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!

Artitecture - What Do Artists Do All Day?

Interesting to see Wales-adopted artist Shani Rhys James is being featured in a new BBC4 edition of "What Do Artists Do All Day?", to be broadcast this month ...though unfortunately hidden on a channel that few people watch.

Not long ago Shani had the accolade of being the only living artist featured in Rolf Harris's TV series "Rolf on Welsh Art", so is clearly becoming a tele-genic art celeb!

I won't begin to claim credit for this success, but I came across Shani's work several years ago while I was studying Architecture at Cardiff University (and I more recently wrote the Wikipedia entry about her). For a 'primer' design project I studied a number of local South Wales artists and their workspaces. I then used some of my observations to imagine what Shani Rhys James' workspace might be like. This was before the days of Google Street Snoop and I only knew she lived in mid-Wales, possibly in a coverted barn building. Some of her paintings are VAST in size, so I conjectured her workspace was barn-like in size and character.

My work of 'artitecture' (pictured above) was intended to be tongue-in-cheek, with a graphic, descriptive element as a concession to the clinical white-and-balsawood world of the architecture school. In my view, my other works of 'artitecture' were better works of art, being based on actual locations, contents, measurements and observations. But it will be extremely interesting to see whether my predictions about Shani's studio were in any way correct!