How we experience the animal.
From 14 January - 25 February 2012, Ark-Art, ‘The People’s Gallery’, in Bexhill will play host to an exhibition featuring five of my paintings - all previously unexhibited.
Organised by Carl Gent, ‘How we experience the animal’ is a compilation of 8 artists diverse in approach and media. The starting point is the 13th century text quoted below on the fallibility of extrapolating one’s own experiences to infer a complete knowledge. The quest to explore humanity is only valid in the context of both individuality and collective responsibility.
Exhibiting artists James Arguile, Rachel Arguile, Susan Jane Dunford, Carl Gent, Timothy Holt, Ruby Manson, Miles Umney and myself present artwork in sculpture, film, painting, drawing, photography and metalwork.
A Private View with refreshments will be held in the gallery on Saturday 14 January, 7-9pm. The night doubles as a launch event for Fashion Vacuum, a new online magazine documenting emerging anti-currents in urban cloth. The exhibiting artists’ outfits for the night will be curated by Fashion Vacuum.
Just a few minutes walk away on the seafront the Andy Warhol exhibition ‘Warhol Is Here’ is open at the De La Warr Pavilion until 26 February. Why not visit both in the same visit to Bexhill - the town famous (in my eyes) for its appearance as a bombed refugee camp in the “2006 dystopian film” Children of Men. Also nearby, a twenty minute drive west, is Towner in Eastbourne, which has a variety of exhibitions and events.
How we experience the animal
14 January – 25 February 2012
Ark-Art, 23 Sackville Road, Bexhill-on-sea, TN39 3JD
Opening hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 12 – 5pm
Join the Facebook event page for further information and photographs as they become available.
“Some Hindus have an elephant to show. No one here has ever seen an elephant. They bring it at night to a dark room.
One by one, we go into the dark and come out saying how we experience the animal.
One of us happens to touch the trunk. “A water-pipe kind of creature.”
Another, the ear. “A very strong, always moving back and forth, fan-animal.”
Another, the leg. “I find it still, like a column on a temple.”
Another touches the curved back. “A leathery throne.”
Another, the cleverest, feels the tusk. “A rounded sword made of porcelain.” He’s proud of his description.
Each of us touches one place and understands the whole in that way.
The palm and the finger feeling in the dark are how the senses explore the reality of the elephant.
If each of us were to hold a candle there, and if we went in together, we could see it.”
Translated by Coleman Banks
Link: http://ralphdorey.blogspot.com/2012/01/on-transition-from-eleven-to-twelve-and.html
Ralph Dorey writes with unusual specificity on art education - calling for alternative approaches. Go forth and read.
Who can resist this printed glass ‘Pay and Display’ ashtray? Two of humanity’s most frustrating inventions - parking charges and smoking - together at last in a design classic. Gifted by Jan and Gerry.
