art
BARNRAISING AND BUNKERS g39, Cardiff Until Wed 29 June The Diffusion Festival has been making a vast and vital impact on the South Wales cultural scene over the past month with some intriguing installations and imaginative photographic exhibitions popping up in and around some of Cardiff’ s most creative hangouts. As part of the festival programme, G39’ s latest contemporary installation asks the question,“ where are we now?” in relation to the human requirement for shelter and the development of our building choices over the years. Entitled Barnraising And Bunkers, the exhibition includes work from a number of artists and takes a conceptual look at the contrast between two polar opposites of human shelter: urban and rural. We often think of urban and rural living existing in opposition, with one associated with being in attendance and one with being absent. Suggestively, barnraising requires collective, human collaboration which would then suggest that bunkers are the opposite and would represent a singular act of isolation, yet our minds are programmed to think that cities are a development of a town, and a town of a village. But what happens when the line between urban interaction and rural isolation is blurred? Expanding on this concept, the structures created also focus on an ongoing, organic dialogue that is produced by the ever-developing, human-inhabited areas of our world and how we shape them. The exhibition utilises a range of skills from an experienced group of artists who engage with physical structure in their individual and collective work. Artists include Jonathan Powell, Uriel Urlow, Geraint Evans, Abigail Reynolds, Rich White, Angharad P Jones, Dan Griffiths and Richard Powell, all of whom initiate ideas of structural utopia in their individual works. The artists involved all produce work in separate media, but they have come together in this exhibition to answer the question of“ where are we now?” with their own ideas and conceptual takes on the theme. Admission: free. Info: 029 2047 3633 / www. g39. org MOLLY CHINNER
13 FLOWERS
The Last Gallery, Llangadog Tue 4-Sun 16 June John Welson describes himself as a poet, painter, writer and exhibition curator. He began his life in the art world at the age of 12 and continued his education into his adulthood, attending two colleges of art, studying painting, drawing, graphics and ceramics. From the late 1960s to early 1990s, Welson painted figurative surrealist paintings and became a key figure in post-war surrealism, collaborating and exhibiting with artists including Rik Lina, Salvador Dali and Damien Hirst. Surrealism is a cultural and revolutionary movement that is dedicated to expressing the imagination as it reveals itself in dreams, and although Welson’ s early work appears nightmarish with both animal and human form entangled and gripped in saws, vices, scissors and nails, these images would have in some way come from his own personal recollections. Since the mid-1990s his work has become more lyrically abstract, painting more organic forms inspired by his native Welsh landscape. This new work stands closer to the frottage-style cityscapes of Max Ernst than any romantic rendering by the English landscape artists. In 13 Flowers he narrows his gaze, turning the folds and microscopic details of a flower into its own landscape. Welson takes us deep into nature, exposing us to parts we may otherwise overlook. Info: 01550 777933 / www. thelastgallerywales. blogspot. co. uk( AW)
ROUTINE ATROCITY
Inkspot, Cardiff Sat 8-Wed 19 June If you live in Cardiff, you might have noticed while walking from Roath to Cathays, some unusual images plastered to a wall. On a well-trodden road running under a rust and chrome coloured railway bridge, you might have seen a little burst of incongruity: a clutter of AK47’ s, grenades and bombs, laid out on a technicolour poster that spans the side of a wall. You may have seen this, as you walked to work, or to the shops, and wondered why it was there. And then, maybe, you passed it by, without a second thought. These images make up part of Routine Atrocity: a meditation by Falmoutheducated artist and illustrator Twang! on our collective desensitisation to everyday images of violence and atrocity( and, more notably, to the instruments of this violence). Through a series of drawings, prints and paintings, as well as artistically altered, decommissioned weaponry, Twang! poses a troubling question as relevant to our times as it ever was:“ In a world where images of suffering, destruction and acts of violence are commonplace, have we become desensitised to them? Have they become just routine atrocities?” The exhibition can be located( perhaps poignantly) inside a converted church – Inkspot, on Cardiff’ s Newport Road. Check out Twangdom. com, for a series of prints and originals for sale – including baby blue painted bullets, and his and hers RPGs. Admission: free. Info: 029 2049 0254 / www. twangdom. net( BK)
NAOMI TYDEMAN
Fountain Fine Art Gallery, Cardiff Sat 8-Fri 28 June When she won the 2013 Turner Watercolour Prize, Naomi Tydeman found her place as the top watercolourist in the country. Naomi, who also stands as a board member of the RI( Royal Institute Of Painters In Watercolour), opened her first gallery in Tenby in 1998. The space which still serves as her studio, houses a permanent, yet ever changing display of her work. Naomi has also frequently been shown at the Mall galleries in London, but this June marks the first time Naomi has exhibited in Cardiff. The new exhibition at Cardiff’ s Fountain Fine Art gallery is her first solo show since she won the Turner Prize. Naomi has described her new work as“ an eclectic mix of subject matter from my travels this year”, which takes inspiration from the beach and shore of her home town, the glorious landscapes of north Wales, and the lavender fields of coastal Provence. All of the inspiration she found has been channelled into producing a beautiful mix of still life, landscapes and detailed yet delicate flower studies. If you’ re a keen art collector( or are thinking of becoming one), don’ t forget your cheque book; each of the 25 new paintings on show will be on sale at the gallery. Admission: free. Info: 029 2034 1449 / www. fountainfineart. com( LR)
WELSH ARTIST OF THE YEAR
St David’ s Hall, Cardiff Mon 10-Tues 6 Aug From a graphic artist who makes prints out of salvaged wood to a painter who creates portraits based on Victorian studio photographs, an eclectic and creative mix of art will be on show for this year’ s Welsh Artist Of The Year; Now in its 13th year, the annual exhibition celebrates the work of amateur artists who have not previously exhibited their work, alongside established artists. Judging panel chair and exhibition curator Ruth Cayford says the entries for this year’ s competition drew“ strong opinions” from the judging panel and that“ the selection is strong but will be the subject of much debate.” The shortlist includes work by well-known artists such as painter Iwan Bala, the Eisteddfod Gold Medal winner whose work depicts the words of the Welsh national anthem –“ Hen Wlad fy Nhadau”. Cardiffbased printmaker John Abell created his entry Three Graces: All The Floods Left Them using salvaged wood found in skips. Also among the final artworks are painters Andy Fung and Elfyn Lewis, textile artist Becky Adams, installation artists Angharad Pearce Jones and Robert Kennedy, ceramicist Morgen Hall and photographers David Barnes and Anthony Stokes. The shortlist offers a varied selection of artworks and will feature in an exhibition at St David’ s Hall until Tue 6 Aug with the overall competition winner announced on Sun 9 July. Admission: free. Info: 029 2087 8444 / www. stdavidshallcardiff. co. uk( RH)
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