'Searching, always' exhibition

This afternoon was the 'meet the artists' event at the current exhibition by arjeea21 artists: 'Searching, always'. I have three pieces in the show.

Hosted at Gallery @49, Bracknell, by our friends at ReOrsa, the show has a diverse range of contemporary art work by twelve artists. 

Street view - 'Eavesdropping I and II'

Two of my pieces ('Eavesdropping I and II') have been hung in the window, for the passers-by to enjoy. I worked just down the street from this spot for 9 years, until 2006, and have good memories of Bracknell. 












In this shot the feral pigeons reflected in the window are lining up on the office block across the Broadway to get a birds-eye view of the work 

'Eavesdropping I and II', with Feral Pigeons

The third of my works, 'Picus Viridis' is hung in the main gallery where the artists and guests began to gather. About 30 visitors saw the show today, which is pretty good for an art show in Bracknell. Some of them were 'genuine' passers-by who saw the gallery was open and came in off the street to look at this strange selection of objects.

The show includes photography, drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture. The show was curated by Robert Fitzmaurice a member of the arjeea21 steering group. Artists were invited to submit work for selection on the theme of 'searching, always', exploring the concept of searching, yearning for something as yet unformed or unnamed.  My three submitted works reflect on the elusiveness of meaning and how we tend to seek meaning, order and design even within structures derived at random.

'Picus Viridis'

arjeea21 under the leadership of Ingrid Jensen has been a good home for my artistic development outside art school, providing exhibition opportunities and constructive criticism. We meet once a month for informal discussion and exchange of ideas, to look at each other's work in progress and develop plans for future exhibitions.

Some of Ingrid Jensen's sudoku book drawings
mounted on the window

The redevelopment of Bracknell town centre will mark the end of ReOrsa's tenure of this excellent studio and exhibition space at Gallery@49. The artists have to leave the premises in the next few weeks before it is bulldozed to make way for the new shopping centre. Let's hope they find suitable alternative accommodation soon.

When I arrived, this chap was waiting in the cold for the exhibition to open.

Works, l-r, by Paul Vought, Ksenija Krotin, Gerhard Bissell, Jerry Lunn, Lesley Brown, Roxana Tohaneanu Shields, Christopher Hunt, and Gill Goodwin

Works by Christopher Hunt, Jerry Lunn, Gill Goodwin, Robert Fitzmaurice and Ingrid Jensen

I thought the door colour worked very well with my 'Picus Viridis' oil and monotype on canvas. The suspended book is a sudoku puzzle book that Ingrid Jensen has completed using colours to represent numbers (colours in the pencil rack), with drawings made over some of the puzzles and filled in with colour fields using a system of sequencing dictated by the puzzle solutions. It makes an intriguing and wonderful artist's book.