Texture of Lines Exhibition open until 13th May

Café Crypt

Come and enjoy some stunning food at affordable prices, or just come for a coffee and chat in the wonderful surroundings of the Crypt.

opening hours:

Monday to Thursday
12-3pm

Friday
midday - 9pm

 

Philippa Edwards

Untitled, The Beginning 

Collograph Print

2010

Artist Philippa Edwards has been working with print for the last 4 years, and in her most recent works she is exploring techniques of altering the surface of the paper, using collographs and blind embossing. In this way the texture of the line becomes an integral apart of the image. Her work also challenges the formal element of the rectangle; by carving into the plates and laying various images over each other she breaks up the geometrical regularity of the paper, and gives another dimension to the outline.

These collograph printing plates are interesting objects in their own right and have now become the artwork itself. Made by building up layers of adhesive, grouting, paper, card and shellac the texture of the lines contained within them are more apparent than the impressions they leave on the paper. Some are coloured with acrylic, others are left the natural colour of the materials. Their textural quality is enhanced by the remnants of ink left over from the printing process. Where work is displayed with the plate and the print in close proximity it can be seen that there is also a line of symmetry in the work, one being a mirror image of the other.

These works are focused on the Opium Poppy, a complicated flower that brings essential pain-killing drugs along with the dangers of addiction. In this way Philippa is reflecting on the subject of drugs and the money and power that revolve around them.  There is a duality within the work linked to the duality of the harvest, which brings medicinal benefits on one hand and damaging addiction on the other. Another reflection of opposites lies in the plant itself. Poppy flowers are delicate and transient, the seed-heads architectural and enduring. They are a metaphor for the cycle of life and the inevitability of death, and in this way they reveal a timeline to the viewer.

Double Bloom

Collograph print and blind emboss

2010

David Manley

Examples of work from The Sculpture School of Drawing

David Manley

For the work shown in this exhibition David Manley has translated the textural quality of three-dimensional sculptures into two-dimensional drawings. His drawings are from a series he is producing called The Sculpture School of Drawing.

The inspiration for this series are the invisible lines inherent in three-dimensional objects. This refers to lines in space i.e. all those lines at the back of an object one would see if the object were transparent. But it also refers to time-lines; those times involved in making art, and the experiences lived that are inferred by the presentation of this art. When the viewer looks at a work of art they are instinctively aware of the time that it has taken the artist to make the work.

Much of his earlier work has been sculpture, and this informs his interest in texture. Influences on his work are science fiction imagery and oriental writing, which he experiences synaesthetically. It appears to him as a three-dimensional, pictorial object as opposed to western alphabets, which he thinks of as flat and without structure.

Everyone is the sum of their parts. David’s disability and his artwork are inextricably linked, ‘I have always been able to draw, and so it has become a way of communicating for me when my disability and dyslexia have made it difficult to communicate in other ways.’ He finds his voice and expression in his artwork.

Tafari Grant

Proposed installation of a drawing in the Inspire Cafe area

Artist Statement: Lines are continuous with never ending limits and gaps. Our life takes us along a path of adventure. Walking this continuous journey of discovery into the unknown is adventurous and unique. We sometimes lose track of our own time line creating textures along the way.

My work reflects the pattern created with lines. These lines are imprints of our life. Until our life comes to an end, we are not forced to look at the textures and patterns we create throughout the unique journey of life.

 2 Framed etching print on Paper App. A4 (297mm x 210mm)

Tafari Grant

Email address: rasfully@yahoo.com

Website/Blog: http://tafgrant.wordpress.com/

Julie North

JULIE NORTH works in oils and acrylics, recently breaking out into printmaking as part of her studies. 

She is interested in the urban environment and paints from photographs that she takes of neglected areas around the city of London.  Her work is an interpretation of these images and environments which surround humanity, fenced in and on the periphery of its vision.  Wastelands where life and nature are left unchecked and encapsulated within the lines of metal fences sporting barbed wire, uncared for, but still beautiful amidst the detritus discarded by humanity.  People are warned to keep out and to “not cross the line”, keep away from the dangerous power lines that carry essential energy to all our homes.

Poetry at the private view on 27/04/2011

During the private view on 27th April 2011 Poet Natacha Bryan will recite her own poetry specifically composed for the theme of the exhibition.

Exhibition Private View 27th April 2011 - The Texture of Lines

This group exhibition is a creative collaboration between current and ex-UEL Fine Art students. It explores the visual and palpable effects of lines. This show comprises drawings, printmaking and sculpture work by David Manley, Désirée Ickerodt, Tafari Grant, Philippa Edwards and Julie North.

The title of the exhibition is The Texture of Lines. Texture and lines have a very physical meaning, as they can leave an imprint or mark on a piece of paper. Line is a word that has many different connotations. Our time on the planet is measured via a “timeline” from beginning to end. This can be taken in a literal physical sense, symbolic of our very existence comparable to the lines we leave in the sand. Time is transient and we move through it, each following our own line. Lines are also set out as boundaries. When do we cross the line?