I couldn't resist posting these last photo's from The Lightbox, Woking - from the line of statues at the entrance, mainly on loan from the Ingram Collection.
The gallery is largely dependent on loans from Chris Ingram's huge collection of 20th and 21st century art.
I liked this self portrait of the sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi;
It's from his 'Man Machine' series and that's clearer from this detail;
Paolozzi is most famous for his influence on 'Pop Art' and if you want to see a particularly good example of it, take a trip to Tottenham Court Tube Station where he was commissioned to cover the walls in the most amazing mosaic tiles.
It shimmers.
Paolozzi was Scottish although his art took him around the world. From 1960 to 1962 he taught art in Hambourg and one of his most gifted pupils was Stu Sutcliffe, early member of The Beatles and friend of John Lennon.
Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
Our Valentines Day Day Out continued when we went down a floor at The Lightbox, Woking to take a look at 'Henry Moore: Sculpting from Nature'.
I have to admit that this one was going to have to work hard to win me over - Henry Moore has never been a favourite of mine.
On the other hand I have always seen his rival Barbara Hepworth as the greatest British artist of the 20th century.
The relationship between the two artists is a fairly simple one; although Moore was about five years older, the First World War interrupted his studies.
So both ended up at the same art school in Leeds, both won scholarships to travel around Italy learning about classical sculpture, both were pioneers of 1930's Modernism.
Except Moore happened to be a man while Hepworth was a women.
So, in the Post war boom when public institutions found themselves with the money to rebuild they often commissioned public art as well.
Moore got the lions share of those lucrative public commissions and responded by producing a large series of massive and imposing bronze figures - including one at the entrance of Charing Cross Hospital.
And while Barbara Hepworth was almost as famous she isn't represented in the same way - her sculptures are often more intimate as a result.
More controversially, it was Hepworth who was the first to explore spaces in sculpture....if you like she was the first to put holes in her works, something that Moore adopted after she did.
So in many ways, Hepworth was the real pioneer but missed out on the fame and fortune that came after the war.
However, as you can see, it was a very popular outing on a cold Tuesday.
Most of the works came direct from The Henry Moore Foundation and I was impressed by the cabinet of 'maquettes', the models that sculptors make before their works are scaled up to full size.
Here on the far left you can see a flint 'found object', next on its right is a small clay figure inspired from it followed on the right by the finished model;
Just the same here are three stages in the development of a sculpture;
Most remarkable of all, on the left an animal bone, next to it are the two figures in clay inspired by it and then the finished article on the right.
This model is typical of his many 'reclining figures;
The walls were lined by series of drawings - in this case of ideas for 'Madonna and Child' works;
Here a small scale version of the finished article;
There's no mistaking this wooden 'reclining figure', although the finished article would be four or five times bigger and made of dark, weathered bronze.
I'm not so familiar with this as a Moore;
Even less so with the front view;
But I rather liked it.
Anyway, I came away with a much better idea of how he worked and what he was trying to do. And just as Barbara Hepworth's abstracts are all, in fact, landscapes of one kind or another, so nearly all of Henry Moore's are human forms.
I still prefer Hepworth!
The exhibition runs until 7th May, entrance is with a £5 annual pass which gives entrance to everything at The Lightbox.
Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
On Valentines day we went out - to The Lightbox at Woking.
I must admit my body did not co-operate at all and I was in a lot of pain throughout, which meant that I was probably more impatient with the art than I normally am.
Hmmm, maybe that's not a bad thing.
It didn't help that all the roads were blocked in town - Woking is in the process of demolishing buildings .....and building bigger, newer ones to replace them.
Or that a 'sinkhole' had opened up on one of the main roads, as a result I had a long and painful detour.
We saw two exhibitions (entry through the £5 annual pass) the first was; John Minton and the Romantic tradition.
I wasn't so impressed until I realised that it included all the artists who'd influenced Minton and I started to get into more into it.
This is 'Bristol Docks' by John Northcote Nash, brother of the celebrated Paul Nash;
This was a collection of artists who, while they were influenced to an extent by Modernism and Abstraction, had chosen a particularly English form of Romantic Realism.
I enjoyed Keith Vaughan's series of male figures;
But as I was walking through I was suddenly struck by an overwhelming feeling of familiarity amongst all the varied linocuts and lithographs.
All the artists exhibited were active from the 1920's to the 1970's but are most famous for their work in the 1940's and 50's. The likes of Graham Sutherland chose realism and wanted to democratise their work too - to bring it to as wide an audience as they could. It was natural that this would be through prints.
I was struck by a vivid print of The Tower of London and here is Edward Bawden's Brighton Pavillion - so familiar I'm sure I've seen it before.
It could almost have been on a tea towel or a placemat;
And I'm sure I have seen it - as a child of the 1960's I remember prints on the walls of schools, libraries, my university; all with a clear 1950's 'style' to them.
And none more so than John Piper's 'The Ship';
I'm fairly sure that this was in the dining room of my University's hall of residence, until one day it just 'disappeared'.
Hmmmmh.
Either way, this realist art so popular in the 1950's is part of my DNA - even though I'm not so sure I actually like it.
While Modernism and Abstract Expressionism and all the other movements were happening, there was a safe and responsible part of British art that had retreated from world wars and atom bombs and new social movements into something comfortable and non threatening that could be accepted on the wall of an institution; like a Doctor's waiting room.
I was always a bit more daring than that.
Anyway, the Minton exhibition is only on until the 9th March, so if you want to have a look for yourself so that you can satisfy yourself that I've been talking rubbish, there isn't a lot of time left.
We then went on to have a look at 'Henry Moore; Sculpting from nature' - I'll let you have a look at that tomorrow.
Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
We came back from hospital and in the afternoon took a trip to 'The Lightbox' in Woking - which I'd put off a few months ago. Actually I couldn't park and had a conniption with Woking and went home.
We checked out three exhibitions, starting with this installation by Chloe Wing, a young contemporary artist.
The work consisted of a series of panels made out of complex paper cuts in a circle in the middle of the room, lit by a single bulb casting enigmatic shadows.
Very effective and mysterious, the piece forced you to try to make out the words hidden in the designs.
The main exhibition, "The Camden Town Group; Art for the Edwardian Era" is something I'd wanted to see for a while. The group pioneered a form of 'social realism', the painting of real, 'ordinary' people in real places. At the same time they tried to import the style of French Impressionism.
I was both disappointed and interested; partly because the curator had clearly had difficulty attracting the star pieces of the movement. So while there were sketches and studies for 'Ennui' by Walter Sickert, we were missing the actual piece which was so revolutionary for its time.
Neither did we get any of 'The Camden Town Murders' - again by Sickert. But these are all in National collections and unlikely to make it to Woking.
We did get some good stuff, this is 'Leeds Canal by Charles Ginner all grit and realism;
While the influence of the French Impressionists is clear in 'The Balcony, Mornington Crescent' by Spencer Frederick Gore;
There was a piece by Pisarro's son - the family had come here as refugees after The Paris Commune was drowned in blood.
Here's 'The Weekend' by Walter Sickert;
A picture heavy with unstated hidden meanings, clear to a late Victorian audience.
This was the star of the show for me - a sparse and economic portrait of Spencer Gore by Harold Gilman;
I hadn't meant to go to the Cartoon exhibition - a wide ranging collection from William Hogarth prints to medieval religious paintings, from the comics of the 1950's and 60's to the graphic novels; 'V' and Judge Dredd.
It didn't work for me at all - just because something is a cartoon isn't enough to make a connection.
So I just loved Grayson Perry who had one of his large engravings of the human emotions and feelings in map form; funny and interesting at the same time. But it doesn't make a cartoon like 'The Beano'.
And here a fine art pot;
Which is about as subversive as you can get; appropriating the images of one time and challenging them.
But what that had to do with 'The Eagle' and 'Dan Dare' - simple trivia leaves me wondering. The Eagle was an attempt to create a purely British and more educational, more moral comic as an alternative to the raw excitement of American comics.
It just doesn't work.
I really liked this panel from a 1960's Graphic documentary about The Beatles by Arthur Ranson.
What exactly does that have to do with anything else in the collection?
But don't listen to me, check it out for yourself; The Camden Group are there until 22nd January 2017, the Cartoons are there until 31st December, Chloe Wing is on until 29th January.
The exhibitions are either free or require a £5 pass which lasts for a year.
Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
We took another trip to The Lightbox gallery at Woking - we've got £5 annual passes and we're gonna use 'em.
The new exhibition is another selection from The Ingram Collection; "Show us what you're made of!".
There's a mixture of pieces from the famous and the not so well known too - my selection are all a bit on the obscure side.
This is 'From the Places here No one Remembers' by John Carpanini;
Which I thought was rather good and I'm not a big fan of realism.
This powerful sculpture is Jonathan Clarke's 'Feudalism';
Which I thought looked even better from the side;
This is 'Scarface' by Seamus Cuddihy, the Cherry wood split really well here;
And there was me thinking how staid and respectable stained glass windows were;
But for me the first prize goes to this display of confectionary;
Each one carefully sown together out of felt pieces;
By Dena, it's called 'Sweet Sendsation', which is quite funny as Dena is (temporarily) spending a little time at Her Majesty's Prison at Send.
Every bite is brings a smile;
Dena, you are a star, I hope you get out soon.
The exhibition runs until October; you need a £5 pass to get in but it lasts for a whole year. Parking is a problem (unless you have a disabled pass) but there is a coffee shop too and some very friendly volunteers.
Meanwhile, they were setting up a new exhibition of comics while we were there. We may take a look at that too.
Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
We had a trip out to Woking and I certainly enjoyed watching some local lads doing Parkour over the flower beds on the High Street;
But we were there to pay a visit to 'The Lightbox' to see the new exhibition of artworks from The Chris Ingram Collection.
There were some real treats - here's a few of my highlights.
This is one of Barbara Hepworth's famous series of drawings of surgeons and nurses at work in the early days of the NHS.
Celebrating free treatment for all, based on need rather than ability to pay, Hepworth spent long periods in operating theatres, drawing people working in life or death situations.
The drawings concentrate on faces and hands;
There is also a small but spectacular example of her abstract sculpture, which I love.
'Colour and strings';
There's a couple of Ben Nicholson's, her friend and collaborator and a few Terry Frosts, another fellow resident of the artists colony in St. Ives.
This is typical of his later years, large expanses of colour;
There are a series of Eduardo Paolozzi collages from the 1940's;
There are some nice 'realist' paintings, I liked Edward Burra's "Seamen Ashore";
I can't help but post this George Large painting of workers at Smithfield market in the 1990's, not so very long after I worked in the meat trade;
Out of the series, Robyn preferred 'Cleaning St. Pauls', stonemasons balancing high above London on the scaffolding around the cathedral;
I have to show you this Bridget Reilly - you would normally expect to see the abstract optical illusion paintings that she is famous for.
This is much more imtimate;
All of these pictures and others can be seen for the next couple of months and form part of the Chris Ingrams Collection - a local communications businessman who has made his collection available to the gallery. All the exhibitions can be accessed for the £5 pass that lasts for a year - I'm hoping to return in a few months time for a different selection that will follow on after this one.
Meanwhile here's a mobile from the stairwell;
And this is a 'Harris', you can create your own sculpture from these shapes. I had to have a go and mine probably lasted for about half a day, until some else had a go, I hope;
Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
I'm kicking myself; we had two glorious sunny days over the weekend and we were either doing chores or I was too tired to do anything.
This week is all rain and it's too late to go anywhere. At the end of this week it's my last Chemo session so I'm more than fed up..
So, on a miserable rainy afternoon we went to Woking;
That's the rather dirty and tired looking fighter jet from outside the cinema. Woking used to be a centre of the aerospace industry although it's now trying to reinvent itself for a new century. It's a centre for new flats and offices these days.
There is some public sculpture - I liked this;
They are celebrating the 150th anniversary of H.G.Wells birth this year - the author and early socialist. This is a sculpture of one of the alien war machines from "War of the Worlds".
Scary stuff!
Here's the plaque;
We wandered through the shops to get to 'The Lightbox', which I haven't been to before.
It's a modern, light, local art gallery.
Actually I want to go in about a fortnight when there's a good exhibition of modern art from the Chris Ingrams Collection but we were there today!
S, I guess we went to an art gallery when there wasn't anything we wanted to see.
They had a small room of local artists work.
This is Forbes Moores piece;
And Juliet Renny's "Old Harry's Rocks".
Ironically, I've been to Swanage four or five times and never seen "Old Harry" yet - it's a sea stack.
The Lightbox is a real asset and we hope to come back soon.
I really enjoyed Ralph Brown's depiction of Smithfield meat porter's.
I worked at Smithfield, in the off market meat trade for three long, hard years. This captures a vanishing world.
It was also designed to be public art in Stevenage - a post war 'New Town' which took people way from the old East End - working class people familiar with this kind of life.
It represents an aspect of 1950's optimism and celebration of peoples lives that is completely missing these days.
This is one of the original sketches for the sculpture;
The description of the work used the word 'Visceral', which sums up the meat trade for those who aren't familiar with it.
We clearly need to make trips to towns to check out the disabled parking because I ended up parking a long way away, not realising there were spaces much nearer.
By this time I was pretty shattered and had to have a sit down to get over it.
We had a coffee and a chat....lots of laughter.
And a look around the shop;
Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
