Painted | Printed | Fired at Tarpey Gallery
I am thrilled to have been invited to take part in this group exhibition at Tarpey Gallery. I have exhibited here before and am always impressed by Luke, the proprieter’s curations. It is a lovely gallery, off the beaten track at the top of Castle Donington in Derbyshire and the sun shone for the opening afternoon, Saturday 19th October - bonus! Below are just some of the wonderful pieces that caught my eye.
I fell in love with these textural works by JFK Turner. He works using found objects that he paints on or incorporates into the image using glue, nails, screws etc. The interactions between unconventional materials and textures give an aged and slightly industrial feel. He works in a way that seems to be a fusion of painting, collage and sculpture. These pieces pictured above are fairly small in scale at 21 x 14cm but they have a very strong presence. I love the contrast of that soft pink against the dark background with just that flash of yellow - these brighter moments give a fantastic contrast to the worn and scarred surface. There is a formality to the composition in each piece and shapes which suggest 3D objects or architecture perhaps? I think that these were my favourites from the whole show - definitely got my credit card twitching!
‘ Fragments of a Lost Estate’ above by Mandy Payne is another small piece that left a big impression on me. It is a painting on a small block of smooth concrete, probably only about 15cm in width. I like the exquisite delicate painting on the chunky boxed concrete. A snippet view of those old housing estates, that were largely built in concrete in the 1960s i think. It reminds me of when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and you could buy a piece of it, only Payne has captured the essence of these flats and honoured it on it’s own little shard of concrete. So good!
By contrast, this painting by Camilla Clark is 104x 104cm, so although large, I love the sense of space it gives. The colours are quite muted so it is kind of peaceful to look at and the scale really gives opportunity to get lost in the subtle marks of the brush strokes and delicately changing tones.
Oh look, there I am, looking fine amongst the other art works - the gold looks fantastic so close to that rich blue in the painting above it! (sorry, I didn’t get the name of the artist who did that one)
Another one of my pieces, beautifully curated in front of the wonderful works by Catherine Morris - I think her textural surfaces and my glazes are speaking a similar language and look great together.
Anyway, those are my highlights but there is so much more on show at the exhibition so definitely work a visit. It is on until 24th November 2024 at Tarpey Gallery, 77 High Street, Castle Donington, DE74 2PQ. Thursday - Sunday 10am - 5pm. You can browse online too.