Y Lleoedd Celf

Mae’r Eisteddfod Genedlaethol wedi dod i ben ym Mae Caerdydd/The National Eisteddfod has drawn to a close in Cardiff Bay. It’s clearly been an amazing feat of organisation, negotiation and ambition to take over some of the most iconic buildings in the city and create an Eisteddod without fences ...except the ones necessary to stop stupid people falling into the Bay.

I had four amazing days helping steward “Y Lle Celf”, the Eisteddfod’s art exhibition,  in the Welsh Government’s Senedd building. After three days my face was familiar enough to the security screening personnel  to be able to wave me through without taking my belt and watch off. Though it also took me about the same length of time to get used to the wayfinding in a building not designed for displaying art. Andre Stitte’s vast sculpture and the stairs to the craft and ceramics on the top floor were clearly visible. But there were more than a few people who promptly left without realising there was a cornucopia of paintings, sculpture and audio-visual treats in the basement.

Stitt’s work was familiar to me from its previous outing at the 2016 Eisteddfod, but had grown upwards and sideways in ambition, much more conveying its desired impression of high rise architecture and grid style towns of the 1960s, much less of formica kitchen tops.

My personal favorites changed as the week went on. Ray Church, a ceramicist based in Carmarthen and no doubt Wales’ answer to Grayson Perry, had combined traditional style Greek vases with images of modern military hardware to create a political commentary. This surely was the most appropriate form of art for its location at the centre of Wales government. 

Meanwhile, in the depths of the basement with its own specially constructed wall to boot, was Jennifer Taylor’s “The Guardian at the Heart Machine”, a multifaceted tin foil cave of audio-visual art which, for the most part, was accompanied by Jenny’s actual legs. It not only conveyed a rich sense of the prehistory of West Wales, but also showed tremendous dedication to spend hours twitching your legs sticking out of a giant blue sphere. I had the pleasure of meeting the rest of Jenny on her off-duty moments.

Zoe Preece’s two tables (to describe them in an over-prosaic way) grew on me, partly because they needed extra special attention from the stewards to prevent anyone from damaging, moving, or walking off with one of the 45+ pieces of porcelain. Both of the tables had head-scratching titles, “The way the earth remembers our bodies” and “An archive of longing”. Both had that delightful reveal of being something other than its initial appearance. She walked away with two prizes, as well as (so I’ve been told) selling both works.

It was odd, in many ways, that so few of the works on display conveyed much of an archetypal sense of ‘Welsh-ness’. There were no textiles (or sheep’s wool) visible. Only one that I recall used the Welsh language. Perhaps this was because the exhibition was more oriented towards the industrialised non-Welsh speaking south. From the point of view of the Welsh language, BayArt’s “Dim ond Geiriau (ydi iaith)” exhibition down the road was far more fitting, and the symposium on Wednesday involving Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh speaking Welsh artists was a fascinating contribution to the debate about ‘Welsh’ art and the language.

Wel, roedd profiad gwych a chofiadwy, dw I’n edrych ymlaen i’r tro nesa!

Part of the Wallpaper

While renovating my tiny kitchen in my Victorian terraced house I came across a patch of 1960s wallpaper behind a panel. It was a boldly coloured floral pattern in acidic shades of blue. I liked it and kept it, framed behind a sheet of perspex. I’m surrounded by remnants of old hearths and chimney breasts that no longer serve a purpose. My living room proudly retains a lead-based paint encrusted sash window.

Therefore I can relate strongly in many ways to Shani Rhys James installation, Florilingua, which was opened to the public this weekend inside the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff. I enjoy paintings which take on another dimension. Shani Rhys James is one of Wales’ best known painters, recognised for her giant canvases which often take her own image as the subject.  But Florilingua expands to take on three dimensions and a sensory explosion of colour, sound and smell. Ostensibly it purports to speak about the domesticity of the lives of Victorian women. A bold floral ‘wallpaper’ pattern, painted by the artist, covers the interior walls of a bunker-like room constructed in the WMC concourse. From the ceiling hangs a small and suitably sombre black chandelier (bejewelled with rich red crystals) which illuminates the room. Poetry in English and Welsh can be heard, while the female poet’s lips mouth the words from a tiny screen in the middle of the far wall.

Even the solid construction of Shani’s bunker speak about the strength of Victorian domestic architecture. Contrary to Britain’s 19th century vision of male dominance and female subservience, nay invisibility, Florilingua resonates with a strength and depth. The rich yellows and reds are not restrained in any way, while the heady smell of fresh oil paint could render a small child unconscious! Maybe this installation is a physical respresentation of Shani’s multi-facted and opinionated persona (which belies her diminutive stature). I heard more than one person exiting the room commenting that they felt they had just experienced what it was like to walk into the middle of one of Shani’s paintings.

There is something quite incongruous about this unassuming white plywood box on the edge of the vast WMC concourse, but it’s a great setting which emphasises the extremes going on here. If anyone is heading down to Cardiff Bay then go search it out!

Shift in Focus

A potentially interesting photography exhibition opened in Cardiff this weekend - "Shift: Ukraine in Crisis" at the Third Floor Gallery in Butetown. As the title suggests, the subject is the ongoing turmoil in Ukraine, where pro-Europeans and pro-Russians are becoming increasingly violent towards one another. With an election looming in Ukraine at the end of May 2014, the exhibition intends to change its display at the end of the month - hence the "Shift", or what the exhibition blurb calls a "dynamic curatorial event".

Certainly in the world of fine art gallery system there is rarely an opportunity to react quickly to events. Exhibitions are booked months or years in advance. Art is traditionally expected to address 'timeless' themes and art production often uses labourious time-consuming methods of creation. Last year I came across a Danish fine artist, Thierry Geoffroy, who had attempted to address the problem. His 'Emergency Room' exhibitions give regular opportunities (often daily) for the exhibitors to enter the gallery and amend or replace their works as outside events progress.

Photography at least has the advantage of having a variety of regularly published news platforms - papers, magazines - as an outlet for its reportage. Digital photographs can be emailed within seconds. The Third Floor exhibition errs away from journalism and heavily towards the 'arty' photograph, laiden with symbolism and, dare I say, a beautiful but static view of a bloody civil war. It is open to question whether such a controlled, sparce and traditional display fits with the aspiration of dynamism, change and response.

Of course, every exhibition of art and photography that encourages the audience to scrutinise images and consider their attitudes to major world events is a very good thing indeed. All credit goes to the photographers (and subjects) for their courage and creativity in a hostile environment. In my humble view the "Shift" idea has potential to be taken much further in the future than it is on this occasion.

Website: http://www.thirdfloorgallery.com/
Exhibition runs till 22 June, with a 'shift' scheduled for between 26 May and 1 June.

Kisbyism in Cardiff Bay

The 126th South Wales Art Society Summer Exhibition certainly sounds grand and this year's show is in the prestigious Pierhead Building in Cardiff Bay. I've successfully got all three of my paintings into the exhibition, though it took two circuits of the room before I found them - the artworks are hung Salon-style floor to ceiling and there are plenty on display. My "Closing Down Sale" was runner-up in the 'Figurative' category.

I paid my SWAS membership fee in April hoping to attend one of their talks, but got the day wrong and missed it ...and I didn't get a membership card for 7 weeks so probably wouldn't have been admitted anyway. The prize giving at this week's opening night went along the lines of "Runner up in the category was Sean Kisby, but the winner was one-of-our-own, Kevin Strong"

...okay, I take the hint, I'm not integrated yet.

Actually, the committee members I've met have been extremely friendly. And hidden among the many exhibited works were some fabulous paintings. Kevin's beach scene is filled with an incredible explosion of detail, as is Asha Bassi's hugely ambitious Blue Bells diptych. Chairman Jan's cheeky painting of skinny dipping was, on closer inspection, covered with tiny lines of subliminal text, accessible, fun and chosen by Julie Morgan AM for a special award. But my favorite by far is Sylvia Donovan's oil painting People Passing By, sumptuous dreamy colours coveying a delightful human story - I only hope I sell a painting so I can contact her with my credit card number! My artistic tastes may be different from the SWAS jury, only time will tell whether my membership fee was well spent.

Exhibition July 2nd till July 18th, 10:30-16:00, Pierhead Building, Cardiff

Multicolour Sweet Shop

Cornershop
Acrylic paint on canvas
25 x 25 x 3.5cm


One of my favorite views in Cardiff, a small shop on a very acute corner in what used to be called Cardiff Docks. It's not the most salubrious area, somewhere architecture students will go to study 'urban grain', so a multicolour makeover was a reasonably difficult challenge.

The result seems to be quite successful, if I don't say so myself. The red car and the passers-by help to add a bit of scale. For the fans of clutter there is street furniture, posters, fire alarms and a satellite dish...

Buildings have faces and characters so I guess you can describe this as another portrait. In that case it's a fusion of my many black & white pen & ink street scenes and my technicolour painted heads!!