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. 

More tall tales in my next post! 

Details of the next show & programme of events are below. I'm really looking forward to all of the events & interpretations by writers & the dashing actor Samuel Weir (who appears in Lottie's work).

Due to limited space please book early to avoid disappointment - pre-paid places will take priority. We have in the past had to turn people away, so please contact the gallery via hello@lauraannnoble.com to secure your place. 

Exhibition: L A Noble Gallery

Capturing The Narrative: A Visual Exploration of Fact & Fiction - with works by Brittain Bright, Lottie Davies & Johanna Ward.

12 June - 5 July 2014

Free Entry

Opening Hours: 11.00 - 18.00 Tue - Sat

Venue: Maybe A Vole, 51 King Henry's Walk, London N1 4NH

Transport: Dalston Kingsland Overground

Map

EVENTS:

Programme of Literary evenings: £5 pp - payable in advance (tickets on the night subject to availability)

BOOKING NOW:

Wed 18 June, 18.30 - 20.00

Brittain Bright, artist talk about Narrative Photography. 

Wed 25 June, 18.30 - 20.00 

Lottie Davies artist's talk with performance by Samuel Weir, directed by Lottie Davies

Wed 2 July

18.30 – 20.30
Johanna Ward artist's talk followed by a spoken word performance inspired by her work.

Collecting for Beginners

Sat 28 June

14.00 – 17.00 (Payment in advance, non-refundable, Poa)

Book a place for these events by emailing hello@lauraannnoble.com

Please include a contact telephone number for confirmation.

For further information please see the website. 

Still Life & Death - Hendrik Faure & Karl Blossfeldt

In the changeable month that is March I was thrilled to see a few sunny days amongst the grey ones. With a new show open 'Still Life & Death' - works by Hendrik Faure & Karl Blossfeldt -  it is always a good time to look ahead & reflect upon the work on display. What makes this particular show wonderful to me is the connections between the two artists & their lives that are strangely linked through much more than just the process they use/d...

Hendrik Faure explains the finer points of his prints

In this post I want to give you a brief glimpse into the show without too many spoilers! Hendrik Faure came over from Germany for the opening and to do a talk the following day. It was a real treat to hear him speak about his work & show the audience his copper plates & examples of prints & comparing the successful & unsuccessful - revealing the delicate nature of copper plate printing. 

The opening

The Private View was a lovely affair as always - but the best bit was the comments from guests whom had never seen or understood that they had seen photogravures before. Having one print on display next to it's plate really meant that you could communicate the basics of the process very quickly. 

This also added to the audiences appreciation of the gravure & it's physicality as an object - especially as Faure's work has a more rustic appearance than the neat graphic style of the Blossfeldt's.   

The first to arrive & enjoy the work

As with many artists Faure has a day job which fits beautifully into his art - as a practicing psychiatrist. His dark imagery reflects the shadows of the subconscious without revelling in it. (Interestingly, Karl Blossfeldt suffered from depression in later life.) Following in the traditions of artists many centuries before him Faure creates miniature tableaux's of life & death in the form of dead birds, cats, frogs interacting with objects such as mannequins, clocks, machine parts & skulls to name but a few…

Faure's pictures could be visually & spiritually associated with many artistic movements from the Dutch still life paintings of the 17th Century to Pictorialism & Surrealist movement. The dash of dark humour can be found if you look for it.  

©Aaron Harcourt 

Hendrik speaks

One of my favourite moments during Hendrik's talk was his reference to a racoon & mannequin in two of his works. The first it is soon after it's death so is fluffy & quite cute, however the second it is dehydrated & barely recognisable as a racoon, placed on the mannequin in both. Hendrik referred to both photographs as having the same 'actors' - which beautifully illustrated his close relationship to the creatures & objects he photographs his studio.

 ©Aaron Harcourt 

Hendrik & his wife before the talk

Interestingly, Hendrik occasionally acquires his animals through his patients if they find them on the road. Mostly they are found on the land near his house. I even had a find yesterday on my way home from work - so it is not so unusual to come across the dead in everyday life…

©Laura Noble

He spoke of the dead cat being found in between hay bales where it had gone to die in peace, a common occurrence in the countryside. 

By strange coincidence Blossfeldt was 63 years old when his first book of photographic images, "Urformen der Kunst" was published, the same age as Faure is now. Faure's daughter also attended the Institute of Royal Arts Museum in Berlin where Blossfeldt taught from the late 1800's. 

 

©Hendrik Faure - Example with grey scale on left

A reminder of an earlier time in his life is pictured above - taken whilst riding his horse. Due to a brain injury He can no longer ride & his horse doesn't recognise him due to this physical change as one side of his body no longer 'works'. We see the land which has been cleared to pave the way for an autobahn - damaging the landscape forever. This poignant image depicts his past & the corrosion to the future of Faure's physical self as well as the landscape.   

3 copper plates

Faure's 'vanitas' appear to be from another time pre-dating Blossfeldt by over a century yet they are contemporary prints. This harking back to the past is a fascinating subject that many photographers find enticing with the soft textures & tones which give the work a tactile quality all of its own. 

It is such an intimate experience viewing these works

When I was curating the show it soon became clear that the work needed to be hung in a uniform way as the eclectic images by Hendrik Faure were very busy with multiple areas of interest in each composition & would benefit from a straight hang. 

Mixing it up - the new hang on shelves with guests shows the scale

However, with the Blossfeldt I broke down the works to four sets of three pictures on narrow shelves that they can leisurely lean back against the wall - as if inviting you to swop them around. The joy of these works is that you can really play with the combinations, using the patterns in the plants to expand the arrangements to create another dialogue between them. The fabulous nature of these shelves really make changing your selection easy. The perfect way to rotate a collection. With prices for them starting at just £90 each (unframed) buying more than one needn't be a pipe dream, but a distinct possibility…

For more details see the gallery site or even better come & see for yourself!