Sunday 22 March 2009

Monday 9 March 2009

Subversives@StISA

'Sam'
from the 'Burnt Out' series,
mixed media - doll, burnt matches
10cm x 10cm x 5cm
Daniel Barnard 2009
Daniel says "can't think of anything to say"

'Children of the Prawn'
mixed media - lobster pot, dolls, star fish
18cm x 25cm x 25cm
, Daniel Barnard, 2007

A cake Stall will be a 'feature' at the Preview party

'The Louvin Bros’
40x50 cm, oil-on-paper monotype
Ian Dunlop contact for Art, Music & Films, Ian Dunlop
www.iandunlopart.com

'Wot Kitty Got'
Acrylic and oil on canvas 46 x 50cm, Morwenna Morrison

'Le Camelia Rouge'
Oil on canvas 46 x 50cm, Morwenna Morrison

'Image 1 from a series called Sequence'
How do we get from A to B I wonder?
Using the head? The legs? The gut?
What does mapping the territory mean?
Choice?
Findings?
Being lost?
What happens to those who go and make their uncertain way against the forces?
What happens to those who stay?
Karen Lorenz

'Image 2 from a series called Sequence'
Oil, pencil on paper
21 x 29 cm Karen lorenz


'The crucifiction of Ganesh'
clay and mixed media, 62 x 62cm Lisa Stewart

'Sing'
pen & ink, 20 by 25 cm 2009 Sara Jenkins

'Full moon frenzy'
graphite ink on paper, A3 2009 Lisa Stewart

'Adrift alone'
mixed media sculpture, 2008 Sue Dove

'Face'
Ragrugged 13"x11", 2009 Sue Dove

'Frozen Flight'
acrylic and resin on canvas, 91cm x 153cm 2009 Penny MacBeth

'Earthly Affections'
Objet Trouve 3, 2009 Linda styles

'Angel'
Toys on Wood 2009, 185cm x 110 X 75cm approx Robert Bradford

'Earthly Affections'
Objet Trouve 2, 2009 Linda styles

‘Red Shoes’
oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm 2009 Una d'Aragona

'House of Subversives'
( detail ), mixed media and found objects
66cm x 30cm x 68cm
2009 Penny MacBeth

'Earthly Affections'
Objet Trouve 1, 2009 Linda styles

‘I looked but no-one was there’
oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm 2009 Una d'Aragona

'Mother's Little Helper'
acrylic on canvas, 46 x 50cm 2009
Morwenna Morrison

Does society know what it wants from us?

We are told we can have it all: a career, a relationship, children, a home, while all the time staying slim and in control. The guilt if we don’t. Not all women can be everything. Life, we find, is a constant struggle, full of compromise. Every minutia of our lives have been analysed by professed experts and then paraded across the media to further fuel our feelings of inadequacy. We have the ability to control almost everything from fertility to fat intake.

How do we cope?
Who, what, why are we?
There are no definitive answers.

In these series of paintings I pick over women’s lives, offering up my own observations of what it is to be a woman today.


'Toy Soldier'
toys on wood, 200cm x 1.3 cm x 100 cm approx
2008 Robert Bradford



‘SUBVERSIVE FIGURES’
29th April – 2nd June
Gallery opening hours 10.30am – 5.30pm, Mon – Sat
Preview party , Saturday 2nd May 6pm – 9pm

An exhibition of figurative painting and sculpture which explores the strange territory and occasional overlap between the beautiful and the ugly.

01736 795582
www.stisa.co.uk
subversivefigures.blogspot.com








Merbabe & Dogman c/o artbysara


Merbabe is the Mermaid of Zennor babeified. She thought she'd come onland for a bit of fun, maybe even seduce a bloke whilst he's too drunk to see her tail hidden beneath her pink & orange sarong. By the way, you can always tell a mermaid by her wet hem. Be warned.
Dogman is a jack-the-lad, the Beast of Bodmin down from the moor & on holiday. He's in St Ives eyeing up the babes, enjoying the ale & pretending he can surf. He can't. He hates getting his fur wet. He's such a slacker...except when it comes to food. He can gobble up old grandmas & children whole.
For more stories do visit my blog http://www.artbysara.blogspot.com

Friday 6 March 2009

press release for StISA show , 2009

‘SUBVERSIVE FIGURES’
An exhibition of figurative painting and sculpture which explores the strange territory and
occasional overlap between the beautiful and the ugly.

WHERE ?
The Main Gallery, St Ives Society of Artists , Norway Square , St Ives ,
Cornwall TR26 1NA
Contact : Gallery Manager April Brooks , tel 01736 795582

WHEN ?
Preview party , Saturday 2nd May 6pm – 9pm
Exhibition 29th April –2nd June ,
Monday - Saturday

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

‘ Subversive Figures ‘ is the third exhibition on this theme from an recently formed group of artists all of whom have a current connection with Cornwall . Our group includes both established and emerging artists : Some of us show locally , some of us show internationally and some of us rarely emerge from our studios to show at all !

Our initial group – which has since expanded -was ignited by a spark from the
‘ Spontaneous Combustion 2’ Exhibition held in St Ives in Summer 2007 . Focussed on emotional responses this show asked artists to explore “ How do you feel ? how do you REALLY feel ?” and provided a welcome opportunity for all of us to work beyond the constraints of the ( largely ) tourist driven local commercial art environment : We were able to show work which would not sit easily in local commercial galleries and some of us were grateful for the chance to show work ‘ at home’ which is usually exported to different markets and hence misses the local audience .

As individual artists ,we all share an interest in representing the human form and in exploring the emotional impact on the viewer of the distortions , idiosyncrasies and hybridizations that we employ to do so . As Aristotle established in the Poetics , it is possible to make beautiful imitations of ugly or imperfect things and as Francis Bacon might have acknowledged , it is equally possible to do the reverse ! Sometimes the boundary between beautiful and ugly is not clearly drawn , so that both co-exist within the same representation : As the witches in Macbeth put it “ fair is foul and foul is fair …”.

As drawing the line between the beautiful and the ugly is itself a highly subjective matter we hope to gain reaction to this exhibition from a wide audience ! Like marmite , you might love it , hate it or find that your response is double edged or time dependent ( that strange , slightly disturbing aftertaste ! ). What we hope is that you will come and join us for a show where your personal response to the work IS part of the experiment . We look forward to seeing you for what promises to be an emotionally loaded experience.