Henry Walsh: Presence and Absence

07-29 November 2012
Private View Tues 06 November 6-8pm

“My work begins with snapshots of busy city life and by a process of elimination I refocus the image on elements that encapsulate a sober thoughtfulness.’ - HW

Henry Walsh, Eleure, 100 x 100cm, £4000

Henry Walsh’s third solo exhibition with Curwen Gallery, will be the largest collection of his work together to date. Many of the themes that have run through his work in the last few years will be visible. His fascination is largely with people in a space, be it crowds of people or solitary individuals. He gathers imagery of bustling city life, and the quieter parks and squares of the city where people go to find space and time to rest or reflect.

The resulting paintings show often only a few details of the scene, a couple seated on a park bench, their surroundings except for the bench, eliminated by white paint. This simplicity allows the viewer to fill in the gaps. What half narrative we are given, we can complete ourselves. Each painting is given its own obscure title, often a little-known word from the dictionary, leaving the viewer to reconcile it’s meaning with the visual image.


Henry Walsh, Strata XI, 13 x13cm, £200 

 In several works there is a sense of shared purpose; groups of people all walking in the same direction carrying suitcases or searching in the ground for something. But devoid of any setting in time or place where they are going to, what they are carrying, or looking for, all remains a tantalising mystery.

Occasionally the work is stripped back completely leaving only figures standing, seemingly stranded, on a plain. In this nothingness, stripped of their natural surroundings and any other objects, there can be no other focus than the figures themselves. A high viewpoint and miniaturisation gives the viewer a deific look over humanity. Are they looking at a black bleak horizon and recognising their own precious fragility, or are they bravely forging a path to an unknown future? The presence of light and shadows brings drama and somehow an intense presence of hope.

Henry Walsh, Confluentia IV, 50 x 70cm, £1100

Whatever the narratives behind the imagery, Walsh’s work seems to captivate viewers through a basic human curiosity of other people. We all like people watching to some extent, wondering what others are doing, saying or thinking, picking out the clues that might answer our desire to know.

Born on the 20th April 1978 in Norwich, England. Henry studied art at Ipswich College in Suffolk, and then Loughborough University in Leicestershire. In 2011 he moved to live in the Peak District. He is now a freelance artist & designer. Henry continues to exhibit regularly in group and solo exhibitions in London, New York, Scandinavia and Northwest England.


http://www.curwengallery.co.uk/gallery/walsh12/title.htm

John Brokenshire: 3rd October-3rd November

John Brokenshire’s work skirts the boundary between abstract expressionism and figurative landscape painting. In much of his work the natural world is used as a vehicle to carry a particular emotional response, with the figurative elements of the landscape seeping through an ethereal and expressive foreground. Often the figurative inspirations for the paintings are almost totally eclipsed by an otherworldly haze. It is in these moments where John Brokenshire leaves the constraints of the figurative that his most sensitive works are made.


John Brokenshire works primarily with oil on canvas and aims to deal with the universal themes of dream, mortality and healing. His love of the medium of paint is evident from his playful and unconventional colour choices and the atmosphere which these choices produce. In his recent works he has created peaceful, meditative canvases which project a feeling of spaciousness and respite

John Brokenshire has been showing regularly with Curwen Gallery since he was chosen for our annual Northern Graduates exhibition in 1995. This October we are John Brokenshire’s seventh solo exhibition, in which he has produced some of his most profound and sensitive works to date.


John Brokenshire, Cloud Descending, 100 x 100cm, £1850


http://www.curwengallery.co.uk/gallery/brokenshire12/title.htm

After the Auctions...

Both the auctions were a huge success, the online auction particularly surpassing expectations and selling every single lot. The Live Auction was a brilliant event with many of our friends and clients braving a massive swarm of bees (swarming outside the gallery on the night) as well as the heat to get their bids in.

from left: Bill Pryde, Natalie Suggit, Louise Linley Adams and Jill Hutchings
in the gallery before the auction.

Firstly we would like to start by saying a big "Thank you" to everyone who bid in or helped at either of the gallery's two auctions.We are very greatful to everyone involved for the tremendous amount of support they gave to the gallery over this period.Thanks also to the artists who very kindly donated work to the auction, some of which did extremely well under the hammer.

David Poole, Sailing on the Exe- one of the great successes of the auction

Our special thanks go to our auctioneer, Dominic Kemp, who's stamina on the night was extraordinary (taking bids on over 135 lots, lasting a good two hours!) . Bidding was, at times, very heated and Dominic's good humored manner did the gallery proud.His capacity for retaining trivia was also tested on the night as, with each lot, Dominic delivered a witty resume of each artist to keep us informed about the work we were bidding on.

Dominic Kemp, gallery auctioneer- differently attired on the night unfortunately

The money we raised from the auction will go towards the many refurbishment works which will be taking place this summer in July and August. In September the gallery will re-open with the celebratory group exhibition Rejuvenation downstairs and Thirza Kotzen The Space Between upstairs. To commemorate this new, rejuvenated Curwen Gallery, Brendan Hansbro has produced a wood engraving taking inspiration from our Unicorn logo. The new unicorn (above)is a hardened stud, trampling on weeds and looking tough...an accurate symbollic likeness to the re-opened gallery come September, we hope...

Brendan Hansbro, Curwen and New Academy Unicorn, wood engraving, 5x6 cm

Curwen Gallery Auctions

The excitement is building for our two auctions, with many bidders dropping in to view the work for sale.The Online Auction is already underway, finishing at 9pm on 26th June and going extremely well.Follow the progress of the auction here and remember to get your bids in before 9pm tomorrow night. Bidding is moving quickly, however there are a number of brilliant pieces which are still available for minimal prices.

John Hoyland- Lot 1 in the Live Auction, Estimate £300-500

My top tip for the online auction is Zoe Rubens Hermoine. Bidding for this piece is currently at £210- a mere 10% of its normal value.It's a fabulous piece of sculpture also and a great example of Zoe Ruben's best work. Place bids on it online here .


Zoe Rubens, Hermoine, Lot 211 in the Online Auction

The gallery is looking at it's very best at the moment, with some of the best work from nearly all of our artists hanging from wall to ceiling.Every inch of space is covered with bold, colourful pieces from the gallery's history.

One of our artists, Bill Pryde, admiring the auction hanging in the gallery

Read on below and have a look at our website for more information http://www.curwengallery.co.uk/auction/index.htm .
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Curwen Gallery is holding two auctions in June, offering a unique opportunity to bid for works from the gallery collection.

The gallery has been in its current location, on Windmill Street, for 25 years. In this time many gems and pieces of interest have been collected, some of which have been unseen for some time. During June Curwen Gallery will be auctioning off these works, hanging the gallery from floor to ceiling to allow viewing of the 234 artworks to be sold by auction.

Andrew Ingamells- Lot 132 in the Live Auction, Estimate £750-900


The Live Auction will take place on the evening of Wednesday 27th June  (this Wednesday)from 7pm at Curwen Gallery. Both auction catalogues are available to view online here: http://www.i-bidder.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/curwen-gallery
 
We will be providing a live video stream of this exciting event online for those not able to be at the auction in person. Bids can be placed online during the evening through Ibidder. This is a fantastic opportunity to bid on some of the many celebrated works from the gallery’s collection!

This is a never be repeated event at Curwen Gallery, be sure not to miss it!


The ONLINE AUCTION 13-26th June (finishes at 9pm)

Highlights include lithographs by Graham Sutherland, Henry Moore and Basil Beattie, all produced at Curwen Studio.

Graham Sutherland, estimate £700-900
Lot 152: Bidding currently at £300






Henry Moore, estimate £700-900
Lot 151: Bidding currently at £750

Wilhelmina Barnes Graham, estimate £1000-1500
Lot 160: Bidding currently at £440




The LIVE AUCTION Wednesday 27th June (starts 7pm, at Curwen Gallery)

Treasures in this auction include an original collage by Sir Peter Blake, made for Northern Graduates exhibition in 1994.

Also included are prints by Anthony Green (‘Kiss at the Ritz’, below) and Patrick Caulfield (‘Large Jug’).





Peter Blake, estimate £400-£600
Bidding on 27th June at 7pm in the gallery




Anthony Green, estimate £100-£200
Bidding on 27th June at 7pm in the gallery

Patrick Caulfield, estimate £1000-£1500
Bidding on 27th June at 7pm in the gallery






Works are hanging or available to view in the gallery for both auctions.

Further details and important information regarding the auctions can be found at http://www.curwengallery.com/auction

Master Prints

Our Master Prints exhibition opened recently to considerable interest from print connoisseurs.  We are currently privileged to be showing some of the most prestigious names in 20th Century printmaking.The majority of this exhibition comes from the gallery's own collection making it a distillation of the best work from over 50 years of exhibitions.

Henry Moore OM, Two Heads (from La Poesie Suite), 1976
lithograph (dedicated 'for Curwen Press'),92 x 72cm, £2500 fr

This exhibition is a significant point in the gallery's history and serves to look back at the many great artists that we have shown over the years. Two prints included in the show have a particularly special place in the gallery as they were produced to mark the 40th and 50th anniversaries of Curwen.These anniversary prints are the Curwen 40th Anniversary Print by Patrick Heron made in 1998 and the 50th Anniversary Print made by John Hoyland in 2008.

Patrick Heron, Curwen 40th Anniversary Print, 1998
lithograph (HC ed.40), 85 x 105cm, £1850

This print holds a special place in Jill Hutchings, Director of Curwen Gallerys', heart as she joined Stanley Jones at "Eagles Nest",the home of Patrick Heron, to watch this particular print being made.John Hoyland's Curwen 50th Anniversary Print is also particularly special, not only because of the momentous occasion that it commemorated but also because John Hoyland sadly died earlier this year. 

John Hoyland RA, Anniversary Print (Curwen 50 Years), 2008

lithograph (ed.11/50), 78 x 64cm, £975 fr. £900 uf.

For those that listened to Stanley Jones' appearance on Radio 4 recently many of the print makers discussed on that program are featured in this exhibition. One addition to the show which we are very excited by is Barbara Hepworth's Itea. We were lucky enough to acquire this print from the Master Printer himself,good friend of the gallery Stanley Jones, who also has two prints featured in the exhibition.

Barbara Hepworth, Itea, 1971 (from the Aegean Suite)
lithograph, PP3, 70 x 92cm, £2500

Brendan Hansbro: Pugin's Dream

Pugin's Dream is an unconventional exhibition with a distinctly gothic feel.Brendan Hansbro has captured the architecture of the Houses of Parliament with characteristic brooding detail, embellishing the well known facades with a playful wit.

Brendan Hansbro, Bouquet, graphite on paper, 94 x 74cm, £975 fr.

In Leviathan an ominous tower looms from a white gold background.The building is transformed by Hansbro's eccentric rendering and his use of white gold leaf, elevating this structure of bricks and mortar to an otherworldly status.Cryptically Hansbro makes it unclear which Leviathan he references in the title; Hobbe's political sovereign or the Biblical serpent and gatekeeper of Hell.Both interpretations feel appropriate,the double meaning further contributing to the mystery surrounding Hansbro's complex, often mythological works.

Brendan Hansbro, Leviathan, graphite and gold leaf on paper, 94 x 74cm, £1250 fr.

 Some of the most popular works of this exhibition have been Hansbro's wood engravings in specially gilded frames.These very intricate prints have been selling well, with the Lion and Unicorn motifs proving to be very appealing to our visitors.These prints breath a little light hearted frivolity into a fairly serious exhibition.They manage to offset the ominous gothic edifices with cheeky characatures, possibly making references to the unsteady relationship between the English and Scottish governments.

Lion and Unicorn; Cling, wood engraving,ed.100, 27 x 21cm, £97.50 fr, £40 uf



Robin Richmond : The Still Point of the Turning World

We are coming to the end of one of our most successful recent shows this Saturday. Robin Richmond's The Still Point of the Turning World seems to have really captured the imagination of so many of our visitors.

The show covers a two year period of sustained travel by the artist, with each painting capturing a particular sensation evoked by the many places which she has visited. These works bring new life to the tradition of landscape painting, reinvigorating this antique subject matter. Each painting treads a line between figuration and abstraction, clearly acknowledging a historical lineage that can be traced through JMW Turners epic landscapes to Mark Rothko’s more serene abstract expressionist works.

Waterland, Outside Amsterdam , 2012acrylic and body on canvas, 120 x 100cm, £6000 SOLD
This cross fertilization of movements is most eloquently illustrated by Waterland (above), which, interestingly, could be seen as homage to both Turner and Rothko in equal measure; retaining the brooding turbulence of Turner’s seascapes but blending this with the melancholy depth characteristic of Rothko’s “multiforms”.

Over the course of the exhibition considerable attention has also been given to Richmond's use of materials. They present a definite mystery, some because of their cryptic titling (“body” a modeling paste used to produce a textured surface causing more intrigue than any other) others because of their peculiar properties. For me, most puzzling of all is the almost contradictory nature of each painting's surface. Many have such a dense texture that the canvas becomes an almost sculptural object.At the same time, however, the image appears translucent; formed from countless layers, all working to form a nebulous space within the painted plane.

As Fragile As Our Clay: Rome, from the studio window, 2011

oil, casein and acrylic on canvas, 120 x 100cm, £6000

This balance between the opaque and the translucent can be seen in Rome: As Fragile as our Clay, one of the strongest paintings of the exhibition (and, amazingly, still available!).The thick impasto paintwork on the golden foreground is delicately juxtaposed with a soft, billowy sky creating the extraordinary impression of distance. This relationship seems so effortless and natural in this particular work, but in reality this illusion is almost impossible to create- I’ve never seen it done so effectively before.
The Still Point of the Turning World has been a great achievement for Robin Richmond and should be seen as a solid punctuation in a strong career.  This exhibition feels like a moment of realization, a place where Richmond has found the distillation of her artistic personality. Each work is a fine example of her characteristic language, holding with it a sense of place and atmosphere unmatched in contemporary painting.

25 / 30

Our 25 / 30 exhibition is  a celebration of 25 and 30 years of our two galleries, Curwen Gallery and New Academy Gallery, being on Windmill Street. To commemorate the occassion we have asked each of our gallery artists to make one piece for this show, making this exhibition a good representative of the gallery as a whole.

Michele Noach The Last Flake, lenticular, £1500

Over 50 different artists are included in the exhibition, with a total of 78 different works on display.It is also worth remembering that in most cases we will have a larger selection of each artists work below stairs in the gallery storage.If you see a particular piece you like, feel free to ask to see other work that we hold by that artist.


Bill Pryde Green Apple , screenprint,  £350fr

 From my own observations one of the most popular paintings in the show would be John Brokenshire's Red Pike. It is one of John's most impressive paintings to date and now sits in our window, luring people in from the street.Another very popular piece is Disc (pictured below) by president of the Royal British Society of Sculptors; Johannes von Stumm .This piece is an exceptional piece of work, joining five very different materials into a segmented disc.It is a technically accomplished sculpture with a real presence in the room.


Johannes von Stumm, Disc,
stainless steel, bronze, glass, granite & limestone, £5800



Hot off the Press 11

For any print fans that haven't been already, this years Hot off the Press should be scribbled onto your "things to do list" immediately. Associate Director Natalie Suggitt has chosen the very best work from last years MA graduate shows,making this one of Curwen's most contemporary exhibitions.Anyone concerned about the state of printmaking in England today will be firmly reassured by the quality and diversity of this years graduates.Also, as with all our graduate shows, a great opportunity to buy the work of promising new artists before they become too expensive!

This year we had an immensley positive private view.
It was extremely busy, with many familiar faces from
 the world of printmaking in attendance.

Recieving a lot of attention at the private view was the work of Dolores De Sade, a graduate from the Royal College of Art.Rich with irony and a thoughtful playfulness, De Sade's puts disparate elements together to form surreal environments.These scenes make strange an irreverant comments. What these comments actually refer to is a mystery but one assumes the answers lie deep within tomes of contemporary art theory. That is not to say this work is academic or elitist however. As I write a visitor to the gallery is happily chuckling away to "It Was the Best of Times, It was the Worst of Times" where a lonely shed is depicted listing the great spread of curries which now make up a staple of the English diet. 

Dolores De Sade
It Was The Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times, £495 fr





















Continuing the strain of surreal imagery Eric Storey, a graduate from Camberwell College of Art, has collaged together images from popular culture to make sinister assemblages.His "Forensics in Fairyland" series seem to address the unconscious mind, using the imagery of nightmares to create narratives and scenarios that unnerve and disorientate.One of the most psychologically arresting of the series is No.4, where a potentially infirm girl clutches a ghost dog while being stalked by a pantomime Cricket man.The full series seem to give a map of the many characters which haunt Storey's personal "other world", with the suggestion that all conspire together to eventually undo him.
 

Eric Storey- Forensics in Fairyland 3, £290 fr

 As a whole Hot off The Press can be viewed as an accurate cross section of current movements in contemporary printmaking.At the same time the exhibition also feels like a cohesive whole, with the different artists sharing many similar attitudes to technique, pallet and content. If you haven't been already, you have until 28th January to catch this remarkable exhibition.

Denise Walker- I, £190 fr



The Print Master: Stanley Jones Speaking on Radio 4 on Tuesday 17th Jan 11:30

Legendary print maker and good friend of the gallery: Stanley Jones will be the focus of a documentary on Radio 4 next week.The program, which examines Stanley's career as the Master Lithographer at Curwen Studio, will be broadcast on Tuesday morning at 11.30.Anyone with even a passing interest in print making should definitely add this program to their diary immediately. It promises to be a fascinating examination of one of the most respected living print makers in the world today.

Stanley Jones and Tom Martin: Party Piece
Currently showing in the Gallery as part of "Curwen Prints"

 The program was recorded recently at the Curwen Studio amongst the thundering and clanking machinery of the print works.It attempts to explore Stanley's many experiences with some of the greatest print makers of the 20 Century.The recording also looks at the current artist in residence at the Curwen Studio, Susan Aldworth.Susan assumes the role of Stanley's apprentice in the show, learning his skills and listening to his many anecdotes.

For any of those not familiar with Stanley Jones' story ( also told by his wonderful book 'Stanley Jones and the Curwen Studio' available at the gallery) Stanley has been the Master Lithographer for over 50 years at the Curwen Studio. In the 50s he spearheaded a rapid expansion in British Printmaking and today he is revered in artistic circles as one of the greatest print makers alive. Now in his 70's Stanley Jones's clients read like a roll call of the 20th century's great British artists, including Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and David Hockney amongst many others.

 Today lithography is "under threat" as increasing numbers of Art schools have disposed of their lithography presses and there are few technicians who fully understand the process. This is a unique chance to work with the world expert in this discipline, and for the listener to discover more about this art.