ARTS & EXHIBITIONS

STATE OF THE ART

CarlMelegari and Lynne Cartlidge: Power in Stillness, Clifton Contemporary, 10 March –2 April

Stillness can have a forceful presence: a quiet magnetism that draws the eye and resonates with life, feeling and meaning. Clifton Contemporary’s new exhibition elegantly reveals how profoundly different this power in stillness can be. Through multiple layers, deep textures and flowing drips of oil paint, Carl Melegari's compelling portraits and evocative figures exude calm and strength – a tangible sense of life from within their sculpted silence. Lynne Cartlidge's lucid still life compositions explore everyday domestic objects and cut flowers, creating a subtle dynamic interplay between light, colour, space and form. Her radiant interiors reveal another world of stillness. Carl was chosen to create a series of portraits to feature prominently in the current Bristol based BBC psychological drama series Chloe.

• cliftoncontemporaryart.co.uk

Image: Andreas by Carl Melegari – oil on canvas

From the Mountains to the Sea, Lime Tree Gallery, until 10 March Lime Tree Gallery’s latest exhibition includes a mix of beautiful landscape and seascape paintings across a variety of media. Some of the highlights include a new series of arresting acrylic paintings by Welsh artist Sian McGill; powerful Scottish scenes by Zanna Wilson, Alexander Robb and Marion Thomson; skilful egg tempera works by Andrew Scott George; and Northumberland landscapes in oil by Robert Newton. Artist Ulla Ohlson has also contributed abstract unframed lithographs of Swedish landscapes.

• limetreegallery.com

Image: Berneray Shore by Marion Thomson

Paula Rego: Subversive Stories, Arnolfini, until 29 May Arnolfini welcomes you to venture into the extraordinary imagination of Dame Paula Rego RA, one of the leading figurative artists of our generation. Rego makes a welcome return to Bristol (almost 40 years after her first exhibition here in 1982-83), creating an opportunity for a new generation of visitors to explore the artist’s rich and imaginative world. Featuring over 80 prints from across Rego’s extensive career, the exhibition explores her interweaving wit and dark humour, delving into the art of storytelling through Rego’s reinterpretations of well-known narratives and classic tales, repositioning the role of women at their centre. Bringing together early examples of experiments in etching and lithography, Rego pulls us into a world of not so ‘wicked’ women, childhood adventure, and folklore and fairy tales, in which the underdog reigns supreme, as Rego reinforces her reputation, taking ‘the side of the beauty not the beast.’

• arnolfini.org.uk

Image: Mist I (from Pendle Witches series) by Paula Rego 1996 Courtesy Paula Rego and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London

Donna Huanca: CUEVA DE COPAL, Arnolfini, until 29 May Arnolfini is currently showing CUEVA DE COPAL, a new and immersive sitespecific installation by Donna Huanca, a celebrated, rising star of the international art world. Drawing on painting, sculpture, performance, choreography, video, and sensory interventions, Huanca’s interdisciplinary practice focuses upon the human body, exploring our physical relationship to the world around us. Huanca builds her experiential installations around the architecture of each new site, with CUEVA DE COPAL plunging audiences into a cocoon-like space. Encouraging audiences to reflect upon their environment, the installation integrates ideas explored through previous installations, in which Huanca has transformed the masonic temple of Marciano Art Foundation in Los Angeles, the early-18th century palace of the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, and the high desert landscape surrounding the Ballroom Marfa in Texas.

• arnolfini.org.uk

Image: Donna Huanca, CUEVA DE COPAL. Installation view courtesy of Peres Projects, Berlin

Generations: Portraits of Holocaust Survivors, The Royal Photographic Society, until 27 March

This exhibition at RPS Gallery brings together over 50 contemporary portraits of Holocaust survivors and their families, shining a light on the full lives they have lived and our collective responsibility to cherish their stories. In partnership with the Imperial War Museum, Jewish News, and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Generations: Portraits of Holocaust Survivors showcases new works from 13 contemporary photographers, all members and Fellows of RPS, alongside photography by RPS patron, Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge. Many of the photographs in Generations: Portraits of Holocaust Survivors were captured in Spring 2021.

Grayson’s Art Club, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, until 4 September

During lockdown, Grayson Perry – one of Britain’s leading artists – helped the nation find comfort and company through art in his critically acclaimed Channel 4 series, Grayson’s Art Club. Each week on Zoom, Grayson and his wife, Philippa, spoke to famous artists and creatives about how they were spending their time and invited them to respond creatively to lockdown. Alongside artists, the couple asked celebrity guests including Boy George, Derren Brown, Johnny Vegas and Alex Horne to create brand new works of art in response to Grayson’s weekly themes –family, nature, food, dreams, work, and travel. The public were also invited to share their works and over 17,000 entries were submitted throughout the series in a vast range of mediums – from paintings and photography, to ceramics and textiles. Now, after a successful two series of the programme, an exhibition of the work has gone on display at the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, where they will stay until 4 September 2022. Spread across three floors, the exhibition is a vibrant and poignant chronicle of lockdown and forms a lasting artistic record of the unique time the nation has lived through together.

• bristolmuseums.org.uk

Image: Artwork by illusionist Derren Brown