Oil on paper, 21x15cm, 2010
Click on the picture for full size

This post has a partner: Tightening The Ties of His Robe

These paintings are relatively fast, very small and growing in number, documenting as I go. Something I recommend actually. It helps to gain some distance.

Joseph Cornell, Karen Kilimnik
June 09 – August 27 2010
Sprüth Magers
London
W1S

..Through the use of paintings, collage and installation, the exhibition will explore the affinities between both artists who were influenced by the Romantic ballet era.



Both artists’ frame of reference extends to the presentation of their works and the surrounding environment in which they are encountered. The organizing motif of Cornell’s Hotel series is the window, which invites the viewer to consider interior and exterior views, clearly establishing the successive rounds of reality to the mystery beyond.

For the exhibition, his poignant works will be respectively showcased within the midnight blue of the gallery walls, used by the artist in his collages to create impressions of the sky and which he believed to evoke contemplation of the celestial. In addition to the painted walls and, characteristic of Kilimnik’s theatrical installations, the gallery will be transformed into an aesthetic context which alludes to the salon era of the nineteenth century, enabling the viewer to palpably enter into a dialogue with the past.(Spruth Magers)

A beautifully deep midnight blue embedded with child like dreams: This room engages all of my senses and brings forth tiny half forgotten memories from a childhood long past, along with images, not just of romantic dance and movement but the thrill of embodying the observer and performer in private spaces as well as theatrical. My eyes are drawn upwards into the darkness, as if searching a middle distance.

These objects line a path to the romanticism of the past: And as if walking onto a stage, from a dim glow into spotlight the drama of the music pushes forward with every step.The last installation feels like the other side of the performance, the dance without the dancer, where I am walking off stage, out of the spot light and into the harsh bright light of the outside world. Returning from a personal and historical past.

Thanks to SHOW OF THE WEEK for the tip. If you have seen the show you can head over to SOTW and get involved in the discussion there too.

This month my blog is two years old!. To celebrate I thought a collection of the highlights in one place might be nice. All of these posts are special to me for one reason or another……
click on the picture to read the post

Thank you to everyone who has visited over the past two years. I am still having a lot of fun posting stuff I like and stuff I make.
Best
Corinna

Small scale, oil on card, June 2010 (approx 30x40cm)
click on the picture for full view

Michael Ajerman
18 June – 11 July 2010
Transition
London
E8

From out of the depths of Michael Ajerman’s boldly expressionistic brush strokes and dark, velveteen daubs, intriguing scenarios are being played out. In his distinctive settings, clues are scattered around, with everyday objects becoming intensely significant in some unknown psychodrama. His figures, meanwhile, take centre stage and emerge from their painterly backgrounds, appearing to have authentic back-stories and a real life beyond their stretchers. (Transition)

Hot and sticky, darkly magical: some of these paintings conjure feelings of languid evenings in a slightly claustrophobic environment. The application of paint is luxuriant: seemingly applied so slowly. Is it over warm in here?

Paint that’s oozing from the canvas edge: I am struck by how these lush layers of oil are pushing at the edges of the surface and almost spilling over with an unusual amount of intensity. ‘Hanger’ has stayed with me, a small disregarded domestic object that could carry with it undertones of a physical absence yet still holding much of the atmosphere of the larger works.

The title Fishermen, Strawberry and Devil Crab is the name of a track from Porgy and Bess (Ajerman cites the Miles Davis / Evans version). He claims the song has the emotional range that he is aiming for in this body of work and he adds ‘Gerschwin was an American who worked within the range of traditional European and American music and spun it on its head, opening it up to so much more.’ (Transition)

Listen to (don’t watch) ‘Fisherman, Strawberry and devil crab’ by Miles Davis HERE

Read an interview with Micheal Ajerman on Articulated Artists

See more beautifully rendered paintings on Michael Ajerman’s website

EMMA TALBOT
Shop Space

Following Emma Talbot’s successful solo show Pictures from my heart Transition are offering the chance to see more drawings from this intensely beautiful series.

Tiny monuments to memory.