel Centre, London this weekend on the Jealous Gallery stand. The signed limited edition is 40 and there will be an additional edition of ten prints with diamond dust. The prints are available direct from myself via the website, or the galleries that represent me (see Contact page), or Jealous Gallery.

Dulwich Festival, Artists' Open House 2012

As part of the Dulwich Festival Artists' Open House 2012, I am pleased to have been invited to exhibit at Romeo Jones, in the heart of Dulwich village. Romeo Jones is the wonderful delicatessen which supplies the finest artisanal food produce from both the British Isles and the continent. My work can be found in the beautiful 'salon' style cafe at the rear of the shop. I will be exhibiting for the whole of May and not just the weekends (12/13th May and 19/20th May), of the Open House. I will be showing my latest all white piece - "Periphery".

It was a real pleasure to be selected to exhibit at this particular venue which has a growing reputation for showing artwork, and I would like to thank Festival Art Organisor Rachel Gluyas, and the proprietor Patrick Belton for making this possible.

Romeo Jones, 80 Dulwich Village, SE21. 

Tel. 0208 299 1900

www.romeojones.co.uk

Mon - Fri  8 - 5pm

Sat - Sun  9 - 6pm

Screaming at Sotheby's

Ventured up to Sotheby’s, New Bond St. to see a version of the ‘The Scream’ by Edvard Munch (1863 - 1944). The version consigned to the saleroom and up for auction next month in New York, is a pastel drawing by the artist. The image of ‘The Scream’ is reckoned to be only second to that of the Mona Lisa in terms of art awareness in the general public conscience, and is regarded as the archetypal image of the angst and anxiety of modern man.

‘The Scream’ is a series of four artworks created between 1893 and 1910. The version for sale is owned by Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen and was bought direct from the artist by his father. Munch described the inspiration for the image thus:

I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.

This is referenced in the poem written by Munch on the frame of the piece for sale at Sotheby’s, which says ‘the scream’ actually comes from Nature and not the figure in the artwork. This is certainly echoed in the Expressionist lines and colours used by Munch in each of the finished artworks.

Interestingly at the time that the image was created Munch’s sister was committed to a mental asylum and he himself feared he would go mad. Munch lived near the asylum and a local abattoir and could hear the screams of humans and animals from both of these places. 

I was amazed at the high levels of security employed by Sotheby’s to safeguard the treasure. It should come as no surprise really when sales estimates are as high as £50 million. You have to pass through not one but two airport style security scans and place all metal objects such as keys, phones, wallets etc. into a tray. Your body is then scanned with one of those wand thingumajiggies before you are corralled into a queue and made to wait,( for as long as twenty minutes, states the notice), before you are allowed into a darkened room to view the picture from a distance, behind a barrier. It is though, a particularly beautiful drawing/preparatory sketch, and the colours really sing in the darkened room.

The mind boggles as to what final price it will fetch at auction when the gavel comes down next month in New York on May 2^nd. Sotheby’s reckons that the £50 million estimate is the highest that they have ever put on a piece of art for sale. It was a privilege to be able to view it before it disappears off to New York, and then from public view, doubtless into some anonymous private collection.   

Make a trip to Sotheby’s if you can before the work is sent to New York on Saturday, as there are also some other important pieces on view by the greats of 20^th century art, such as Warhol, Bacon, Picasso, Dali, Magritte, Rodin and Matisse.

Mondrian Nicholson in Parallel

To the Courtauld to see the MondrianllNicholson in Parallel show. Enjoyed this small exhibition which focused on the period before the second World War when Mondrian came to live in London and the influence he exerted over Nicholson. 

I would have liked to see more larger pieces by Mondrian but my absolute favourite pieces in the exhibition were Nicholsons' plain white carved reliefs. Absolutely spare and beautiful. 

It was some of this sparse, contemplative quality that I was trying to capture in the plain white pieces that I create (pictured below), which rely on the play of light, shadow and form, rather than colour.  

 The exhibition continues at the Courtauld Gallery until 20th May 2012.

Angels in Berkeley Square

Found myself in Berkeley Square on a beautiful sunny day. Didn't hear any nightingales singing alas, but did see a beautiful collection of Angels and Goddesses by the sculptor Emily Young. Have previously seen her work at the Fine Art Society and love the scale, texture and subject matter. It was great to see others touching and interacting with the pieces. Wonderful!

Lovely Lasers

I have just taken delivery of a batch of my first laser-cut designs. They are called "Butterfly Ball", and are available in two colours, Black and Navy Blue card. Both colours are available in a signed and numbered limited edition of 80, from myself, via the website, or Pond or Wey galleries. 

Art for the Heart

I have been invited to take part in "Art for the Heart" a Valentine's themed show at Cambridge Contemporary Art. The show runs from Jan 28th - 19th Feb. Among the pieces I will be showing is the new piece (pictured), 'L.O.V.E./Love', a take on the seminal Robert Indiana design and named after the song by the fantastic Al Green, which was covered by the equally fantastic Orange Juice.

Cambridge Contemporary Art, 6 Trinity St, Cambridge, CB2 1SU  Tel: 01223 324 222

Grayson Perry

Earlier this year I saw the BBC 'Imagine' documentary on Grayson Perry and his transvestite alter ego Clare, preparing for his current show at the British Museum. I was recently in Manchester and caught a smaller version of the BM show at Manchester City Art Gallery, which contains a selection of his pots and prints along with various items from the gallerys' collection. I love the combination of serious issues and whimsy documented in an unashamedly decorative way in his work. Hope to catch the BM show before it finishes.

Degas and the Ballet

Spent a very pleasant morning at the RA in the company of the work of Monsieur Degas. I was introduced to his work at school, and wrote an essay on him as part of my O Level Art exam and have been an admirer of his work ever since.

Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement focuses on his attempts at capturing the movement of dancers through drawings, sculpture, oil and pastel paintings. It also documents pioneering photographers of movement such as Nadar and Muybridge, who showed how humans and animals really moved. 

Although it has become easy nowadays to dismiss most of his ballet pictures as twee, when one looks at the context of the time they were produced, you can appreciate how controversial the subject matter was, given how some of the ballerinas were forced to supplement their incomes by "entertaining" rich patrons in private rooms at the Opera after ballet performances.

Among the innovations of Degas' work at this time were the use of photographs and Japanese prints from which he took foreshortening and cutting off figures by objects 

within the picture or the picture frame in an attempt to show realism. Working in pastel and presenting these as finished paintings in themselves was also another innovation and has its modern day equivalent in the work of Paula Rego.

It was interesting to see his working sketches of the dancers but I think the exhibition would have benefited from more of his major finished painting and pastel pieces.

Fine Feathered Friends

I am a huge admirer of our avian friends as you will no doubt guess from my Bird Gallery, and I like to depict them as well as butterflies. I recently attended the Ghosts of Gone Birds exhibition and was alarmed to see the devastation humans still continue to wreak on these beautiful creatures. The exhibition attempted to highlight extinct species and artistic contributions were made by Sir Peter Blake and Ralph Steadman amongst others. My eye however, was caught by the wonderful retro styling of this Bishops O' o' bird by illustrator Ben Newman which I covet. It is a screen-print on wood and I particularly like the handmade qualities such as the slight mis-registration  of the image and the fact that you can still see the woodgrain showing through.

Cambridge Christmas

I visited Cambridge last week and more specifically Cambridge Contemporary Art, to deliver some new pieces for their Christmas Show. Among them I will be showing two new pieces - "Little Red Dress", created from a new dress template, and "Coronet", created with metallic gold thread and gold leaf. The Christmas Show runs from Friday 25th November until 24th December 2011.Cambridge Contemporary Art, 6 Trinity St, Cambridge.

e:info@cambridgegallery.co.uk

E. McKnight Kauffer: Poster King

Visited the Estorick Collection, Islington recently to see the E. McKnight Kauffer exhibition. I really love the graphic design from this period (1920s and 30s), and especially Kauffers' work which was an influence on my own commercial work as an illustrator. 

The show runs until 18th December and contains many of his iconic posters for the Herald newspaper, Shell and London Underground and other near perfect combinations of typography and image. There are also interiors, paintings and theatre designs created by Kauffer. 

Not sure if I would describe him as the "Poster King" , as I think there are other designers    (Hohlwein, Capiello, Cassandre), who are more deserving of that accolade. He was a fantastic designer nonetheless and this is a good show. Reach!

Windsor Contemporary Art Fair

I will be exhibiting work at Windsor Contemporary Art Fair from Friday 11th November (Private View 6pm - 9pm) to Sunday 13th November. I will be exhibiting on Stand 83. Hope to see you there.