Artseeker | Could Have Fooled Me III | Main Gallery - Old School

Main Gallery - Old School

The Exhibitors

Bill Crumbleholme

Bill Crumbleholme's major work on display "Interference" was heralded as a breakthrough in the understanding between artists and theoretical physists.

Extracts from the artist's statement are repoduced here by kind permission.

This installation objectivises and presents the viewer with a vision of multi-dimensional space – as a simplified physical manifestation of string theory. It attempts to introduce the concept of parallel universes and how they might co-exist –  being seen both from within and from “outside”.

As the viewer negotiates into the enclosed space, they will be taken on a journey, impinging with and altering the perception of what surrounds the path. Like Schrödinger’s infamous Cat, the visitor is trapped in a box and every movement made will exert an unavoidable change in the nature of the space inhabited and how it is perceived from its exterior, but unlike that poor cat, there is a cat-flap available, from which to exit the box unharmed, but mentally concussed nevertheless.

The optical illusions created by the piece are not in reality illusions at all, but are the result of light being interfered with by the multiple matrix-like layers. This has deep resonance with the more articulate visitor, who is cognisant of being apparently trapped within an ever-changing universe, unable to escape bodily from “normal” physical laws, but perhaps able to use imagination and creative thought to break free from those boundaries, by reaching out and touching them and probably yearning to excavate a new path through them.

http://www.beakerfolk.co.uk
bill@beakerfolk.co.uk

Catherine Owen

By Pass

Catherine Owen boldly exhibited a revealing construction that welcomed visitors to the gallery. Cat's own description is :-

A link is created yet we still feel utterly cut off. I can’t express now, the means of finding a way through all the differences. I am sure i shall go mad, trembling and isolated inside. Singing singing, with cracked voices we are supposed and disposed to celebrate this new link, new link, to our new ending.

Marriage

Many viewers were disturbed by this installation, apparently wishing to read more into it than the creator! Perhaps this is a reflection of how we see ourselves and others, from within and without.

http://www.raggyrat.blogspot.com
cathy@raggyrat.co.uk

Di Pattinson

TEGUMENT

Incongruous enrooting was dominent in the needs, aspirations and modus operandi etc etc etc

Work in progress

cackle.berry@virgin.net

Annalisa Renee

Annalisa submitted her incredibly imaginative installation “Goose-winged boat”, bringing a sense of wonderment and fantasy to the gallery. Unfortunately the photograph of her other submission failed to do it justice and has not been published.

http://www.annalisarenee.co.uk
annalisarenee@gmail.com

Diane Crumbleholme

Diane's little comment on drugs certainly stimulated much discourse. Her own words are :-

Drugs are everywhere in the field of sport. Are they taking over sailing? And what about the placebo effect? Are these supplements sailing on a high?
This artwork questions the use of drugs in sport, their effect and the hype.

diane@crumbleholme.plus.com

Maggie Foottit

These boots were made for working
As an archaeological illustrator, Maggie’s job is to draw things from the past to present them in the present and record them for the future. In this piece she has done just that.
A simple work clog.
Perhaps a child’s shoe or a marketing device to show the skill of the clog maker. An advert.
Or the representation of hard work in hard times, child labour, poverty and good old Victorian values.
Ask yourself why this is relevant today and cross your fingers and hope that what it truly represents stays in the past, is eradicated from the present and does not become the future.
Remember... these boots were made for working.

mjfillustrations@hotmail.co.uk

Wendy Manning

Wendy's homage to Elizabeth Frink, was a strangely compelling sculpture, that perhaps radiated more of a sense of threat and fear than expected?

Wendy's own statement is :-

This parody piece reflects the existential brutalisation of modern man and his disconnection from humanity, his descent in to an inward mire of fanaticism with the potential mirage of heroic rescue by unseen forces, whilst teetering on the brink an information abyss, where the horrors of 20th Century dictatorship have been subtly muted by the compulsive nature of 21st Century gaming in virtual reality. 
This motif conveys not political but personal repression, hidden agendas and concealment. The ears, sometimes minimised or deformed, are stopped up with white noise preventing the cries of women and children reaching through his absence. His thin weak lips bite hard to prevent sympathetic utterance from escaping and beneath the impenetrable gaze is dread and confusion.
The power of the image is not diminished by the juxtaposition of the profound with the profane although it may disgust and disquiet the discerning Frink connoisseur.  

wjmanning@supanet.com

Mark Vyvyan-Penney

Mark's outstanding contribution to the understanding of the "What is Art" debate, caused much mirth, but disquite amongst the more art-literate audience. By turning the Glass of Water upside down, did he spill the contents or add to them? The tree wedge he provided was a beautiful example of a found natural object being made into an object of visual pleasure merely by the act of creation, the chain saw leaving a sublime surface texture. However this is surely in direct contradiction to his desire to explore the link between an object and the artist's own perception of it as something else altogether?

Mark was either unable or unwilling to provide a written explanation, but perhaps none is required?

http://htp://www.vyvyanpenney.co.uk
markvyvyan@hotmail.com

Caz Scott

Caz had put so much thought into her conceptual work, that many viewers were taken aback by the apparent simplicity, but perhaps they missed the whole point that was being made?

Caz's words speak for themselves :-

Blank Canvas Series 1
The term "blank canvas" can refer to a number of different things, both literal and metaphorical. However, all meanings have in common the idea of an empty starting point.
This new work adopts a minimalist approach to the painted imagery reflected across the history of art. The work challenges the audience to consider whether the concept of a blank canvas can truly exist or, indeed, has ever existed. The artist presents the viewer with a freedom to place metaphorical marks wherever, and in whatever shape, size, colour or medium they might choose upon a blank surface.
Perhaps the surface itself may dictate how marks may be laid upon it and place limits on any image that may emerge. Just as in Neolithic cave paintings, the image may be seen to grow from the shape and texture of the rock beneath, so images formed by the artist are a response to the surface presented.
Here the viewer is invited to, and indeed, will inevitably partake in creating in their own imagination, to produce in the mind’s eye, an image to project on to the space provided. Nature abhors a vacuum and so it is with our own nature. We constantly need to fill the void. Our greatest challenge would be to leave the void untouched, untainted, appreciating the uncluttered space and light – a gap between our ever-changing, unceasing thoughts and ideas – untrammeled, unfettered and thus allowing us to become fully creative and flowing, cascading and building with the power and finesse of a grand waterfall reflecting a rainbow of visible and invisible light from primordial to present day.
Each canvas varies in shape and orientation and thus the response from the viewer will vary when confronted by these variations. The contrasting sizes, shapes and orientation of the blank canvases allow for a dialogue with the audience rather than imposing an artist’s vision, enabling and facilitating the viewer to become the artist, empowered and creative.
The works remain unsigned since this is part of the empowerment of the viewer. The involvement and interaction means that, with the viewing, each projected image becomes transiently the work of the viewer and in their mind’s eye they are enabled to sign their own vision because it truly belongs to them.
The arrangement of the individual canvases is important since the spacing and sequencing stimulate the creative process and as the eye moves across the canvases, thoughts adjust and realign.
The number of canvases is limited as too many would over-stimulate the imagination and mind’s images would lose their individuality.
It is expected that the viewers will carry with them a rich range of images that will be a lasting memory since they are the creators of their own art.
The artist is saying, at a profound level – “Enough. You don’t need to see my interpretation of the world. You have your own unique creative vision and you are free to project this onto the canvas you behold. My exhibition of these works is a deep and true recognition of the original creativity possessed by all humanity.”

carolinemscott@hotmail.com

Upwey Potters

The Upwey Potters Collective produced a body of works that stunned and amazed the viewers, while leaving them puzzled and maybe even afraid.

These images and words will hopefully convey some of that intent, but sadly the sheer physical presence of the work cannot really be captured beyond the gallery.

Study In Transparency

Broom, Broom and The Willing Suspension of Disbelief

Broom, Broom

This wide sweeping brush has often been mistaken for a simple broom, but it is so much more in the eyes of astute viewers with the perception and fundamental knowledge of this gallery space. As a creative artefact it has enhanced many exhibitions in a very subtle manner, redolent indeed of the basic tenant of existence, yet without impinging its own image on the beholder. The service it has undertaken in the hands of so many artists, must surely make it  the most revered object in the premises. However like all good things its time may be at an end as it has recently been striving to maintain its position as premier object trouve, battling against the superior power of Henry The Vac Machine – which may indeed one day attain the same position of veneration. 

The Willing Suspension of Disbelief

More intellectually conceptual  than rigorously sculptural in execution, this eclectic piece has been strung up and woven, yet it maintains an unhealthy lack of respect for traditional practice or the perceived wisdom of those who claim to know better through experience, study and even devotion to accepted norms of behaviour.
The artist has bravely attempted to reject the presupposed notion of warp and weft within those parameters, relying instead upon a chaotic, almost fractal generation of structural stability, but unhindered by the constraints of gravitational attraction.
Drawing from the tangled mind of the artist, twisted copper wire explores and describes the critical space within the given boundary, as opposed to the surface shape – which is the “normal” object under consideration within the confines of rational applied art.
The precise overall impact of the piece is not what is under consideration here, what the artist is attempting to liberate is the awareness of what exists within a piece.
Beyond this initial foray, the artist aims to work with and develop this over-arching concept in other materials, with properties that will lend themselves to it, on permanent loan! So watch out for the use of thinner more transparent media and conversely work on a larger scale using less forgiving architectural materials.

Fools Mug

Laurence, the youngest potter, has produced this mug as a tokenistic display of empuzzlement, caught between the traditional approach of being an apprentice potter and his transition into a “proper” art student, which metamorphic transmogrification is imminent.
The Mug represents the dichotomy exposed when attempting to offer objects for sale that both tempt the purchaser and confuse him.
The act of imbibing from this vessel is a performance which requires a knowledge of the construction and intricacies of the route of the liquid from container to throat.

Honey, I Shrunk The Grant!

This construct has resonant echoes with Science Fiction of the B movie, now sadly replaced by Certificate 12A cinematic offerings.
Harking back beyond recent manifestations engendered within the title, the visual impact of the work is less Hollywood and more Hammer Horror, tinged with pathos and perhaps an unasked for  homage to the silent era.
However the really Big Question posed by the artist here is fundamentally represented by the object that is the focus of attention – the logos that have been shrunken to reflect the size of funding awards by Arts Council England. The amount of grant aid available for distribution to support the Arts in England is currently being cut by 30%. This will have a massive impact on previously subsidised cultural activity throughout the nation, but particularly biting in rural areas.
None of the current cultural organisations and creative individuals will escape the axe – some will cease to be sustainable and will fall by the wayside, some will be shrunk to pittances of their former selves.

Movement : Dance

Visiting artist, Maria has emphasised the cultural split that apparently yawns wide between the inspiration of youth and the wisdom of maturity. The collage produces a visual infraction that unsettles the viewer, yet creates an iconic juxapositioning of concepts.
Perhaps the artist is enquiring into the acceptability of employing this fragmented approach to visual art, interpreted through a mindset more in tune with a graphic designer's modus operandii.

http://www.upweypotters.com
bill@upweypotters.com

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