Today I learnt that I was missing out big time. Last year,
the Plymouth Arts Weekender meant virtually nothing to me; however, this time,
even just from today, I found out I had deprived myself of so much local
artistic talent.
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| The 100 Most Watched |
I
started my expedition at the Plymouth Arts Centre to take in Danish artist
Katya Sander’s exhibition ‘Publicness’. This consisted of ten pieces created
from the material of the streets – graffiti, finance, the ‘public subconscious’
– which brought the city into the gallery. The two pieces on the ground floor
were stark and simplistic, ‘The 100 Most Watched’ chaotically scrawled across
one wall. The second floor was more of a burst of colour, as seen in the
complicated ‘Some Statements in Relation to a Bank’ which conveyed an ignorance
and a lack of trust for the humble banker. Two installations were audio videos
and, as art in this form goes, a little confusing, but ‘Exterior City’ made me
feel as if Sander were trying to say ‘we are all actors within the manuscript
of our city’.
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| Some Statements in Relation to a Bank |
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| Sue Willis |
My next stop was Only Originals on White Lane where the
works of Sue and daughter Christie Willis were being displayed and sold. I
spoke with the artists, though at the time did not know it. The acrylic floral
paintings of Sue Willis struck me as possessing a pastel-shaded vibrance which
almost seemed to glow, while her serene country and maritime scenes captured
the varying levels of sunlight perfectly. Daughter Christie’s work focused primarily
on animals, lacking slightly in depth or character, but the brushwork remained
soft and practised. It was the perfect scenery for a typical country poem. Check out their shop on White Lane, Barbican.
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| Christie Willis |
Up next was the Barbican New Street Artists at Studio Two,
New Street. This collection of art belonged to local artists Glyn White, Dave
Crocker, Keith Simmons, and Caroline Mercer. Unfortunately, I missed the work of
the latter, but what I saw did not disappoint. Keith Simmons displayed a series
of maritime pieces in acrylic, a piece entitled ‘Spirits of the Sea’ capturing
water in motion with surprising detail. Dave Crocker favoured an almost
photographic approach, painting local buildings and people with a degree of
soul and personality, evident in ‘The Girl with the Silver Tongue Stud’.
However, it was the moody maritime and moorland scenes of Glyn White’s ‘Blanc
on Blanc’ which stole my attention. I was fortunate enough to meet the man
himself and give my feedback on his
work, stunning him, I think, with my view
that the water in his paintings looked almost like stone, while the stone
looked rather like water. Check out his Facebook to see what you think.
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| Diogenes at Night in the Studio Window |
My
fourth stop was at the New Street Gallery for prominent South West artist Robert Lenkiewicz’s ‘Diogenes Show’, a series of projects based on his friendship with
and the life – and death – of vagrant Edwin Mackenzie, or Diogenes after the
cynical Greek philosopher. The series depicts Mackenzie as the embodiment of
chaos and death through paintings, sketches, photography, and 3D masks in
plaster and thermoplastic. I saw these as ways to immortalise and spotlight
this otherwise invisible man and all that he stood for. Two particular pieces
caught my eye, the first, an immense painting of Mackenzie entitled ‘Diogenes
at Night in the Studio Window’. His blue eyes were so alive, the light glinting
on his unkempt hair to great effect. The second was two photographs of a dead
Mackenzie entitled ‘The Putrefaction of Diogenes’. It shocked and fascinated me,
but also reminded me of the fate of any other vagrant. |
| Tim Pearse |
My final stop was at the Comma Five Art Space on Southside
Street to see the local talent in Comma Five fullstop. They were setting up
when I arrived, so I was unable to get the full experience but, for the second
time, was able to speak with the artists present. The first to catch my eye was
a series of simple yet thought-provoking urban photographs by freelance
photographer Alexander Kanchev. They made me want to know what lay beyond the
pictures’ borders. The second was Tim Pearse’s more disturbing and
introspective photography which, after a short chat, I learnt contained pieces
of his own inner self, the monochrome and distortion effects only enhancing
this and endearing the collection to me. Check out his Facebook page and see how it makes you feel. The third set I viewed
was a series of
ghostly and industrial black and white photographs by James Wells. One image
appeared to be have been laid over another as if showing the past and present
in one shot; again, something I could appreciate. The fourth installation was
from Sarah Fitzpatrick of Fitzy Pawtraits, a neat set of colourful cartoon
scenes of Plymouth. Not generally my cup of tea, but the clean style and
inclusion of a colourful canine made the set noteworthy.
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| James Wells |
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| Sarah Fitzpatrick |
A brief explanation
that I was writing for the Plymouth University magazine even got me a little
postcard for free. The final instalment came from Josh Greet and was a
lenticular poster board which I was unable to figure out. That’s not to say I
had no concept of what it could mean – there was something in there about the
technological age as it bore the dreaded Internet Explorer logo – but again, it
wasn’t quite the kind of art I found myself drawn to.
And with that, day one of the Plymouth Arts Weekender draws
to a close.
