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Exhibitions ARCHIVE 2003  
 

JANUARY 11 - FEBRUARY 8, 2003

TOOLS FOR RECOGNITION

Four artists celebrate the eclectic face of contemporary painting. Sharing an interest in painting's ability to transform materials, the artists question our fixed ideas about beauty and visual truth, while exploring memory, perception, and sense of self. Chriss Fraser's large canvases draw upon her experience as an athlete to examine traditional notions of femininity and masculinity. Using materials such as needlecraft and paint, she juxtaposes the "hard" and "soft" qualities of her materials to evoke the tensions inherent in matters of gender and self worth. Anthony McIntosh brings together rusted steel, photographs and ephemera in works that exude a fragile, yet enduring quality. He exploits the fugitive qualities of photographs and decomposing metal in order to challenge our sense of the nature and function of memory.

The re-creation of beauty from decay is central to Moira McNair's hybrid paintings, which utilise installation and photography. By introducing organic matter as her starting point, the artist allows natural processes to intervene in the making of these works. June Nelson reflects upon the image of the mirror, and the ambiguous metaphors surrounding such objects through history. Using graphite, plaster and paint on large and small scale, she summons these spectral forms, prompting us to revisit our usual interpretations of what we see.

Clusters of figures in urban settings and grids of butterflies are some of the images veiled under washes of paint and varnish. With subject and meaning emerging through the intuitive working process, Helen Ward's collage paintings reveal aspects of our nature that are transcendent, yet are often embedded within the physical world.

Flora Gare explores the internal environment of the body through the use of fibre optic light. Drawing upon research into recent medical techniques, she creates glowing and mesmerising sculptures, which allude to bodily organs and processes.

VIEW: Saturday, January 11, 7 - 9 pm

GROUP VISITS: Tuesday, January 28, 2 pm

MEET THE ARTISTS: Saturday, February 1, 2 pm

 
   
 

FEBRUARY 15 - MARCH 15, 2003

SHIP OF FOOLS


Mark Anstee

Join us on a precarious journey towards another world, one in which absurdity, horror and beauty reign supreme. Forging links between pre-twentieth century narrative painting and present day experience, the Ship of Fools is peopled with an intriguing array of characters, including a figure reminiscent of the tragic medieval fool, who set out in the wrong direction, and was thus in peril of succumbing to evil forces. Also accompanying you on this vessel of the imagination is a group of artists and fellow fools, who will illuminate the voyage through the power of painting. You will encounter the work of Stephanie Goodger, who describes a world of water, ships, castles and fish, at once magnificent and hellish. Changeling creatures, both comical and grotesque inhabit the interior spaces of Mark Anstee's paintings, while Christopher Gilvan-Cartwright's hallucinatory landscapes suggest the vivid and terrifying visions of one lost at sea. The work of all three artists shares an element in common with classical Greek drama, in which insights into the dark and destructive nature of life are balanced or harnessed by the beauty of form. Through the act of borrowing and re-inventing these forms from other times and places, the artists conjure up phantoms from the past, while charting the unfolding path of a metaphysical voyage.

VIEW: Saturday, February 15, 7 - 9 pm

GROUP VISITS: Tuesday, March 4, 2 pm

MEET THE ARTISTS: Saturday, March 8, 2 pm

 
   
 

MARCH 22 - APRIL 19, 2003

THE INDEPENDENT EYE


Elevation

See through the lenses of nearly thirty photographers in a carefully selected, multi-faceted exhibition of recent work. Independent Photography in the South East (IPSE) provides a forum for collaboration and exchange of ideas, and supports participants in the articulation of a unique and contemporary vision. Out of this context arises a collection of highly personal approaches to landscape, portraiture, and documentary, employing traditional, alternative, digital and experimental processes. Each artist will present a body of work, ranging from Alan Mynett's cool, iconic images based on laboratory glassware, to Inga Thrower's passionate depictions of the ageing body, shattered and fragmented when viewed through ice and water.

Jill Staples' intimate, bug's eye view of her garden shares the space with John Holloway's exquisitely composed, abstracted landscapes shot from the window of an aeroplane. In Kim Brandt's work, the ghostly, melancholic atmosphere of empty hospital interiors strikes a contrast with Peter Baldwin's colourful jumble of found objects. Joining them will be Anthea Bickmore, Martin Bowman, Ian Castle, Robin Coutts, Josephine Evans, Derek Gardiner, David Gurr, Ray Hadlow, Jackie Harford, Jeff Hutchinson, Virginia Khuri, Valerie Lynch, Chris Morris, Mike Shanahan, Jake Williams, Julie Winckler and others. The show will also feature a giant pinhole camera, which projects a steady flow of images from the outside world into the stillness of the gallery.

VIEW: Saturday, March 22, 2 - 4 pm

GROUP VISITS: Tuesday April 1, 2 pm

MEET THE ARTISTS: Saturday, April 12, 2 pm

PINHOLE PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP
A pinhole camera is a simple device which takes photographs without the use of a lens. Unusual and creative results are achieved using photographic paper or film. This is an introductory workshop, suitable for people with no photography experience, and those with some experience who wish to learn a new technique. You will learn how to make a small pinhole camera and create a negative print. Advance registration required. Tutor: Alan Mynett.

Saturday, April 5, 10 am - 4 pm. £25 / £23 conc. Early reg (March 14): £21.



 
   
 

APRIL 26 - MAY 31, 2003

WATCH THIS SPACE

The private space of the artist's studio is revealed this month, when seven local artists occupy the gallery and carry on with their creative work in the public eye. Robert Anderson, Daniela Azzarone, Darren Calder, Angela Carter-Rhodes, Chris Cook, Dinah Sherriff, and June Nelson were selected from applicants on the Phoenix studios waiting list. With an emphasis on developing new and experimental work, this diverse group becomes part of a work-in-progress, incorporating fresh approaches to weaving, drawing, sculpture, painting, installation, mixed media and more.

Enter Jenny Jones' Doodle Museum and make your mark on the collective unconscious by producing and co-collating incidental images alongside the artist. In this simulated domestic environment, the tv, magazines and music compete for your attention, creating a situation in which repressed thoughts may emerge and find form when offered a biro and paper. To stimulate discussion, the installation will also feature a set of images by Jones, entitled Bad Mutha, which examine the device of believing in an "authentic artist self" in order to survive the period of early motherhood and after.

 

The State of the Arts in Brighton & Hove, 2003: Over the past few years, the arts scene in Brighton & Hove has undergone a significant transformation, if we are to believe recent media reports and conversations being held in studios, bedsits and pubs across the city. Does the image of the local arts scene match the reality? Representatives from artists' groups and arts bodies will discuss this and other practical concerns facing local artists today. Followed by a viewing and celebration with the resident artists.
Thursday, May 29, 7 pm, in the gallery, free.

PREVIEW: Friday, April 25, 7 pm


 
   
 

JUNE 7 - JULY 5, 2003

VIVID STATES


Neale Howells

"The moment you realise a painting is finished then that is usually the time to destroy it." The work of Welsh artist Neale Howells embodies the phoenix-like nature of the creative process in a series of massive, immensely satisfying and cathartic paintings. Letters, words, and fragments of text collide with drips, splashes, thrashing arms and abbreviated faces in a combustible frenzy of paint.

An ebony figure radiates an astonishing, shimmering aura, but upon closer inspection, the silvery glow is found to be composed of thousands of hypodermic syringes. A diagnosis of leukaemia was the catalyst for this and other mixed media works by Pablo Cade, who found inspiration and a powerful voice amidst the anger, confusion and delirium provoked by his condition and subsequent medical treatment.

Based on images recorded in his dream diaries, the Paul Senior creates miniature models out of cardboard and paint, peopling them with action figures to suggest a dramatic moment within a larger narrative. Referring back to the medium of silent movies, the resulting images seem to suggest a linear story as they enmesh the viewer within their mysterious logic.

Walter Van Rijn regards his paintings as objects that manipulate space, existing somewhere between two and three dimensions. Inspired by elements of architecture, the distilled and abstracted shapes on the canvas play with perspective, scale, and the boundaries between natural and manmade forms.

PREVIEW: Saturday, June 7, 7 - 9 pm

MEET THE ARTISTS: Saturday, June 21, 2 pm

 
   
 

JULY 12 - AUGUST 9, 2003

CRACKS IN THE EMPIRICAL PAVEMENT


Marilyn Rathbone

For eight years, Marilyn Rathbone accompanied her children along the same route to and from school, clocking up nearly five thousand trips. Cracks in the pavement, dried petals, leaves, and other materials encountered on these and other journeys form the basis of an intriguing collection of pieces which incorporate glass vials, specimen boxes, and card sets, resembling the work of a meticulous taxonomist.

David Chalkley examines notions of uniqueness and the power of numbers within mass production. In an installation featuring hundreds of cast wax wine glasses, the artist throws a spanner into the assembly line by employing traditional techniques and producing less than perfect forms. As a result, the once invariable object is allowed to express an unlimited range of permutations.

A sculptural installation by Brian D. Haddock centres on the ambiguous image of a "Contained Spill". The piece taps into our anxieties around current events, and the forces of chaos, catastrophe and entropy existing within the human environment. At the same time, the artist seeks to illuminate the beauty, order and complexity underlying our precocious technology, and to reveal the links between creativity and destruction.

When developing his paintings, Philip Cole enlists the guidance of a small set of procedural steps. Rather than restricting expression, this self-imposed methodology allows greater freedom to experience and experiment with abstraction. The resulting work is a study of the interaction of colour and form.

Steve Risby's recent works draws the viewer into a rich interior landscape of painterly images and enigmatic forms. In one piece, Brighton's West Pier is both majestic and tragic as it slips into the waiting sea. In another, spectral shapes half emerge from a dark pool of paint before sinking back into its tarry depths.

PREVIEW: Saturday, July 12, 7 - 9 pm

MEET THE ARTISTS: Saturday, July 26, 2 pm



 
   
 

OCTOBER 24 - NOVEMBER 29, 2003

TO BE HONEST


James Deavin

This international open-submission photography exhibition presents a selection of intriguing images chosen by artist, writer and lecturer Stephen Bull. As curator, Bull seeks to present the photograph not merely as a document, but rather as a celebration of the fictions the camera is so successful at constructing. James Deavin, Simona Dell' Agli, Suzanne Mooney, Julia Spicer, Simon Ward, and David Weightman are the selected artists, and each will present a body of work. The resulting exhibition will offer a glimpse into some of the other realities which the camera allows us to access. "Because, to be honest, the camera always lies."

This exhibition is part of the Brighton Photo Biennial 2003. For full details of the programme, please visit www.bpb.org.uk

Saturday, 15 November, 2 pm: Meet the Curator. Stephen Bull talks about the exhibition and answers questions.