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Ostend Exhibition

fat_gull1My friend, the artist Gerry Smith, is organising an exhibition in Ostend of Belgian and British artists, both living and dead. The venue for the work he is putting on display is the whole ground floor of a big, modern hotel on the sea-front beside the casino. It’s got lots of interesting spaces to show different work in, changes of floor level, lots of corners, longer and shorter walls narrowing and widening into corridors and foyer areas between the entrances, reception, bar, restaurant and main staircase.

It’s a lot of work for Gerry at very short notice, but so far so good, he’s excited and it’s coming together nicely. Its opening is timed to coincide with Ostend’s annual Mueum Night, on Feb. 14., Valentine’s day, when all the art galleries in the town are open till eleven o’clock or midnight. He was alerted by another friend of ours, Patty Vermeersch, a couple of months back when she said that she had found a place for his exhibition, only that he had to decide soon if he wanted to go ahead with it because all the info and publicity for the Musuem Night was shortly going to press. [Read more…]

Paris Exhibition – 13 November to 10 December 2008

 

Streets of Istanbul“Aldous in Istanbul” at Marlusse et Lapin, 14 Rue Germain Pilon, Paris, 18eme (from 13 November to 10 December 2008) is an exhibition of 29 of the 36 paintings on photographs I have made so far for a film in collaboration with two young, French film-maker friends of mine, Gilles Blaize and Julien Tréfouël. The film is called “Dreaming Istanbul” and is to be shown in Istanbul, Turkey in 2010 when Istanbul has been nominated as European City of Culture.

Gilles and Julien have almost finished the editing of the film and are waiting for me to paint the last 15 images before handing the film over to the fourth member of our team, the composer Dryden Hawkins, for the soundtrack.

A cinematic montage in seven movements weaving a narrative out of several storylines, “Dreaming Istanbul” effortlessly integrates different realities, perceptions and genres into its flow. As a travelogue, it is a richly illuminating, visual essay on Istanbul. At the same time, it looks behind the scenes to show the making of the film itself, bringing the crew into the picture, while also being a documentary showing my practice as an artist – to explore a city on foot, drawing and sketching constantly, and afterwards to paint what I call “dubbed photographs” onto the background of still photographs of the places I have visited. [Read more…]

The New York, New Work Exhibition

New York
New York

This was the invitation for the preview of the artistʼs exhibition and film ʽNew York New Workʼ in 2001. The cards were mailed out just before the destruction of the Twin Towers on 9/11. So many people phoned in, disturbed by the image of the Twin Towers, that the gallery decided to cancel the previews and exhibition out of respect.

ʽCalling Cardʼ shows an image intended by the artist as a light-hearted comment on consumerism, transforming the Twin Towers into an American wearing a snap-brim hat, waving with one hand and holding up a credit card like ID with the other.

The viewersʼ perception changed after 9/11. Some could see the plane and the explosion in the painting. Interested always in the nature of perception, it was intriguing for the artist to note how an event of this magnitude could entirely determine and alter the meaning of his painting. It became an ominous and sombre comment on what had happened, the image and some other parts of the film taking on an uncanny prescience. [Read more…]