Laura Noble's Blog: Lisa Creagh

Showing posts with label Lisa Creagh. Show all posts

Wednesday, 14 May 2014

Telling Tales #1

©Johanna Ward ©Brittain Bright ©Lottie Davies

With only a few weeks to go till the next exhibition opens at L A Noble Gallery I finally have some time to reflect & write my blog dear readers...

The theme of the show is all in the title, Capturing The Narrative: A Visual Exploration of Fact & Fiction - with works by three fantastic artists Brittain Bright, Lottie Davies & Johanna Ward. They each use photography to tell stories - albeit their own or someone else's in a very different way…

©Brittain Bright

Despite their different approaches, each photographer ultimately offers their narrative to the viewer to interpret as they see fit. Dictating a story in pictures rather than text is never the intension. Although images will always paint a more ambiguous picture than the written word, a great deal of care has been taken by each artist to direct rather than impose the meanings, stories & layers of each work. In doing this each photograph stands up in its own right alone when in isolation from the other images in the series it is part of.

Approaching the works with this in mind perhaps relaxes our approach. The key to enjoying & getting the most out of the work is not to try to fully understand each & every picture or even every intension of the artist when, why & how the image was made. By gazing at the images, taking your time (something I rarely see in galleries & museums these days) & really looking the most remarkable details can reveal themselves when you least expect it.

At this early stage I won't go into detail on the works in the forthcoming exhibition - as the best time to reflect upon these is over time - which I always find divulge more to me the longer I live with the work (I adore it already - but good works just keeps getting better) on the gallery walls; part of the addiction that is living & working with art! Having time to spend with a work is never a bad thing. Even if you don't like something aesthetically it doesn't mean that it has nothing to offer you intellectually. Dismissing a work as bad or being overtly critical is much easier to do than finding something within it to discuss. I'm sure the proliferation of imagery in our lives gives us a faster response time in registering what a picture is - but context is everything. Glancing at a pile of images on a search in Google is one thing - but standing in front of a work of art on a wall is another. This wall may be in a museum, gallery or even someone's home. We find it hard to disassociate from the works 'value' in monetary terms - but stop & think about it's cultural significance.

Emily Allchurch & Lisa Creagh looking fabulous as ever

I recently visited the Richard Hamilton exhibition at Tate Modern with two of my artists Lisa Creagh & Emily Allchurch. Today with a more sophisticated understanding of advertising, corporations & capitalism it would have been easy to renounce some of his work as his critique of the aforementioned as clear & obvious today.

The Critic Laughs (1971-2) by Richard Hamilton (1922-2011)

©The estate of Richard Hamilton

But stopping & placing them in the context of when they were made - the work suddenly commands a deeper respect. There is always value in looking back. Often the aesthetic language we take for granted has got lost in the hectic mass-media filled lives we live today. Has something stood the test of time or even predicted the reality we live in now back then…?

Phillip K. Dick

When I am discussing this phenomenon one person always springs to mind, Phillip K. Dick. Now I am no expert on his work, let me make that clear from the outset (this is territory I cannot compete with much more learned readers of his work) but I am constantly amazed by his almost mystical foresight. If I mention his name only my best geek friends know who he is. I give a clue first, saying he wrote Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. If that is met with a blank stare I know there is more explaining to do, usually starting with "You might know it as Blade Runner?" To which an "Ooooh HIM, oh yes" is the usual response. Short of a very long essay as to why he is so relevant today, but I would never finish this post so just one example to make my point…

Film adaptations of his works such as Minority Report 1956 - based on a science-fiction short story by PKD - focus on precognition of crimes yet to be committed. Taken in context - written nearly 60 years ago - this would seem excessively paranoid, however a research paper on Precognition Agents exists today! See here for the paper by the Scottish Executive Research Unit. Science fiction can be strangely predictive…

(A great short story by PKD I would reccomend is a disturbing tale called The Hanging Stranger & my favourite book is Man In The High Castle, if you were interested.)

©Duane Michals

The Vanity of Animals, 2004

11 x 14 Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. 25

Whilst thinking about narrative photographers I must mention the might Duane Michals - whose work I love - the man even moreso as his witty persona & passion for photography made for one of the best artist's talks I have ever seen. See more of his work here.

©Duane Michals

This work about Schrodinger's Cat is a particular favourite & still makes me chuckle. A nice way to end Telling Tales #1.

Tuesday, 16 October 2012

Brighton Biennial & Brighton Fringe highlights...

A sunny day in Brighton this weekend was the perfect opportunity to catch up on the Biennial. We arrived as the sun was setting on Saturday evening. It was enough to see the sea after the fast paced day we had had in London prior to this after a big night the night before celebrating my life on earth for one more year! As we had one day to see as much as possible I have decided to post on my personal highlights as there are far too many shows to cover in all.

After a fish n chips as is the tradition our Saturday night came to a close with a view of the pier.

One of the first which must be mentioned is 'So The Wind Won't Blow It All Away' by the AgNO8 collective shown at Gallery 40. With a selection of 8 photographer's to choose from there is something for everyone, from the deeply moving abstract images of the interiors of cremator furnaces with Maeve Berry's 'Incandescence' series to the abstractions caused by interfering with a discarded negative from his family's collection by Sam Taylor in 'Family Obscured' which is displayed as a 5m long negative in a double sided lightbox.

Edmund Clark's 'Control Order House' at The University of Brighton Gallery is definitely worthy of a mention, due to the access for the first time by a photographer to the house in which someone placed under a control order under suspicion of terrorism. His photographs were carefully scrutinised by the authorities to ensure the anonymity of the location. The resulting images speak volumes through the banal surroundings, both absent of any character human or otherwise. Although you would not necessarily want to have these on your wall at home, they are revealing. Perhaps placing them in a fine art context will give them more longevity than an image in a newspaper which is soon forgotten.

Also at the University of Brighton Gallery was a film which once seen is hard to forget. With high production values, slick filming & a seamless 30 minute loop, Omer Fast's 'Five Thousand Feet Is The Best' was riveting. In a pitch dark room (so much so it took me a long time to figure out how to get across the room to sit down without falling over something or someone) a former drone operator talks of his experience flying unmanned planes from a control base in Vegas. His targets, both the militia & civilians in Afghanistan & Pakistan may be far away but the effects of his actions can be felt in his voice. Alongside this interspersing with the narration & blurred visual of the operator are 2 dramatisations, the 1st of a man in a motel played by Denis O' Hare (better known by most as Russell Edgington in True Blood) & a tense tale of a family going for a day trip with tragic consequences.

It has spectacular arial shots of Las Vegas that invoke awe but also act as a sombre reminder of the optimum height & firing position for the drone as suggested in the title. If you can see this film.

Then in the same vein, Trevor Paglen's excellent show at Lighthouse 'Geographies of Seeing' exploring the unseen pictured the astral movements of spacecraft as tracked by amateur satellite watchers that don't officially exist & covert bases, top-secret government sites with a super-strength telescope he adapted to photograph sites up to 65 miles away.

The images themselves were vague & beautiful. Without the captions they are as anonymous as they are intended to be by the authorities.

The place was very busy & rightly so. Go & see for yourself.

'Origins of Encounter' at Phoenix Brighton included 3 photographer's work exploring site specific notions of place. The presentation of Louise Maher's work on wooden tablets showing 'Roadside Mariolatry'. Each photograph of the same location photographed 6 years apart & engraved with the year (2006 - 2012) looks at roadside shrines or grottos in Ireland. I would have preferred the prints to have been c-types as the ink jets looked less precious than the tablets themselves, which were crafted so beautifully.

This image shows the intimate scale of the work, on shelves, lovely curation.

The Shadow Dial Studies II - VI by Joan Alexander also worked beautifully in the space. Her delicate projection of a medium format slide worked well. I wish there had been room for more as one wasn't working at the time, so we had to be content with a lone image from this gorgeous vintage projector.

We did see more, but with stomachs rumbling we headed to Bills, the best place in town for great affordable food.

Here is the motley crew clockwise from left: Photographer Lisa Creagh, Photographer & picture editor Elizabeth Orcutt, commercial photographer Stefan Ebelewicz, the delectable (& well known to all my readers) photographer Gabrielle Brooks, serial blogger & my long suffering boyfriend Mat Barnett.

And what a meal it was, I would strongly recommend the Eton Mess, yum!

Thursday, 20 September 2012

UNSEEN OPENING NIGHT & beyond..

Here is our stand in all its panoramic glory, taken by my glamorous assistant Gabrielle.

Well, we survived opening night, & what a night it was. The champagne was flowing, the guests were many & there was so much to see including contemporary dance no less that it was hard to know where to look. And look they did.

Here I am with Emily Allchurch (left) & Lisa Holden (right) at our stand.

We have work from 3 different series on display by Lisa Holden. The Geisha series consists of self portraits which are bold & graphic, yet with all the subtle paintilly notions she encorporates into her multi-layered work. Her 2 works from the 'Trees' series have caused quite the stir with the varnish layer on top of the photograph markedly visible in pools on the surface. Having such a sculptural & textured finish encourages multiple views & visitors are fascinated by them.

Again here, we have Emily & Lisa enjoying the atmosphere of opening night.

At 8.30pm all the exhibitors gathered high up on the central platform to listen to the opening speeches. Here is the view from above.

Marloes Krijen, the co-director of FOAM gave a wonderful speech before the gong was struck (just like the Dutch stock exchange does each day at the start of trading) as visitors watched from below.

Can you spot Emily Allchurch here? She is standing with the amazing printer Mark Foxwell from Genesis Imaging, where several of my artists have their work printed.

Marloes Krijen here, looking elegant -as always- in white beneath the purple lights.

After the excitement of opening night came the first full day of the fair, with huge crowds in attendance. The day began with a slow walk along the canal towards the Unseen site...

On the way to the fair we passed the Unseen Collection display, housed in a huge glass building. This was our first glimpse of the exhibit just before it opened.

People were already peering in to try & see the huge range of works valued at €1,000 euros or less. This is a wonderful opportunity for first time buyers of photographs to sample a wide selection of works with affordable price tags.

Then as we arrived at the stand to our surprise we were greeted by a bowl of fruit courtesy of our kind hosts.

After a very successful day, busy with sales, familiar faces & new ones too, we left happy & expectant to see yet more great photography - this time in book form...

(I strongly advise that you can purchase one from studio.melindajgibson@gmail.com)

This is a book like no other that I know of & watching one being made at a launch was fascinating as each takes 3 hours to make.

Melinda Gibson painstakingly sticking her collaged works into the book.

With absolute precision...

Her project is truly wonderful & deserves to be given more exposure.

I have left you here with a tease. To find out more do see this feature explaining it.

And so to bed my dear readers, it's late & another big day ahead tomorrow. Till then...zzzzzzz

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

USEEN pre-fair preview...

This is how our day began, with grey rain clouds, but with hope on the horizon...

Well the UNSEEN photography fair is just a matter of hours away & lots of preparation has been keeping yours truly very busy. The site has been a hive of activity all day with miles of walls, cables, pictures & the like to assemble into the wonderful display that is the best fair in town.

We arrived at Transformatorhuis ready to work.

Excited to see our first glimpse of the stand we will call home for the next 5 days. White walls of possibility beckoning us to work some magic upon them.

Our stand is looking wonderful if I do say so myself, with works by 4 artists : Emily Allchurch, Lisa Holden, Kate Owens & Herb Schmitz. Lisa Creagh's work is in the Unseen Collection exhibition also.

Gabrielle (pictured above) has been amazing throughout, as my assistant, co-curator & organiser-in-chief. We are both thrilled with the way our stand looks (number 9) & the end result is worth all the effort - as Patrick Stuart says, to 'make it so'.

I thought a sneaky peek at the preparation for the fair the 'before' would be of interest, if only to show the mammoth undertaking by our fabulous hosts.

Who knows what is being observed here, but I liked the shot.

These worked magic on what is now a huge 'Unseen' banner extravaganza with neon!

As far as I'm aware, no one has been decapitated during the installation process.

A blurry teaser of the fully hung L A Noble Gallery stand

Now in focus minus white balance issues, I must keep you guessing & waiting with baited breath for more to come.....

Till then.....