@Kisbyism

Belatedly I should mention I've launched @Kisbyism on Twitter for 2014. It saves me having to think up long clever things to say comprised of more than 140 characters, though of course I will continue to make long verbose pronouncements of considerably more than 140 characters, here on my Kisbyism blog.

Follow me at https://twitter.com/Kisbyism

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!

Open Studios West

Had a fabulous afternoon today visiting artists' studios in Pontcanna and Riverside for the second year of the Cardiff Open Studios weekend. It's a great opportunity for artists across the whole of the city to invite members of the public around their workspaces, especially good for artists outside the "Made in Roath" catchment zone.

Pontcanna has the amazing Kings Road Studios which has been established for 20 years, now has a couple of dozen resident artists and an on-site micro brewery, would you believe! I was offered a mug of tea and a cake and had a nice chat with several of the clever and hugely talented occupants. It surprised me how many of the resident artists I'd seen or heard of before - this is obviously a hotbed of Wales talent.

Riverside claimed several hidden gems, including photographer Kim Fielding esconced with several other colourful characters behind the doors of the long-closed Wells Hotel. The building itself is impressive, retaining its old weathered pub signs. It even has its own resident ghosts, a pair of murdered nuns.

Finally I had the privilege of visiting the studio of Jacqueline Alkema, who I've known by sight for years and was one of the judges at 2013's The Gate Open Exhibition. Her paintings are simply delightful, tremendously thoughtful, multi-layered and brilliantly crafted.

It's just a shame the event is so poorly publicised. I found about it purely by chance and most visitors were already friends and neighbours of the artists. Come on Cardiff Council, pull your finger out for 2014!!

www.cardiffopenstudios.com/

Psychedelia Shortlist

"Sean's psychedelic painting of Gaddafi" was shortlisted by judge Neale Howells for the 'Insider Art' award at the opening of  The Gate Open Exhibition last night. Well, I'll take that as a compliment, quite happy to not be part of the establishment. Though I'm not sure Vincent Tan would appreciate being mistaken for a Middle Eastern dictator!!!

The winner of the award was a flourescent painting of a beach scene.

Taking it as Red

'Red, Blue and Tan'
acrylic on canvas
24 x 30 x 3cm

A subject that lends himself to a vivid colour portrait - the controversial Malaysian owner of Cardiff City Football Club, Vincent Tan. He changed the colour of the Bluebirds' football strip from blue to ...erm... red because it was a much more positive colour in his home country. His investment helped Cardiff reach the Premiership league for the first time in 50 years, so no-one should be complaining!

I like the colour red, so when it comes to portraying him on canvas I'm not complaining either. This one has been submitted to The Gate Arts Centre annual open exhibition and will be on view from 17th October to 15th November 2013. In the event that one of Mr Tan's friends, family or staff are wandering the streets of Roath in the next few weeks, I would suggest a version of this painting will look superb on the wall of the football club boardroom!

United Colours of...

While I try and work out how to migrate my website to a new host, keeping one eye on a BBC documentary about painter Jonathan Yeo, I thought it was time I uploaded my latest portrait ...of the great Nelson Mandela.

This was started on Mandela's 95th birthday and finished about 10 days ago. Mandela was a flamboyant, mischievous and larger than life character who deserves to be remembered in that way, rather than a weak hospitalised old man. The Kisbyism treatment suits him well, if I don't say so myself.

In fact I feel like I need to break all my recent Kisbyism rules to date and, dare I say, paint a very large version. Artists generally paint things on a grand scale to add artificial importance to their work (art students in particular will do this in the weeks before their final assessments). But even from a distance of 60cm this small image of Madiba begins to break up into crude brushstrokes and a larger size would not only befit such a great man, it would also give the opportunity to make the strokes of paint into objects with their own tangible presence.

In the meantime I'm being encouraged to produce T-shirts of this image, by everyone from my close relatives to the gas meter reader!

'United Colours of Madiba'
acrylic on canvas
30 x 40 x 1.5cm

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