Contents
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Director's Foreword Playing With Fire Dilwara Kalighat Sonapura Road Water Jar I Water Jar II Water Jar III Water Jar IV Goddess I Goddess II Black Jar II White Jar Black Jar Biography Acknowledgements
Director’s Foreword
The Cat Street Gallery is proud to present Richard Winkworth’s solo show, ‘Playing with Fire’, the title of which is itself a play upon the ancient medium of encaustic painting employed in his works. Predating oil and using a fastidiously controlled mix of heated beeswax, damar resin and pigment, the word ‘encaustic’ is derived from the Greek, ‘Enkaustikos’, translating literally to “burn in with fire”. Winkworth’s intelligent and highly contemplative works in encaustics, and also oils, are a reflection of his extensive travels throughout Asia. His seemingly simple still life studies of one of man’s most early objects, the pot, are in fact drenched in subtle nuances of complex and vibrant layers of colour. One cannot help but be drawn to examine the extensive surface detail that manifests upon further study. We had the esteemed privilege of watching Winkworth’s latest body of works unfold during their creation, with each visit to the studio providing a surprise in their development. It is our great pleasure to share his alluring conclusive pieces that whisper of culture and tradition, underscored by a wily energy.
Mandy d’Abo September 2011
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Playing With Fire
Kate Bryan Critic and Curator
Working in a water facing studio in Ap Lei Chau, an island with one of the highest population densities anywhere in the world, is the artist Richard Winkworth. He is surrounded by literally thousands of people who have chosen that particular land mass upon which to settle. As settled human beings they have running water, electricity, and, of course, most probably wi-fi and digital TV. These are the modern markers of a society; a group of people inhabiting the same region, consuming the same products and each contributing to the mechanisms of everyday life. The number of possessions amassed and the size and complexity of the infrastructure built to sustain and delight these Ap Lei Chau residents is quite extraordinary given the tiny amount of land the island occupies – a mere 1.3 square kilometres for nearly 90,000 people. The plethora of activities and objects in this one tiny island is in many ways a microcosm for the 21st Century at large, in all its industrialised, globalised and digitised glory. But this wasn’t always the case. Some 150,000 years ago our ancestors were hunter gathers and moved according to the migration patterns of their prey and the changing seasons. They were nomadic out of necessity and travelled extremely light, disposing of their primitive equipment before moving along. Around 10,000 years ago we know that the earliest humans stopped moving. They began to settle. If they were to stay in one area for any length of time then they needed to ensure survival throughout the changing conditions in that one place. And so, they began to store food and other essential items. Some of the earliest man-made objects were therefore pots. This simple object began an entire tradition that continues to this day. Pots were used to hold seeds, meat, grasses, grain, and later also became vestibules for precious items and ashes. They are found in the earliest traces of every civilization on earth, perhaps most famously in the Jomon period in Japan where archaeologists have unearthed vessels which date to 7000 B.C. The pot (or jar) is therefore a major signifier of our beginnings and this concept is something that Richard Winkworth contemplates in his considered and intelligent paintings. The stylised jars that permeate nearly all of his work can mean many things to many people. They act on a literal and metaphorical sense: they might be seen as empty, or full; as religious or totemic; as Western or Asian;
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as modern or ancient. In some senses, the jar is the microscopic genesis of every item amassed by the residents of Ap Lei Chau, the majority of whom will stay in the South China region their entire lives. They are able to stay because they have resources at their disposal to do so, thus the notion of a nomadic lifestyle has long since been relegated as inefficient and even improper. The world over, people occupy homes alongside others, and in those homes they keep their innumerable things. In some respects then, the very home itself is a jar, the ultimate vestibule. Winkworth presents us with a motif which is thousands of years old, one that belongs to the earliest traditions of object making. Underscoring the potency of this primitive symbol is the artist’s use of encaustic painting, one of the oldest artistic techniques known to us. Despite its significant artistic legacy, which predates oil painting by thousands of years, encaustic painting remains a remote medium and has been very seldom used in contemporary cultures. The word ‘encaustic’ is derived from the Greek, ‘Enkaustikos’, literally meaning to “burn in with fire”. The process involves painting a mixture of beeswax, damar resin and pure pigment onto a wooden support, which is heated with fire causing the wax to melt and become embedded onto the wood. This process is undertaken numerous times, creating not layers, but a strong block with a complex fusion of embedded colour. The resulting panel may for instance appear purple, but will have inevitably been composed of a multitude of pigments taken to boiling point time and time again. Encaustics on wood are extremely durable and last for thousands of years. Winkworth combines sensitivity for the medium of encaustics with a passion for still life painting, and throughout, the exhibition conjures many manifestations of the jar. The artist cultivates this Asian motif with Western design elements, juxtaposing two traditions side by side. At once it seems there is a contemporary minimalism of form, but closer inspection of the panels reveals that they have clearly received extensive attention, as the remnants of many colours from past firings are visible beneath the surface. As such, the artist remains in a privileged position, for only he can know the many layered history of each encaustic panel. The artist clearly delights in surface quality and always combines this with a strong, stylistic form.
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The strong influence of Asian art and culture is also evident in the manner in which Winkworth builds his compositions. The artist often employs several small encaustic panels to create a larger compendium of images. The repetition of form evokes the Buddhist and Hindu phenomenon of hundreds of repeated icons in one space. His multi-panel encaustic paintings repeat the same motif but there is a distinct lack of uniformity, each has its own minor differences in colour, texture and form. There is something almost ritualistic about the way the artist has repeated the same image, reinforcing and underscoring the image and coaxing the viewer into a position of contemplation. Winkworth recognises the potent energy that art can hold. “When I walk into a temple and look at altars, wall paintings and deities, this imagery has a presence that goes beyond art because it is frequently anonymous, has no signature, is not branded and not own-able. Its origin is based on absolute belief and rooted in spirituality.” The artist opens the door to a debate about the primitive and spiritual quality of art, not simply in his multiple reworkings of a universal symbol or in his use of the ancient encaustic medium, but also in his conceptual approach. The artist considers painting a primal urge. “For me, painting is a conscious response to something that originates outside of myself but is expressed in the subconscious. It is a feeling I have no name for and that I cannot express in language.” This idea is demonstrated by infants who instinctively make marks long before they have any comprehension of picture making. As Winkworth puts it, “The act of painting or ‘making’ is about a transference of energy, the artist being the vehicle, the viewer being the receiver.” It is easy here to think again of the jar metaphor - as viewers of artworks, we all take something away and store it. Winkworth may be a British citizen but his heart has always been in Asia. He was born in India and spent his formative years in South East Asia. From his base in Hong Kong, the artist travels regularly and in preparation for this body of work he spent time in Kolkata and Varanasi. In these places the artist was able to explore non-Western notions of the afterlife and levels of human consciousness. In Kolkata Winkworth was transfixed by the cult of Kali who has a great presence in the region as it is believed that part of her body lies there. Kali is a fierce looking goddess with a dark blue or black body, known as the ‘Destroyer of Ignorance’ (the kind discussed in Hinduism and Buddhism that leads to personal suffering) and worshipped like a mother by her devotees.
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When he was in Varanasi, known as the religious capital of India, Winkworth felt her presence just as strongly, as in his words, “she inhabits cremation grounds and gathers up the souls of her children as ‘this life’ is reduced to a pile of ash. In observing and experiencing the endless cremations in Varanasi, I recognised the emotions that lead to the quest for an extension of our existence.” For the artist the experience of witnessing this devotion and fervour gave him a heightened consciousness of his own existence. Leaving the overwhelming ritualistic behaviour he witnessed in the burial grounds, Winkworth describes how he was “forced back into a conscious awareness of my existence, the experience of being alive and returning to consciousness was an amazing rush. One of those moments that thrillingly change your concept of reality and demand some kind of tangible repository. I don’t think that what happened to me is in unique; I believe it is an experience that occurs to all of us and I am just exploring my concept of eternity.” These experiences and the eternal question of how human beings try to understand their conscious world, especially in light of the knowledge that all life is finite, was something which informed this body of work. “I have been thinking about these experiences as I painted a group of large jars – an image I have painted many, many times, partly due to the eternal quality of this object, unchanged in nature since man first dug clay and also because of its iconic symbolism.” The artist endeavours to create images which sit outside of time and space and transport the viewer to a serene pictorial realm which is instinctual and refers to the universal human condition. Winkworth circumnavigates the traditions of Western art history and takes the remote past as his starting point. In choosing to work with encaustics and a repeated universal symbol, he draws attention to a less complicated era, one not globalised or saturated with objects and images. His forms are purposefully raw, open and stylistic. He concentrates heavily on the quality of the surface and the expressive opportunities created by rhythmic layered painting and instinctively creates encaustic panels. Ultimately Winkworth opens a door on to our own sense of self and allows us to look back at the traditions from which we have emerged.
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Plate 1: Dilwara
Encaustic wax on wood 32 x 32 cm (each) 2011
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Plate 2: Kalighat
Encaustic wax on wood 47.5 x 38 cm (each) 2011
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Plate 3: Sonapura Road Encaustic wax on wood 32 x 32 cm (each) 2011
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Plate 4: Water Jar I
Encaustic wax on wood 72 x 67 cm 2011
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Plate 5: Water Jar II Encaustic wax on wood 72 x 67 cm 2011
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Plate 6: Water Jar III Encaustic wax on wood 72 x 67 cm 2011
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Plate 7: Water Jar IV Encaustic wax on wood 72 x 67 cm 2011
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Plate 8: Goddess I Oil on linen 147 x 213 cm 2011
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Plate 9: Goddess II Oil on linen 147 x 213 cm 2011
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Plate 10: Black Jar II Oil on linen 152 x 182.5 cm 2011
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Plate 11: White Jar Oil on linen 152 x 121.5 cm 2011
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Plate 12: Black Jar Oil on linen 152 x 121.5 cm 2011
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Biography
1963 Born Bombay, India 1982 – 1985 B.A. Hons. Fine Art/Painting, Brighton University, UK 1985 – 1986 M.A Print Making, Chelsea School of Art, UK
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2011 Playing With Fire, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong 2010 Dragon Garden, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong Back Home, Karin Weber Gallery, Hong Kong 2008 Paintings From Ap Lei Chau, John Martin, London, UK 2007 Art London, Chelsea Royal Hospital, London, UK 2006 Making Space, Amelia Johnson Contemporary, Hong Kong 2005 Still Life from the Edge of Heaven, John Martin, London, UK 2002 Solo Show, Wilson Stephens Fine Art, London, UK 2001 Art ‘01, London, UK Solo Show, Lucy Simmonds Fine Paintings, Hong Kong 2000 Art 2000, London, UK Art London, London, UK Panel Paintings, Wilson Stevens Fine Art, London, UK Modern British Art Fair 2000, London, UK Selected Paintings, Lusy Simmonds Fine Paintings, Hong Kong 1999 Art ’99, London, UK Olympia Fine Art and Antiques Fair, London
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1998 Art Expo’, Lucy Simmonds Fine Painting, Los Angeles, United States Works on Panel, Wilson Stephens Fine Art, London, UK Recent Paintings, Mercury Gallery, London, UK SAGA Print Fair, Paris 20th Century British Art Fair, Royal College of Art, London Art ’98, London, UK 1997 One Man Show, Lucy Simmonds Fine Paintings, Hong Kong Group Show, Lucy Simmonds Fine Paintings, Hong Kong 20th Century British Art Fair, Royal College of Art, London L’Age d’Or, London, UK 20th Century Works on Paper, Jeremy Hunt Fine Art, London Glasgow Art Fair, UK 1996 Taipei Art Fair, Lucy Simmonds Fine Paintings, Taipei, Taiwan One Man Show, Lucy Simmonds Fine Paintings, Hong Kong Group Show, Lucy Simmonds Fine Paintings, Hong Kong 20th Century British Art Fair, Royal College of Art, London Art, London, UK Members Show, Newlyn Gallery, Cornwall, UK Mixed Show, Connaught Brown Gallery, London, UK Art for Mayfair, London, UK
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