KELLY
“To hell with pictures”, said Ellsworth Kelly, for he does not paint pictures in any traditional sense of the word. Instead, Kelly’s works are imposing studies of tension, geometry and colour, so striking in their scale and vibrancy that the flat plane seems to metamorphosize into three dimensions. Kelly came back to the composition of ‘Blue White’ many times after its creation, the moment of contact between two enormous, abstracted forms became a recurring motif. Yet, on repeated viewing, the planes shift and the blue forms become the background to hard edged white shapes trying to cut their way through. Kelly did not want meaning ascribed to his work, he simply wanted them to be absorbed and, through this absorption, have the viewer question their perception.
CÉZANNE
Cézanne wanted to conquer Paris with an apple. Using the simplest of objects, he created a new vernacular of painting. If the work looks beautiful but not revolutionary today, that is because Cézanne succeeded in his mission. In fact, in this simple depiction of seven apples, so many of Cézanne’s groundbreaking ideas and techniques are on show. Multiple perspectives, geometric reduction, visible, almost emphasised, brushstrokes and a modulation of colour. Using an apple, Cézanne broke every rule available. Using an apple, Cézanne did in fact conquer Paris. “He is the father of us all”, said Picasso and Matisse, and in that sense he became the father of modernity.
MONET
While not the originator of the movement, Matisse’s poetic work of light and atmosphere gave the Impressionist’s their name. Painted in the wake of France’s emergent industrialization, Monet’s painting was a statement of individuality. When reproduction has become easy, and exact copies are the domain of machines, expression must come in the form of spontaneity and feeling. The work is not unfinished, but instead full of potential for what could be as modernity starts to infringe on the present. Thus, the hazy, rich colours, relaxed, free flowing brush strokes, and luminous palette that depict the port of Monet’s native town make no attempt at representing the real, but instead serve as a vision of utopia.
Chris Gabriel April 27, 2024
The Priestess is the first woman of the tarot, we meet her enthroned, crowned, and bearing her book or bow. She is calm. From her we will learn a great deal about our journey through the Major Arcana. She is old and wise, yet ready to bear fruit, weep, or sing. She is the Feminine…
Lamia Priestley April 25, 2024
In 1978, Mark Pauline founded a new San Francisco based arts organisation called Survival Research Lab (SRL). The organisation puts on large-scale performances, which through extreme engineering, seek to liberate industrial machines from their own functionality. Machine Sex was their first performance…
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Saturday 27th April 2024
The moon extends its stay in the constellation of Scorpio, providing an additional opportunity for sowing and transplanting leafy plants. As the moon has nearly reached its lowest point on the horizon in its sidereal rhythm, indicating its upcoming ascent, it facilitates forces that move downward through the plant. This assists in the development of stronger roots, particularly advantageous when relocating plants to a new environment. It's also an ideal time for pruning tasks, such as trimming hedges and felling timber, as the sap movement is slower. Pruning during a descending moon helps prevent sap leakage from the plants, thus retaining their life forces.