In
The Frame: Halesworth, Suffolk
Green Pebble Winter 2009/2010 issue
Incredible
Intensity
Halesworth is a typically picturesque market town in East Suffolk, steeped
in the history of agriculture, brewing and malting. Today it is also home
to no less than three exhibition spaces. The market place plays host to
The Little Gallery, displaying the work of its owners Mary Gundry and Colin
Hugging, and nearby is the long-established Halesworth Gallery, run entirely
by local volunteers and open during the summer months. As you head towards
the train station, however, one passes The Cut Arts Centre, a converted
maltings that, since its inception in 2003, has become something of a creative
hub for the surrounding area. The Cut is set over four floors, housing a
cafe/bar, 250-seat auditorium, classrooms for workshops, artists’
studio spaces and a spacious gallery with a changing schedule of exhibitions.
Menso Groeneveld
During my visit the exhibition space was devoted to the Dutch painter, Menso
Groeneveld. Groeneveld is the brother of the Art Centre’s Manager,
Aafke, but judging by the work on display, he has more than earned his right
to a solo exhibition at The Cut and to be included in their forthcoming
Christmas exhibition.
The first thing that struck me about his large scale works was their incredible
intensity. The images contain what seems to be an almost manic layering
of transparent patterns that come together to create these curious figurative
scenes which the artist would describe as ‘more or less stories where
I use theatre, art history and music in a symbolic way’. The layers
give his compositions a busy-ness that at first feels like visual overload
but is ultimately very stimulating. As Groeneveld explains, ‘Patterns
and layers give movement… I like it when layers are not supporting
each other but in a way destroying each other… It is a kind of battle.’
This type of aesthetic places them firmly in the cannon of contemporary
artists such as Daniel Richter and Peter Doig, whose work also has to be
seen to be appreciated for the mix of Expressionism and Optical Art style
effects that underpin their figurative facade.
Groeneveld is indeed an admirer of Daniel Richter, alongside a broad range
of other artists including the work of more historical figures, like Pieter
Brueghel the Elder, whose paintings also bustle with various elements competing
for attention.
All these artists are oil painters, as I had assumed was Groeneveld, until
he revealed that his preferred medium is casein, a fast-drying water-based
medium that resembles oil paint. A forerunner to acrylics, these days the
medium is more usually associated with murals, something that Groeneveld
would like to develop as a part of his oeuvre, seeing them as ‘more
social and communicative’.
The prices for Groeneveld’s work are still relatively low, being in
the hundreds rather than thousands, but I’d imagine he could be in
significant demand amongst major collectors one day, particularly if he
manages to secure representation by a London gallery such as Birchoff/Weiss,
who support this kind of experimental and distinctive work.
Elaine Nason
Another painter who has exhibited several times at The Cut is Elaine Nason,
a local artist who can sometimes be found helping out at the venue. Her
work tends to focus on domestic scenes and reflects her admiration for the
calm tranquillity of Vermeer’s elegant compositions. As with any representational
image, I can’t help but search for a narrative and meaning within
her specific choice of subject matter but Nason suggests that the scenes
are in fact more circumstantial, since the artist often works from live
models at her home. For the drawing featured in this article, titled Patterned
Frock, Nason was working from a model in her studio alongside two of
her friends, who were also creating their own artworks.
This informality and sharing amongst artists intrigues me, since I personally
couldn’t bear to have other artists working from my source material,
but then I do see the subject matter as central to my work whereas Nason
does not. Uncomfortable with ‘art jargon,’ her pleasure is in
drawing for its own sake, in combining the softness of charcoal with the
crispness of ink and seeing the effects they produce.
Like Groeneveld, Nason is also interested in pattern but to almost opposite
ends: the central focus for her is in bringing a sense of harmony and balance
to a composition. Despite Nason’s reluctance to see any wider forces
at play in her work other than her joy in aesthetics, it is nonetheless
evident that the figure is a motif that she is consistently drawn back to
within her oeuvre, and the authority of her imagery owes some debt to the
human body’s communicative powers.
The fact that she prefers to work from life-models, sometimes combined with
her previous memories and studies of a scene, brings idiosyncrasies to her
drawing style, reminiscent of another one of her heroes, Stanley Spencer.
Working from direct observation seems to explain both the rested stillness
to her figures, due to the model having to be able to hold a pose for extended
periods, and paradoxically a level of flexibility in how she interprets
her subject matter. The artist has to be able to adapt to subtle changes
in a model’s pose and therefore can’t become too precious, unlike
the more mechanical approaches that can arise when working from photographs.
Furthermore, a life drawing helps facilitate the simplification and editing
of a scene as it develops, with the source material always open to being
altered as seems fit.
Nason has only been able to give full attention to her career as an artist
since 1999, having studied at Colchester School of Art and subsequently
having taught in primary schools for 36 years. To have developed an accomplished
creative practice over her weekends during her teaching career, and then
to push it forward with gusto in her retirement, speaks of a tremendous
commitment by this unassuming, yet talented artist. Let’s hope this
continues to pay off in the years to come.
Simon Raven
Simon Raven is a founding member of The Cut and, like Nason, has recently
retired from a career in education, having originally specialized in sociology
and history. Without art school training, and never having pursued selling
his work, he prefers to describe himself as ‘someone who creates’
rather than as an ‘artist’. Nonetheless, he has exhibited in
numerous open exhibitions and is clearly engaged with the visual arts, having
produced assemblages in his spare time for many years and, as an associate
told me, having put ‘blood, sweat and tears’ into the development
of The Cut as a venue.
The Mechanical Universe, which resembles its title, is an assemblage
made from the collected detritus of old farm machinery. The initial starting
point was a large wheel which resembles a Ying and Yang symbol.
To start with that seemed enough on its own, it sat in his workshop as a
sort of readymade, until Raven started to see more potential in the object
and added a cog that helped imply a further sense of rotation around the
wheel’s axis, plus a second addition of a washer, sent into orbit
by a lightening rod.
These are all mounted upon a piece of driftwood, also salvaged during Raven’s
travels. He has little knowledge or resources for manipulating his materials
and therefore this piece, like most of his work, is created through the
slotting together of its components with the aid of the occasional screw.
He finds that the initially mass-produced origins of the constituents means
that they often have similar fittings and therefore connect together quite
comfortably. This lack of interference with the raw material of his work
which, whilst man-made, is principally salvaged from his environment, puts
me in mind of Andy Goldsworthy’s ephemeral and sympathetic interventions
in nature.
This is something that Raven takes as a compliment, being a fan of Goldsworthy
himself and enjoying the idea of imbuing the familiar with a new significance.
Nonetheless, he would like to develop his knowledge of materials and technique
during his retirement, so that he has more options open to him.
To me it would seem a natural extension with a piece like this to develop
it as an automata, but the stillness and solid, physical presence of the
objects is an important aspect of the work for Raven. Assemblages are quite
a specific field to enter into but he finds that working in three dimensions
comes most naturally to him, also describing himself as a ‘lousy’
draughtsman. I personally think anyone can learn to draw if they want to,
but it is interesting to note that the things that someone considers their
limitations, with a little imagination, can often come to define the most
distinctive aspects of their style.
Will Teather is Artist-in-Residence at Anteros Arts
Centre and a short course tutor at Norwich University College of the Arts.
He will be presenting a solo exhibition of recent works at Anteros Arts
Centre, Bergh Apton, on the weekends of 28/29 November and 5/6 December
2009. For more details about the artist please visit Will
Teather. For details about The Cut, visit The
Cut
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