stars in your eyes
Works from Riverside Artists Group (RAG), 1 May – 18 July 2013
The Institute of Physics, 76 Portland Place, London W1B 1NT View by appointment 020 7470 4871
Contents Susan Bazin
3
Lynne Beel
4
G. Calvert
5
Brian Deighton
6
Máire Gartland
7
Heather Gordon
8
Aude Grasset
9
Anton Harding
10
Pauline Harding
11
Graham High
12
Martin Ireland
13
Rima Keating
14
C. Morey de Morand
15
Jane Oldfield
16
Maria T. Pastor
17
Sajid Rizvi
18
Sanja Stamenic
19
RAG is run by member artists and provides a network to exchange ideas and information, enabling the group to organise exhibitions in the UK and abroad
Chris Stevens
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Artist Profiles, Additional Works
Jose Suarez
21
Yuet Yean Teo
22
For further information on RAG, member artists in this exhibition and other members of the group, visit:
Greta Wakil
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http://www.riversideartistsgroup.com
Riverside Artists Group [RAG] The Riverside Artists Group was formed in 1986 at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. Its raison d’être is to support and promote practising visual artists based in West London.
Susan Bazin Be Careful What You Wish For, 2013 acrylic and oil bar on MDF 66cm x 51cm £400 E susan@bazin5.com
Statement My paintings usually reflect an interest in images from micro-biology ad genetics ... ‘landscapes’ of body and mind. The microcosm and macrocosm often seem to reflect one another and this painting could be from either world. We idealise the stars that look so beautiful in our night sky, viewing them with wonder and awe from the safety of immeasurable distance. However, they generate tremendous heat in the tremendous cold of outer space and their death is that of light ... not a pleasant thought! In this painting we could be seeing the processes involved in the death of a star, with the living ones still twinkling away ‘out there.’
Lynne Beel Towards the Mars Light (detail), 2013 (courtesy of the Pembridge Spiritualist Church) futurised photograph 33.03cm x 30.05cm ÂŁ300 E minarette2000@yahoo.co.uk
Statement Among my concerns with the mythologised landscape is the seemingly continuing absence of religious iconic representation to be found in contemporary art. If anything the religious personage is often used as a background prop. Here in this classical portrait of the Saviour Jesus I have blown it a red tinge into the God-stream light beam pouring down over his face. Hopefully now, the Saviour can be seen to be acknowledging the brave new rays of the Red Planet, moving, albeit slowly, into the developing consciousness of homo sapiens.
G. Calvert Letterbox, 2013 acrylic and pastels on canvas 47cm x 150cm ÂŁ700 E g@gcalvert.com
Statement This piece depicts a group of youths I have observed regularly in the street outside my studio. I noticed how they distorted themselves both verbally and physically in order to conform to a general youth stereotype. Interacting with each other’s bikes, dogs and passers-by, dancing, preening and (com)posing themselves, balancing as if held on a wire or trapeze – reaching for the stars and stares or jostling to become the star of the group.
Brian Deighton Falling Upwards, 2013 acrylic on canvas 75cm x 56cm ÂŁ800 E briandeighton@mac.com
Statement Many years ago I learnt to read the constellations of the night sky by lying on my back on the moors, stargazing. I had the realisation that it was only the force of gravity that was stopping me from falling off the planet into space. The feeling was delicious, scary and exhilarating. This kind of mythopoetic experience is what I hope to evoke in my art practice.
Máire Gartland Stargazing, 2013 oil, gold and silver leaf on canvas 100cm x 130cm £1250 E mairegartland@hotmail.co.uk
Statement This painting is made from the lyrics of popular music and poetry. This continues my way of working with text that becomes obscured through layering, thus hiding or half revealing any possible message. Stargazing further expresses the joy and wonder of the heavens – the glitter and sparkle of a clear night sky, the magic of stellar imagery and the longings of a lovestruck balladeer.
Heather Gordon Twirling 3, 2013 pastels, oil and acrylic on canvas 100cm x 70cm ÂŁ1000 E heather.gordon@hotmail.co.uk
Statement Twirling 3 is one of a series of works focusing on a moving figure. The subject is from a photo of my daughter twirling before exiting into the night. Orbiting in her space: an embodiment of a fusion of magic, movement, colour and possibilities.
Aude Grasset Building Blocks, 2013 acrylic on cut board 80cm x 91.5cm ÂŁ1900 E aude@audegrasset.com
Statement This work is part of a collection named Entropy. What surges from the passage of time is chaos and the transformation of order into disorder. Nothing being permanent, matter transforming itself into other matter ad infinitum, into a permanent cycle of destruction, death and rebirth reminiscent of oriental philosophies. From old things come new things and from old emotions new emotions are created.
Anton Harding Bar Code (detail), 1992 photocollage 125cm x 144cm £2700 E hardinganton@hotmail.com
Statement This work is from my set Abolishing the Currency, last exhibited in a group show of selected artists called The Best Things in Life Are Free as part of Merseyside Visionfest 1993. It is an invitation to reflect on war’s clinical remoteness. It’s about technological expertise abused and the way nationalities, both enlisted and civilian, are manipulated to accept the lies of a just cause peddled every time military might is deployed. It is only bar codes’ use of infra red wavelengths beyond biological visibility that links this work in any way to the exhibitions theme.
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Pauline Harding Spectrum Maze 1, 2010 oil on canvas 90cm x 120cm £1200 E pauline.harding@mypostoffice.co.uk
Statement I know it’s a labyrinth not a maze but having given it the tile, mistaken though it is, it stays. ‘Spectrum Labyrinth’ wouldn’t contain the sense of amazement the spectrum engenders. Pure light, pure energy, buzzing across light-years, refracted into wavelengths the human eye perceives, glowing, blending, flickering, interacting, the spectrum is amazing! ‘Why paint the appearance of light when you could use pure light?’ you might ask. The answer’s simple; I’m not technical that way and I love the process of painting
11
Graham High Sad Galaxy, 2013 mixed media on canvas 122cm x 91cm ÂŁ960 E highsculpt@btinternet.com
Statement This work is from a series using organic pigments and wax on canvas. The wax acts as a resist to protect the canvas from acid as well as to establish the subject in relief form. The pigments are generated through the action of acids on metal powders. The series embodies certain ecological anxieties using processes of creation and destruction gleaned from nature itself. Planets, stars and the wider universe are invoked and the methods and aspirations of alchemy are referenced.
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Martin Ireland A Bigger Splash, 2011 watercolour on paper 45cm x 34cm ÂŁ395 E martinireland65@yahoo.co.uk
Statement Martin Ireland paints themes about swimming. His work is largely figurative, and accurately focuses on the arena of competitions. There is a delicate balance between abstracted figuration where the distorted waters surface image breaks down the figure, suggesting movement. In this painting, the water is thrust aside by British Olympic Bronze medallist diver Tom Daley impacting onto the water surface, seemingly melting into its surface.
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Rima Keating Two Birds With One Stone, 2013 acrylic on canvas 61cm x 51cm ÂŁ9500 E rimakeating@hotmail.co.uk
Statement Multiple fine brushstrokes define the two layers of undergrowth in this painting. Firstly the natural habitat of browns, greens and grey, secondly the gold. Opposites is also a theme as things face in opposite directions, as in the brushstrokes and birds.
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C. Morey de Morand Consolation for Our Mortality, 2006-2013 acrylic and pigments on linen 170cm x 150cm £9700 E colettemoreydemorand@yahoo.co.uk
Statement The painting connects energy, feeling and poetic meaning; in colour and concept, between control and eloquence, that is caught for all time. C. Morey de Morand’s international sensibilities are grounded in the chaos of the 20th century. Born in Paris to displaced, unexpectedly impoverished, Franco-Russian parents of noble descent, her life has encompassed much travelling from place to place. Embedded in Morey de Morand’s imagination is a longing for an existence of one’s own; floating in the universe, and beyond to other realms. Beyond the concerns of materiality and construction, these resolutely abstract works are pervaded by death, longing and the dreams of hope.
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Jane Oldfield In the Clouds, 2012 acrylics and collage on canvas 91cm x 122cm ÂŁ700 E jane@janeoldfield.co.uk
Statement Jane Oldfield has been making work with a flying theme for over five years. She has been photographing from planes 20 years and she is now learning to fly gliders. In the Clouds refers to the making of clouds with water droplets and rising hot air and falling cold air. She has used collaged beads and other material for the work.
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Maria T. Pastor Austerity, 2013 acrylic on taffeta paper 65cm x 45cm ÂŁ450 E lolacastor@yahoo.co.uk
Statement This is a new work. In it I aim to represent the simplicity that results when austerity is a force in basic daily life that is difficult to escape. My choice of colours, black and red, represent for me safety and the dark side of austerity.
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Sajid Rizvi Galactic Muse I, 2013 acrylic and other media on canvas 50cm x 100cm ÂŁ1750 E info@sajidrizvi.net
Statement Galactic Muse I is part of a continuing exploration of out precarious existence on Earth and consideration of how our negotiation with an ever evolving Universe is likely to present us with new challenges and opportunities.
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Sanja Stamenic Daydreamer, 2011 digital print 50cm x 70 cm ÂŁ400 E sstamenic@yahoo.com
Statement My print Daydreamer speaks about transitions and mental journeys into faraway lands as a way of escaping our mundane everyday lives. Dreaming with our eyes open gives you that possibility to blend reality and imagination, to inhabit a world where everything is possible. It opens up a window that looks directly into yourself, your vast luminous soul packed into a tiny box of your aging body, I intertwine drawings and photographs using the method I call digital collage which enables me to achieve blurring of the boundaries between these two media.
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Chris Stevens Loughros Point Revisited, 2013 oil, acrylic, encaustic and charcoal on canvas 91cm x 162cm ÂŁ6000 E chrispstevens@mac.com
Statement As in common with many of my recent paintings this piece started as a landscape drawing without an initial idea about the inclusion of a figure. Although based on a real place this painting is constructed purely from memory. The person in the painting is someone I have painted on several occasions and in this painting he has been painted after he died. He never visited Loughros Point.
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Jose Suarez Painting 63, 2013 oil on canvas 119cm x 118cm ÂŁ1400 E xosesu@hotmail.com
Statement Painting 63 is from the Bela Dona Series, ongoing since 1989 and based on colour, line and movement. I was inspired by the day, night and a moment in time. Colour can be seen everywhere; the Universe throws it at us in abundance and looking at that is what I find most impressive and enjoyable.
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Yuet Yean Teo London, 2013 monoprint on khadi paper 57cm x 57cm £380 E yuetyean@hotmail.com
Statement I am using the circle (shape) or the sphere (volume) as a symbol of unity, to be whole. Chinese traditions and beliefs are that the circle is the sky and the land is square. I am exploring the British contemporary landscape both in the urban cities ie London and the smaller market towns ie High Wycombe; this leads me to look at the architecture of suburban living and rural landscape. Taking these environments and turning them into a ‘bird’s eye view’ through drawing, monoprints and etchings, looking at the patterns and layout of these spaces, I wish to observe the way people live in the different environments.
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Greta Wakil Searching for a Star, 2013 oil on canvas 45cm x 60cm ÂŁ350 E gretawakil@yahoo.co.uk
Statement Doorways and windows in old buildings always fascinate me as a subject for painting. There is a sense of mystery and intrigue in these deserted buildings of hundreds of years ago. Who lived in them? What were their hopes and dreams? Did they reach for a star, and did they realize their dreams? Some buildings have a happy feeling despite their neglect. In this painting I am trying to convey what it feels like to be in that particular building in a long-gone time. I believe that we are all connected and would like to think that there is a visual dialogue between the viewer and the dreams of someone hundreds of years ago.
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Riverside Artists Group Exhibition arranged and organised by Pauline Harding [Chair, Riverside Artists Group] Catalogue Edited by Sajid Rizvi | Produced by EAP Catalogue designed by Prizmatone Design Consultancy, a division of EAP | www.eapgroup.com Distributed by Saffron Books/Saffron Distribution | www.saffronbooks.com IoP Hanging Team: Máire Gartland, Anton Harding, Pauline Harding, Martin Ireland
Copyright © All rights reserved 2013. Copyright in individual elements — original images and artists’ texts — rests with the respective artists. For permissions contact the artist concerned or contact Riverside Artists Group | www.riversideartistsgroup.com