Exhibition Review

A review on 'From here you can almost see the sea: A response to living in Plymouth'

http://inatownsosmall.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/being-followed-home-yorkshire-exhibtions/

A quick dash across Sheffield is well worth risking the sun/howling wind/soaking rain (delete as applicable) to get over to Bank Street Arts, where they also have a pair of fantastic displays of artist books presently. Clare Rogers’ From here you can almost see the sea: a response to living in plymouth is, quite simply, brilliant. Rogers uses a variety of printed to media to explore what her hometown of Plymouth means to her, what it looks like, why she loves it, why she hates it, and what it feels like to be there. This sounds like an interesting enough project for a visual artist, but here the artist uses words alone to engage with her subject matter, combining ‘photography’ with poetry and book works to create her image of Plymouth. I've been back to this exhibition twice already, and suspect I will be there again before it closes at the start of September.

It's always fantastic to receive positive reviews on your work! (I have had a few not so complimentary ones!)

From here you can almost see the sea: A response to living in Plymouth

http://artistsbookprize.co.uk/cr_exhibition

31st July - 1st September 2012
Bank Street Arts
Bank Street 
Sheffield



A few pictures of the exhibition. 

The decisions about where and how to hang the work were made without much agonising, which is always good! The room size and shape was perfect for this body of work and the flat fluorescent lighting allowed the viewer a good visual of the work without having to dodge glare and reflection of spotlights.

'Ten Views'

'All Other Routes', 'Diverted Traffic', 'Road Closed'

'Abbey Place to Zion Street' and 'Forty Nine Minutes'

'Redaction/Response'

From here you can almost see the sea: A response to living in Plymouth

All work is finally finished for the exhibition at Bank Street Arts Gallery in Sheffield!

The exhibition runs from 31st July to 1st September 2012 
and is open Tues-Sat 11am-5pm

The work consists of text based drawings and hand-made books focussing on response, repetition and redaction.

List of work.
'Abbey Place to Zion Street'
'Ten Views'
'All Other Routes'
'Road Closed'
'Diverted Traffic'
'49 Minutes'
'Redaction/Response'

From here you can almost see the sea: A response to living in Plymouth

'Redaction/Response' 2012

'Redaction/Response' are two books of thirty poems which have been redacted from articles in Plymouth Herald newspapers. 

'Redaction shows the original newspaper articles with their redacted text, while 'Response' shows a typed version and the remaining unreacted text which makes up the poems.

With hindsight, I realised that the point of redaction is about the words that have been blanked out, not the ones left to be read. So the title of the work should probably be 'Extraction/Response'. 

However, the theme of a response to living in Plymouth and the process of extracting text, works very well and the large format of the book give them presence. All is not lost!

Cover:'Redaction' 2012

'Redaction' 2012

29 x 35.5cm

Cartridge paper, newsprint paper, ink, bulldog clips.

'Response' 2012

29 x 35.5cm

Cartridge paper, newsprint paper, ink, bulldog clips. 

Poem 23:

Overlooking the 

harbour, I asked

What 

is

special

he said

You

never dream of

the sea

When we first came here

we were in the eye of

the storm

and

we

created conflicts

But he

already

is

looking for a

New

city

From here you can almost see the sea: A response to living in Plymouth

'Forty Nine Minutes' 2012

A list of objects seen on a walk from home to the sea. Printed on tracing paper, the translucent pages suggest a gradual revealing of a view of the sea.

Another part of the response to living in Plymouth. This is a suggestion the the sea (a metaphor for happiness), can almost be seen, which it to say, that actually, it can't be seen, (and that happiness can't be experienced here).

I used a dictaphone to record a continuous stream of verbal commentary on the objects I could see on my walk - a journey of 49 minutes from my house to the waterfront.

'Forty Nine Minutes' 2012

A5

Tracing paper and ink

Inside:'Forty Nine Minutes' 2012

A5

Tracing paper and ink

 Inside:'Forty Nine Minutes' 2012

A5

Tracing paper and ink

Exhibition Details

'From here you can almost see the sea: A response to living in Plymouth'

Bank Street Arts, Sheffield
31st July - 1st September 2012

A range of text based work including 2D pieces and hand-made books, using processes involving repetition, description and redaction.

From Here You Can Almost See The Sea: A Response to Living in Plymouth

'Ten Views' 2012

The text is one of ten written descriptions, part prose, part list, of the views from the windows and doors of my house.

The mount was made by mixing a flour and water paste with watercolour paint and painting this onto the surface of blotting paper. The point of a paint brush was then dragged across the surface to create the lines.

I had initially taken several photos of the views from the doors and windows in my house, with the intention of turning them into paintings. However, the first two paintings turned out to be quite sweet depictions of a pleasant housing estate. This was a total contrast to the slight 'edge' that the photos presented. This caused an interesting dilemma, but one that I overcame by referring back to my love of text, thus writing a description of what I could see. 

'Ten Views' 2012

A4

Blotting paper, paste, watercolour paint, ink, copier paper.

'Abbey Place to Zion Street' 2012

The completed handmade book. 

The cover has a line drawing of a street map of Plymouth, using carbon paper and recyled cartridge paper and ink. It is bound with buckram cloth and an Acco fastener.

'Abbey Road to Zion Street' 2012

297 x 120 x 13mm

Paper, carbon paper, ink