The Art of Paul Peter Piech

On a trip to Manchester I really enjoyed this survey of strong, graphic prints by Paul Peter Piech (1920-1996), at The People's History Museum. The prints were a perfect fusion of type and image, and given the political dramas and general upheavals across the globe this year it is a very timely and relevant exhibition. Piech is an artist who pricks our conscience with imagery which urges us to respect all other human beings in this world and their rights, irrespective of their race or creed. His art espouses love, peace and equality, and the works for which he became renowned are executed in the wonderful medium of lino cut.

Piech was an American, who after studying at the Cooper Union School of Art in New York, settled in Britain after the Second World War, married, and attended Chelsea School of Art before working in advertising for a number of years, and then going on to teach at various art colleges and then working alongside the master of the linocut - Edward Bawden - at Leicester.

Piech then set up his own Taurus Press, producing books and prints which expressed his views on equality, pacifism and social justice. Perhaps influenced by his Welsh wife, he later moved to Wales and began to reference the prose of Welsh poets in his work. He passed on to the world of spirit in 1996.

Above, a picture of Piech at work in his Hertfordshire studio, and below woodcut and lino-blocks and rollers used by the artist displayed in the exhibition.

I really loved this image also in the exhibition (below), by Mancunian Ern Brooks, who was a member of the Artist International Association who played a role in the peace and labour movements. He was also responsible for selecting work for the Artists For Peace exhibitions of the 1950s which featured the work of Picasso and Matisse. Piech joined and exhibited with the group at a later stage.

These images below about Piech's obvious love of jazz music are really happy, positive and celebratory. They are the perfect antidote to some of his other images about man's inhumanity to his fellow man. I really enjoyed this exhibition and the positive humanitarian qualities of Piech's art which brought to mind the work of fellow American Ben Shahn. There is also another selling exhibition about Piech's work currently in London at Waterhouse and Dodd on Albemarle Street until 17th December.

Dedicated To All Defenders of Human Freedoms: The Art of Peter Paul Piech
until February 12th 2017
The People's History Museum
Left Bank
Spinningfields
Manchester
www.phm.org.uk 

A Living Advent Calendar - Peace To The World

A new initiative was started in the borough of Kensington this year by The Rev'd Stephen Fielding of St Mary Abbots church, to engage with the various businesses of the borough. The idea was to create a Living Advent Calendar, where each day, participating businesses in a different location would unveil a window display to create an advent calendar across the parish. Each business would ask an artist to create an artwork for their window which would illustrate the Christmas theme of Peace To The World, and each day at the unveiling of the window, a small celebration would be held to unite businesses, locals and visitors to the area to add to the sense of community.   

St Mary Abbots, Kensington High Street

I felt really privileged then to be asked by Chris at The Rowley Gallery to create an artwork especially for the occasion. I had just begun to create a series of pieces entitled Gloriole which contain combinations of birds, butterflies, dragonflies, moths, bees, and foliage, and it was suggested that I create one of these on a large scale for the window. This particular Gloriole piece is in silver-leaf, measures 67cm x 121cm in an ash box frame, and is a celebration of creation, eco-systems and the myriad forms of flora and fauna that we share this earth with. 

I felt this was a fitting response to the Peace To The World theme. The Rev'd Stephen Fielding says these Advent Windows are about community and hospitality. 'We are looking to unify our community at a very important time of the year'. 

Unfortunately I was unable to be at the grand unveiling which took place last Friday on 2nd December, but it looked like a really good event with Father Gillean leading the  singing of Away In A Manger after an address, and then mince pies and mulled wine being dispensed. The following are some pictures of the unveiling event taken outside the Rowley Gallery.

For more information about this project and to see the other advent windows across the borough contact St Mary Abbots here.

 The map of the Advent trail (Rowley Gallery is no.5)

The artwork Gloriole can be viewed at the front of the Rowley Gallery (besides a lovely display of Chris Corr watercolours), over the Christmas period and in the run up to the New Year. There is also a smaller version of Gloriole for sale at the Rowley (below).

The Rowley Gallery
115 Kensington Church Street
London
W8
Tel: 020 7727 6495
www.rowleygallery.com

Winifred Nicholson In Cumberland

On a lovely, sunny autumn day last week I had a pleasant walk through Hyde Park which set me up perfectly for this very good exhibition devoted to Winifred Nicholson and her observations of the landscape and still-life paintings of her beloved Cumberland.

It was a pleasant surprise to see the figurative painting above, titled - Starry Eyed (1927), an intimate portrait of husband Ben with their first child Jake, as I was only familiar with Nicholson's still life and landscape paintings. It is a very tender scene, and the warm palette used reflects the obvious love experienced between the couple at the time. It is also great to see a female artist giving a twist to the parent/child theme in art by creating a portrait of a father being affectionate with a child. Most paintings on this theme usually feature the mother and child, such as those by Henry Moore, or the Madonna and child portraits of the Renaissance.

The rest of the exhibition consists of landscapes and still lives. Apart from Starry Eyed, my favourite painting was -The South Parlour (c1950), bottom, which had the most intense, luminous colour and soft brushwork, and is clear evidence of Nicholson's reputation as a skilled colourist

Winifred Nicholson In Cumbria 
until 10th December
Crane Kalman Gallery
178 Brompton Road
SW3
www.cranekalmangallery.com

Gavin Turk: Who What When Where How & Why

A really good exhibition this, at Newport Street Gallery. I find it really odd that this is the first large scale survey in this country of Gavin Turk's work. Said work seems to be about illusion, identity, appropriation and ownership. Turk obviously knows his art history, and seems to enjoy playing fast and loose with the work of other artists, making many sly and funny references, but also creating something new by usurping their work and stamping his own identity - be it his portrait or signature - all over it.

Cave, (1991) above, the notorious blue plaque which cost Turk his Royal College Of Art Masters degree.

These photographs of Turk in the guise of Jackson Pollock, and the Pollock-like paintings (which are actually Turks' abstracted signature repeated), were very clever. I loved the giant cubes which referenced the work of Robert Morris and were also like the cubes of Ai Wei Wei which I saw in Cambridge last month (here). The distressed mirrored surfaces and their reflections were so beautiful.

This upstairs room very obviously references the work of Warhol and had great visual impact.

The carefully staged crashes of Transit Disaster using Turk's actual car and van are based on Warhol's Death and Disaster series. The cube above is the actual transit van crushed and compressed as a sculptural work in itself.

I liked the layers of meaning in these self-portraits of Turk posing as Sid Vicious, referencing Warhol's double and triple portraits of Elvis posing as a cowboy in a film still.

This figure above was odd. A disturbing end-of-pier style dummy who becomes animated once a sensor was triggered.

This figure was really affecting. I really felt for Turk as a down and out substance abuser, compared to the swagger of Turk as the figure of Sid Vicious, above. Shades of Duane Hanson.

I found these trompe l'oeil 'readymades' intriguing and extraordinary in their mundane ordinariness.They really do fool the eye and you can't help but want to touch and examine them to feel their weight compared to the real things as they are all bronze. I thought they were fantastic.

These bronze sleeping bags referencing the homeless were really emotive, especially at the this time of year given the weather conditions, and most of us able to enjoy the warmth of our homes and comfort of family in the run up to Christmas. With next years forecasted economic hardships on the horizon one can't help but think - there but for the grace of God...

I will definately be paying this exhibition another visit.

Gavin Turk: Who What When Where How & Why
until 19th March 2017
Newport Street Gallery
London
SE11