Exhibitions and Festivals

The festival season is coming soon and the Bristol art scene is no exception. View is taking part in the Bristol Festival of Photography in May with two very different photographers exhibiting in the 'Life in Stillness' show. In June we are pleased to be one of the venues in UPFEST, Bristols urban painting festival, for the second year running. Our 'Urban View' show will include many of the major artists from the festival.

More information on the festivals can be found on their websites from the links above. The shows at View are introduced below with more details to come nearer the time.

Life in Stillness

In many inanimate objects we see and feel life. In the next exhibition at View Art Gallery, five artists bring consciousness to their subjects through different sources of inspiration and use of media.

Dawny Tootes uses recycled aluminium from discarded household objects to create fluidity in her tree sculptures that have an apparent organic quality. Evocative figures appear from the deep forest of colour in Fran Williams' vivid oil paintings. Using only the sense of touch, unusual markings emerge on the self modelled ceramic bodies of Ann Goodfellow's sculptures.

As part of the Bristol Festival of Photography, View introduces two photographers who portray life in imagery in both reality and abstract forms. Frank Drake captures the music of his subjects in the drama of live performance. Chris Parks creates and ethereal world through his dynamic fluid paintings, which capture a movement of light in organic materials that can never be seen again.

Life in Stillness runs from April 15 to May 30.

Urban View

Following the hugely popular urban art show last year, View Art Gallery once again teams up with the UPFEST movement and showcases the best artists from this year's urban art festival. Examples of last year's 'spray fest' can still be seen on the exterior walls and entrance floor of the gallery. 2010 promises to be bigger and better than ever, with live painting, original art on canvas, limited edition prints and the antics of more of those uniquely styled artists.

Urban View runs from June 3 to July 11.

New Video Channel

In response to many visitors of our website who cannot make it to the gallery for every show, we've decided to launch a video channel. We will be showing videos of each exhibition, artist interviews, special events, and some of our favourite videos from the art world.

We're using the YouTube facilities (why reinvent the wheel) and have set up a View Art Gallery channel. You can access this from the YouTube logo on our home page or click here. There are only a few videos to start with but we'll be adding many more as we exhibit new work and artists, so be sure to subscribe to our channel so you don't miss out on anything new.

A huge thanks to Becky Kidson who has filmed and edited some fantastic 1 minute interviews with artists featuring in our Comfortably Strange show. These can be accessed via the channel home page or individually from our artist profile pages on the View website. Just click every time you see the blue video icon (shown at the top of this blog). and you'll link to the relevant video.

We hope you like this new feature and it inspires you to visit the gallery to see the real thing.

Beneath the Petticoats... Ghosts Get Horny Too

I've just been marvelling at Nina Mankin's new stop gap animation. Two short films are showing in the Comfortably Strange exhibition at View, in our video room. The story is told below, in Nina's words. Hopefully you'll be enticed to come and see her films, which compliment her amazing sculptures and fit perfectly into the exhibition theme. For those who can't attend the exhibition, I hope to be showing the films on the website in the future.

Beneath The Petticoats... Ghosts Get Horny Too

The animation is based on the supression of women's emotion and feeling in the Edwardian and Victorian times, where a woman's dignity was all she had. Lustful thoughts are to be kept hidden behind closed doors...

"Petticoats, Petticoats, Petticoats,

Ruffles and ties, ruffles and ties,

Petticoats, Petticoats, Petticoats,

Starched white blouses

Stockings and thighs"

Eliza and Gertrude are ghosts, revisiting their past. They were not beautiful and did not marry, and they died old spinsters. The wooden doll posters on the ground symbolize a part of the self, and the stiff rigidness they had to embody. They are having a dream, a fantasy, where they are free and not bound to man's ideas of what they should be. Hands come out with a feather to tickle their breasts, strange heads and eyes come up from the floorboards to reach under their skirts... The face of the wooden doll has to hide behind the other pictures, she cannot witness such thoughts of lust and nudity.

"Too much fabric m'lady, too much fabric"

The hands and heads retrieve back into the walls and floor, it takes too much time and hassle to undo all the endless buttons and layers of clothing. The ladies swing again as before as though nothing had happened, the clock ticks and the dream was all just a tease.

Comfortably Strange - exhibition review

‘Comfortably Strange’ promises to be one of View’s most innovative exhibitions to date. The styles are quite diverse but there is a commonality in the feelings that are induced through a journey of discovery. The show features some very collectable art from established artists, some new to View and some returning with fresh work.

Beth Carter is well known at View for her mythological sculptures but this time focuses on her drawing and painting to explore the shows theme. Caroline Watson, another Bristol based artist, has also been creating work especially for the show, using traditional puppetry and children’s stories in her paintings and 3D work. Nina Mankin adds some lyrical imagery to her predominantly doll themed painting and installations. John Simpson’s drawings are beautifully crafted and yet the subjects are bound to ask some challenging questions of the viewer. Alex Korzer-Robinson creates his art from old encyclopaedias that result in a very different form of book art. Arthur Lanyon’s abstract oil paintings perfectly fit the Comfortably Strange theme as we are presented with partially familiar shapes, changing as we lengthen our gaze.

The initial raw impact of all the show’s work is maybe one of playfulness, shock or humour. With further interrogation this is followed by deeper suspicion, perhaps sinister, sadness, or joy. The emotional transition through continual exploration of each piece is quite magical. All is not what it seems, and your first impressions will rarely be your last.

Comfortably Strange runs to April 11^th. Images of a selection of the work on show can be viewed here.

New Year, New Work

To kick off the New Year, we're doing a bit of reflection combined with some forward thinking. We look back on our first year at View with pride and gratitude. We have found some amazing new talent, built a beautiful space to show their work, and met some wonderful people who have become regular visitors to the gallery.

Last year was an economic challenge for many individuals and businesses. I am very grateful that we have had such tremendous support from a growing customer base, to allow us to continue our quest to help local artists thrive in an emerging art scene on Bristol's Harbourside. Lets hope that 2010 brings an easing of financial pressure and we can all fulfil our ambitions.

In our next show, 'New Year, New Work', we look back at some of our favourite artists of 2009 who have some brand new work ready to exhibit. As usual we'll put together an eclectic mix of media and styles to appeal to many tastes in contemporary art. We have some images of a selection of the work on our Flickr pages. The show starts on January 21 and the full range of artists and work will be on our website soon. If you still haven't seen our current show then please enjoy a virtual visit via this short video.

We are working on some exciting new shows and other projects for 2010 that will keep things fresh at View. Our second show of the year, 'Comfortably Strange', promises to be one of our most innovative yet. We are also taking part in a number of local art events: the Bristol Art Fair, Photographique festival, and the urban art festival (UPFEST) in the first half of the year. We are developing some ideas to promote work from local schools and communities, which we hope to come to fruition this Summer. More news on all these events nearer the time.

To keep track of all our plans, please register with us for email updates and invitations, follow us on Twitter, or just keep looking at the website and blog.

We look forward to seeing you at the gallery soon,

Happy New Year.

Christmas Show 2009

Our Christmas Show starts on November 19th and we have 5 fabulous artists on view. Their work delivers the usual variety and quality, each with a dedicated zone in the gallery. We have yet another new media in the form of 'light painting', which compliments oil paintings, sculpture and video.

The artists on show are:

• Jimmy Galvin
• Amber Merrick-Potter
• Beth Carter
• Harriet White
• Alec Jackson

During this show we also celebrate our one year anniversary. It doesn't seem like a year since our open evening and we've enjoyed a wonderful time building relationships with artists and art lovers. We have a few events planned during the show and of course the first one is the private view. If you are registered with us then you'll automatically receive an email invitation. If not then sign-up now.

December is always a manic time so we'll be opening the occasional late night and having goodies on offer to make the shopping process more enjoyable. Even if you're not buying and just fancy a bit of tranquility in the company of amazing art, music and a mince pie, then you are very welcome.

Full details of the art and artists profiles will soon be on the website, but for now, here's a sneak preview of some of the artwork to wet your appetite.

Dancing with Amber

I first encountered Amber Merrick-Potter at her MA show in Bath. My initial engagement with her work was very physical. I found myself moving in and out of her paintings and then from side to side, slowly at first and then with some urgency as I discovered more exciting textures, tones and shapes. This exploratory dancing with her work is not an unusual reaction for Amber to enjoy watching.

I looked over my shoulder and realised she was heavily engaged with an audience. Her performance, as she was discussing her work, was not unlike the animation I was experiencing as I viewed her paintings. Her physical and verbal expression when describing her work is full of the same freedom that can be seen in her composition and application of paint.

It didn't take me long to decide to approach Amber to exhibit at View. After seeing more of her work at another show the following week, and a visit to the gallery, we agreed to allocate our largest space to her new paintings. To this point I was enjoying Amber's work on an aesthetic level and through my own imagination to interpret the multi-layered images. Then we sat down and talked about Amber.

As with many artists, it is often easier for them to talk about their work rather than themselves, and Amber is no exception. She described the importance of the process of painting being more important than the subject matter. Amber has a strong connection with nature and her subject starts with a landscape theme. The palette and materials are loosely planned and the composition evolves as she applies the paint from her imagination. She explores the imagery through the process and is often in a semi-conscious state. This trance-like approach allows her to watch the the movement of colour, texture and shape in a fluid motion. Amber becomes so engaged with the process that she is often surprised by the output and enjoys a symbiotic relationship as creator and viewer. She describes painting as an obsession and a drug, with none of the downsides.

The physical environment Amber works in reflects the abandonment she experiences in the painting process. Her studio is a mess, she is covered head to toe in paint, and there is no start and end to a day. Amber speaks about her work with great passion and enthusiasm. She displays a child-like excitement and also an innocent vulnerability, particularly when describing her early years of engaging with nature.

As a child, Amber could be found foraging for unusual plant life, exploring their dangerous or healing properties. She would pick pants based on their perfume, colour and texture; the more unusual her findings, the more excited she would be. Even now she enjoys describing the effects of plants that appear in her work, especially the fatal ones.

It is this combination of nature inspired source with abandoned painting process that creates a unique object of desire that encourages exploration... and dancing!

Visit our website to see a selection of Amber's paintings.