TUBES #14 art magazine for collectors of contemporary art special two part interview with Mirja Ilkka Feature: Urban Art history and contempororay painting articles written by; Gregory Evans and David TychoFigurative art by; Sharron Astbury Petit Rob Fairl and Nathan T. Lewis
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TUBES art magazine for collectors of contemporary art the main contributors in TUBES #14 are Gregory Evans, David Tycho and Denis Taylor. All three, accomplished artists and writers. - photographs by Marianne Arnberg Denis Taylor and Marianne Arnberg (photograper) interview with Mirja Ilkka It was an unexpected pleasure that brought Marianne and I to discover the paintings of Mirja. It was also an amazing coincidence that this Finnish born artist just happened to be painting in a studio not more that 40 kilometres from Studio 5 in Skane, Sweden. However, it would take a journey of some 150 kilometres to find her. Mirja is a Northern artist through and through and her art reflects that with an honesty that is really quite refreshing in an art world where many of the ‘known’ artists tend towards professional marketing assistants to hype their ‘art’ Mirja spends time in Sweden infrequently, we were able to pass a Sunday morning with her where we talked Art - and life - and with a promise to visit Finland in the not too distant future. Gregory Evans - artist and writer of the excellent article “from the Modern to the Contemporary Urban Landscapes, Urban Lives.” Gregory is an artist who chose his own path. His work is dynamic and constantly evolving. Not one to avoid challenges Gregory pushes the boundaries of style and content towards the new generation. His writing is in keeping with this approach, but it is also written with great care and consideration to communicate to all levels. Having been born in Wales (UK) and spent most of his childhood and early adult life in the USA - Greg now lives and works from his studio in France. He has a multi cultural approach to life and is comfortable in his own environment. Greg is an authentic artist of unique talents. And Tubes are privileged to work with him. David Tycho. Artist and writer of the super ‘Urbania’ article in our special feature A trip to Tokyo in 2012 set artist and writer David Tycho on a course to explore the physical, formal, psychological and sociological elements of cities. Since then, his urban works have ranged from brightly coloured renderings filled with optimistic vitality, romanticism and a hint of nostalgia, to darker and more sombre depictions of sterile, deserted concrete canyons with an ominous sense of isolation and alienation. For David, the intriguing aspect of cities has always been the coexistence and duality of these seemingly disparate characteristics: the yin and yang of human urban existence, so to speak. His work expresses his own ambivalent feelings towards cities, but he maintains that he is not preaching, only documenting his environment and leaving interpretation and/or judgment up to the viewer. Tubes are also delighted to feature the fabulous work of the following outstanding artists Sharron Astbury-Petit, Rob Fairley & Nathan Lewis legal notice: painters TUBES magazine and TAG- Tubes Artist Gallery.These publication from Tubes issue #1 to #14 and TAG issue #1 to issue #3 are the copyright of Taylor Publishing Sweden - all rights reserved - Reproduction in any form whatsoever is strictly prohibited . we report on line abuse to Google and we always prosecute Tubes Magazines, Ekerodsvagen 253. 266 95 Munka Ljungby. Sweden. www.painterstubes.com
in conversation with Mirja Ilkka “Tubes first encountered the work of the Finnish painter, Mirja Ilkka, inSweden. It was on a voyage to the South East coast of Skåne in July this year that I and my partner Marianne decided to visit a number of galleries andartists in that location. The first gallery was in the middle of the rolling fields of the Degeberga district in Southern Sweden...” ...Typical for the Swedish summer, the weather was erratic, as we raced from the car during a heavy rain shower into what looked like a farm yard. However, this was the place we had decided to visit as we were advised it was a very well proportioned art gallery. Indeed the conversion of this farm was rustic, but very well appointed. It is owned and run by Axel and Anette Mörner. Axel has an extensive background as a gallerist at Galleri Tre and Galleri Axel Mörner where artists such as Fredrik Wretman, Klara Kristalova and Karl Holmqvist have exhibited in those galleries.
above: Axel and Anette Mörner at Olseröds Konst Hall. Olseröd Konst Hallphotograph by ©Madelaine Söder. Axel has also worked as an art consultant with extensive knowledge of the domestic and international art scene, while Anette works as an interior stylist. The venue, in Olseröd was created after Axel and Anette fell for the varied nature of the area and how the elaborate house was renovated. It is perhaps coincidental, but interesting, that ÖSKG (Östra Skåne’s Artist Guild) has its roots in the same area as the relatively new Art Hall. The farms barn was converted to accommodate the impressive venue space. It appeared we were the first visitors on that day as the doors to the gallery literally just opened as the rain stopped. Walking into the space took us both by surprise. The space was bright, open and huge. Our attention quickly turned to the Art - And both Marianne and I were taken with the work on the walls and the way in which it was created. The thin applications of pigments on canvas held various images of the natural world from animals to plants, integrated into compositions that were combined with misty blues and earth colour pigments. This gave a feeling of calm and at one with nature. The work was also accomplished in methodology and application. Obviously created by a hand that ‘loved’ the creative process and nature we were curious about the painter. The owner of the gallery appeared at that point of curiosity and we walked over to ask him who the artist was. He advised that the artist was from Finland, this intrigued Marianne, for although she is Swedish, Marianne had spent a great part of her childhood in Finland. After talking about the painting we then asked Axel if he thought the artist may be interested in an interview for a feature in painters Tubes magazine. And if he could provide us with the artists contact details. It transpired that Mirja (the painter) was working in a studio is Sweden at the time. And the studio was situated near a small town called ‘Höganäs’ which happens to be the birth place of Marianne. Höganäs Town is situated only 40 minutes from Studio 5 (Sweden) the home base for painters Tubes magazine.
in conversation with Mirja Ilkka first meeting (July 2019)A few days after we had returned from our trip, one of the first telephone calls on reaching home was to Mirja.She explained that she was opening her studio for a day or so and we were welcome to visit.Open studio days are never the best time for an interview, however Marianne and I went anyway to meet theartist and see more of her work. The art was of similar subject matter as the exhibition we had seen at OlserödGallery, but with a few additional new works of interest. After a short time we said our goodbye’s and arrangedto meet Mirja another time. The artist advised that she would be away for some time, in Finland, and she wouldcontact Tubes on her return to the studio space in Höganäs.
second meeting (September 2019) Sunday morning coffee with the artistMirja contacted Tubes again on her return to Sweden which was just before my visit to the UK on another Tubesvoyage. This time was set a date where we could spend much more time with the artist to discuss her work and her artpractise in general. Over Sunday morning coffee I asked Mirja about her approach to art creation - and as expectedit was ‘natural’ - Her work methodology is uncomplicated. For her the painting reveals itself from a basic or rathergeneralised thought process. References are used but only as a guide for the physical action of painting ‘as it occurs.’Her pigment application is thinned and allowed to flow onto the surface with total freedom from any direct overlyconscious control. This allows the work to breath easily and enjoys an immediate personal connection with the viewer.
in the studioThis artist is a not a conceptualist, nor does she try to imply any need for intellectualised interpretation of herwork - it just is, as it is. The subject smacks of the flavour of Northern Scandinavian, as you may expect, butthe feeling of the work holds more of a universal attraction for the environment. It may be that today almost thewhole planet is concerned and aware of the environmental consequences of pollution facing humanity - Artistsare responding in various ways. I’m pretty sure Mirja’s ‘awareness’ of the global environmental issues are veryclear, but her work is more of a celebration of everything living - and not of the dying.The population of Finland, not unlike Norway and Sweden, those who have not succumbed totally to City life,are brought up with nature as an essential part of their well being. Respect, of an almost religious fervour fornature, has for many decades been the active and dynamic ingredient for much of Scandinavian artists creations.And not only for the light and the natural beauty, but also for all the creatures and insects, large and smallwho live among the forests, the lakes and the mountains of these regions. All of which add to the deep andmeaningful psychological connection to the peoples of the far northern lands.All this is reflected in Mirja’s work.
Mirja however is not a didactic artist - From 2001 to 2007 Mirja attended The University of Art andDesign Helsinki (Taideteollinen korkeakoulu - Konstindustriella högskolan) which was an academy forart in Finland, (up to 2009) before it merged with Aalto University, together with Helsinki University ofTechnology and the Helsinki School of Economics).Art education provides the environment, the time, and the space to gain knowledge and inspiration fromones peers and the art masters. This is evident in the handling of Mirja’s brushwork.
Any accomplished artist will tell you, is always on theedge of ‘what next’? . And faces that nervous feelingwhen stood before a large empty space - one thatdemands to be filled with marks that hold something ofinterest. This is the catalyst for overcoming self doubtand creating a work of art.And not only for the artist themselves, but also theviewer of it. The temptation to pre-compose a workof Art is always the initial answer for artists, and ingeneral it is always the wrong one, as a true work of artseldom finishes as it starts.Mirja seems to overcome that temptation by allowingher artistic instinct to lead her, providing the sub-conscious creation with the colours and forms thepainting asks for to achieve the result that will finallybecome a finished painting. One imbued with theemotional, the spiritual and the sincere transference oflove that only the natural world can give to a humanbeing. Mirja seems to achieve that rather well and ona fairly regular basis.Both myself and Marianne enjoyed our time withMirja, We made a definite promise to visit Mirja in herstudio in Helsinki, where we are sure a new series ofwork will be waiting to be discovered. And we are alsosure to visit her artists friends to talk about the originaland authentic new contemporary Scandinavian thinkingand look at the artworks being created. ...the voyage of discovery will continue “in conversation with Mija Ilkka.” written by Denis Taylor, Artist and Editor photographed by Marianne Arnberg for Tubes magazine ©September 2019
From the Modern to the Contemporary painting above: Gustave Caillebotte. the floor planers Urban Landscapes, Urban Lives by Gregory EvansBefore I can discuss the birth of urban landscape art in Paris,I’ve got to introduce what is called our Modern art period.To do this, we’ve got go back to the Impressionists and howartists like Courbet, Caillebotte and the Impressionists began tochange the way they saw reality, and thus changed the way theyportrayed it. Impressionism was a Parisian movement, plainand simple. Those artists of the time were mostly city dwellers.However, in the beginning, it wasn’t the modern city thatinspired them.From the earliest of their development, they were running off tothe country to paint pretty pictures of trees and park-lands, or inthe worst case, they were off to the banks of the Seine paintingimages of calm and wondrous city dwellers with their fancyclothes and parasols protecting them from the intense sun of anon-polluted Paris of the day. It wasn’t these guys who gave usurban art, but since the impressionists were indeed rebels of thestatus quo, they did propagate these new synthetic scenes andbackdrops.It would have been a modern Realist of the time who wouldhave planted the seeds of change for that embrace of city lifeand the artist’s presentation of it. It would be this artist whogave our later Impressionists permission to do things differently,Gustave Courbet was our first rebel to realise that he was indeeda rebel, and he did have a cause – he knew he needed to breakaway from the ways of his predecessors, heroes and idols, theRomanticists. It would be this solitary and ground breakingmove of the time that Gustave denied the authority of academicart that made him the father of Impressionism.I must say itsdifficult to present European urban landscape art as such alimited geographic phenomenon (i.e. Paris) when art always hassome kind of dynamic with other areas.Artists lived in all cities around the world, and since artistsmigrate just as birds and insects do, they bring their ideaswith them when they move. Europe is a large continent, and,for example, while the Cubists were having their heyday inMontmarte in the early twentieth century, the Futurists werehaving theirs over in Italy. Cubists affected Futurists andFuturists affected Cubists......its with this that we cut a healthy slice from that specificbut delicious Parisian pie called modern art, and call it UrbanLandscapes – Urban Lives.
These Impressionist Exhibitions would have it that more urban subjects would be found in galleries andcollector’s homes, and the commonly accepted flowers and pearls and pretty girls as subject matter would befinding new company with these new landscapes portraying the city’s more ordinary residents, house servantsand workmen. What constituted “vulgar” work was still a hurdle to consider – the art establishment (the Salonand its stuffy adherents) deemed only farmers and country folk as acceptable subjects from the working class.These country dwellers were not a reality in the city, consequently they were safe subjects to portray in honestcircumstances. However, it was the presence of the working-class city dwellers that hit too close to home and therealities of class-distinction – it was this truth that stained the fragile fantasy of an upper-class art connoisseur’sbeautiful world. Caillebotte took the dangerous “realism” of Courbet one step further.In his day, he was not only the spokesperson of urban lives in urban landscapes – he created urban art.
painting above: Gregory Evans: New Kids on the block. “You can take the artist out of the city, butpainting above: Gregory Evans. Ramone Brothers. you can’t take the city out of the artist.” In a city, the speed at which inspiration and change bursts upon a scene can be missed too easily, for it moves so fast with change upon change arising in our collective urban consciousness as Attention Deficit Disorder does in child.I left the city of Los Angeles, having been raised in a beach-side neighbourhood called the “ghetto by the sea,” and its environs well around 30 years ago and have never gone back. However, to paint city environs, as is the nature of what I paint, I don’t need to see the city for reference. The city itself as a playground has been imprinted upon me, but there’s something more than that, the city is actually embedded within me. As an example, I know what my big toe looks like without having to see it. The city has left its mark on me as do all things important, and it still finds its way into my work. My images come to me from memory, both long ago and just yesterday. My paintings are pulled out of me like pulling teeth, and though not quite as painful a process, these paintings are extracted from me; they’re driven to been born. I ’m compelled, and act with purpose that’s not my own – its the image that has purpose and I’m just its servant or its midwife. Scenes from the past become real again, scenes from my urban life become something tangible via this dance with my exigent imagination. They can be as real as they really were, or as they want to be, and not necessarily as we would have ourselves believe. From the Modern to the Contemporary Urban Landscapes, Urban Lives written by the artist Gregory Evans for painters TUBES magazine ©Evans/Tubes2019
paintings above: New York Rhapsody - ©David Tycho.It was raw, unschooled, and reflected the world of its adherents.It could not be bought or sold, and became the new urban form of rebellious anti-art. It was subversive in spirit,and would take many forms and be described by many names: tagging, street art, guerrilla art, graffiti, outsiderart, and urban primitive to name a few. When it crept across the tracks, it offended middle and upper classsensibilities and was declared a blight on the city. The city worked just as tirelessly at erasing and eradicating itas the artists did creating it, a war that has continued to this day. “And out of the subway Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid Exits into daylight, spraygun hid”…sings English prog-rocker Peter Gabriel on Genesis’s 1974 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway conceptalbum, developing the narrative’s main character, Rael, as an urban anti-hero of sorts. The fictitious Rael and hisreal life contemporaries’ place in the art world was being carved out and solidified, and street art had become athing which could not be dismissed or erased by the mainstream. So mainstream it would become.Street artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring were seduced by top Soho galleries into bringingtheir iconic images indoors, and within a few years, graffiti and its brethren became the darlings of chicgalleries, curators and collectors.
The genre challenged the notion of high and low art,and these two artists literally went from rags to richesin a few short years, as they ascended the New York arthierarchy, with Basquiat having museum shows whenhe was still in his twenties. Basquiat also produced rapartists and would later be canonized in hip hop lyricsby the likes of Jay-Z, Kanye West, Rick Ross, Nas, andJ. Cole. The Brooklyn artist of Haitian-Puerto Ricandecent, and his socio-political fusion of words, symbols,stick figures, and animals, was about as famous as it getsfor a visual artist.His death by drug overdose in 1988 at the age of twentyseven added to his tragic urban anti-hero mystique, andhis legacy and influence are still felt today. So muchso, in fact, that a whole generation of what can only bedescribed asNeo-Basquiat” painters has emerged in recent years.In the 1980s, installation art, photography, text, videoand multi-media were coming of age, and by the 2000s,many contemporary galleries and museums wereshowing nothing but. Painting was once again declareddead, and the poignant work of video artists such as BillViola, and the photo/collage/graphic works by artistsart this page: Jean-Michel Basquiat and (Snake) ©Guggenheim.org
such as Barbara Kruger and Richard Prince, appeared in prestigiousgalleries, and were being collected and exhibited by contemporaryart museums worldwide. The subjects were not so much the city in adirect or obvious way, but the content addressed how institutions ofpower such as government, religion and commerce affect the livesand rights of individuals. And those power structures were mostinvestigated, questioned and opposed by artists living in cities.Photography had always taken a back seat to painting and sculpture,but with the new conceptual and post-modern spirit that waspercolating in New York and elsewhere, it was finally receiving theFine Art stamp of approval it had been seeking for decades. It wasn’tpretty, and often documented the dark underbelly of urban life,while commenting on the political, psychological, philosophical andsociological issues of contemporary urban society.Issues surrounding identity, race, gender, sexual relations, powerand discrimination were also prevalent, but again, that is a story foranother article.It wasn’t all all doom and gloom. At the same time, some forwardthinking city governments were acquiring and redevelopingproperties in an attempt to create aesthetically pleasing public spacesdesigned to enhance the quality of life of workers and residents indowntown areas. Some city councils also legislated that developersdevote a certain percentage of their budgets to providingpublic art for people to ignore while vaping and looking atcat videos on their phones.Yes, that was a cheap shot. As previously stated, it was to enhancethe quality of life of workers and residents by creating invitingpublic spaces, where people could relax and find respite from thechaos of the city. Some of them have worked very well, while othershave become pedestrian thoroughfares, inspiring few people toactually stop and smell the roses.Anish Kapoor’s polished stainless steel and Richard Serra’s rustedsteel sculptures, among hundreds of others, have been addingintriguing minimalist forms to the urban landscape for decades,a trend that is having a positive impact on the visual landscapeof downtown cores. Critics claim that they are just ornaments tovisually enhance these playgrounds for the rich, as most of thepoor and middle class have long ago vacated city centres due toskyrocketing real estate prices, once again underlining the idea thatart is a commodity for the wealthy.As could be expected, opinions on the subject abound, but one viewmaintains that not every square inch of space needs to generaterevenue, and not everything in cities should be designed withpragmatism in mind.
These days, the young folk have their own take on thecity, with the catchy name of “cyber-punk”. It is amulti-media genre, with artists, writers and designersworking in literature, comics, animation, videogames and film. For those not familiar with the term,think Blade Runner, the 1982 American movie thatdescribes a futuristic dystopian society in a decayingmega-city, and what it means to be human.It is a dark, damp and mildewy looking affair, withdangerous replicants lurking in dimly lit streets andstairwells. It’s a rather slow moving, depressingvisual experience, but hey, the kids seem to like it,and it did in part inspire a new genre.Plato’s urban class war mentioned at the beginningof this article has continued until this day, and manyartists make it their business to point out the inequitiesin our post-industrial society. Ironically, countlessartists have used social criticism to gain relevancy,notoriety and attention, and upon receiving a seal ofapproval from an influential curator, critic, dealer orcollector, they soon find themselves on the right sideof the tracks mixing and mingling with those they mayhave viciously targeted in their art.Even Basquiat began to frequent the right night clubsand move in celebrity circles, dating none other thanthe “Material Girl” herself for a time......Yes. That’s right. Madonna.This awkward dance between poor artists and wealthypatrons has been around for centuries. and no moreso than in cities. Just being creative non-conformistsis enough for some artists, but most would say deepdown they would like to make a living from their art,which often means going the commercial gallery route,with all its extravagant wine and cheese openingsand courting the enemy. Damn you, you corporatearistocracy! I chopped off your heads with my art— now give me my Mercedes. top left Cyberfetish. ©Julian Griffiths 2007 (UK) top right: Urnbania #23 ©DavidTycho 2019 bottom: Urnab Matriix #10 ©David Tycho
A final word or two...In reading this article, one might infer that all artists aredowntrodden and angry at the injustices of the world, and thatall art is or should be a reaction against established norms,beliefs, and institutions. This inference is in fact inaccurate,and one that no one could realistically assert. The pendulumoften swings to the other side of the spectrum, where there isindifference to the plight of disenfranchised urban dwellers,as the banal art of Jeff Koons and his kindred souls create....but that, my friends, is also another story. ‘Urbania’ Inspiration and Adversary written by the artist David Tycho for TUBES magazine ©Tycho/Tubes 2019
the art ofRob Fairley drawing: from Pinaka Sketch book
the art of Rob Fairley Rob is an exceptional painter and person. I first came across his ‘portraiture’ in 2016 and since then have wanted to include him in a special ‘realism’ section of Tubes magazine. Since that time his work has developed, an aspect of which I will speak briefly of later. ..to give our readers a very good idea of the artists ‘art- life’ here is a great review written for the Alpine Journal, by Robin N. Cambell. There are five distinct strands in the rope of Fairley’s life: artist, crofter, educator mountaineer and writer. He was a pupil at George Watson’s School in Edinburgh in the 1960s where his interest in mountains was fostered by Archie Hendry, who taught languages there and who also influenced Robin Smith and Mal Duff, Fairley’s exact contemporary. Fairley’s early mastery of mountain landscape drawing is evident in the Eiger drawing in ‘John Harlin’, painted while still a schoolboy. After graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 1975, he moved to Mallaig briefly before becoming the sole human inhabitant of the tidal island Shona Beag in LochMoidart until 1979 when he moved to a croft at Alisary onLoch Ailort. During this period, besides regular landscape work, Fairley practiced a form of ephemeral shamanistic‘land art’, occasionally recorded by drawing or by pinhole photography from cameras constructed from animal carcases, stone enclosures, etc. To some degree ‘A linemade by Red Deer’, and ‘A line of fox bones’ reflect these early interests. painting above “breakfast with Henry” ©Rob Fairley painting right: image from 50 years of sketch books. At the same time, he did not neglect mountaineering, climbing regularly at a high level in winter and summer, usually solo except for the company of his intrepid collie Jinny, who dodged the cruxes but never failed to greet him at the top of the routes. The two huge pencil drawings of Ben Nevis ‘Building in a landscape’ and ‘Figure in a landscape’ date from late in this period. According to Fairley, they were done in his croft/studio by the light of oil and Tilley lamps, working more or less naked because of the extreme heat they generated. These are extraordinary works, perhaps the most impressive mountain drawings in pencil since Edward Lear’s Lake District drawings in 1836.
above: sketch work with writing (no data available)left: sketch, Above Dingboche, Khumbu Valley, Nerpal. all images are ©RobFairley
In the mid 1980s, Fairley resumed acquaintance with Mal Duff. Duff had taken two poets, AndrewGreig and Kathleen Jamie, to the Mustagh Tower and had the idea of taking an artist along toillustrate his expeditions. In Fairley, he found an artist who could climb as well. As well as going tothe Himalaya with Duff, he was also recruited by Henry Todd, and in his own words worked as a‘climbing mercenary’ there for many years, during which he visited Annapurna, Annapurna III, KusumKanguru, Ama Dablam and Tawche besides many trekking peaks. Numerous wonderful watercolourlandscapes from this period survive – Fairley is notorious for destroying his own work – and arerepresented here by ‘Everest from Rongbuk Glacier’, ‘Andy Perkins & Andy Cave at Annapurna IIIAdvanced Base Camp’, ‘Annapurna Camp One’, and ‘Breakfast with Henry’.Fairley became fascinated by Nepal’s culture and people, and grasped every opportunity to record thisin his sketchbooks and in watercolour work finished at home. His sketching method used a tube ofwatercolour, whatever sort of water was to hand, his unused hand as palette, and many such sketcheswere executed in a very few minutes. While all of this portrait work is remarkable, it is perhaps hispure watercolour portraits which deserve most respect. These are in the tradition of the likes of GeorgeRichmond or James Guthrie, but the technique is purer.
paintings on this page right: Girl from Swayambunath #3 - tempera- 2001 below left: Parbati (hands and feet - demo) below right Der Tod und das Modchen watercolour- 1999 all images are ©RobFairleyThis work is represented by ‘Tibetan Trader’, ‘Tsering’ and ‘Quin ego hoc rogem’. (note: not shown in thispublication) The latter is in egg tempera colours, not watercolour, but this medium has the same qualities of flatnessand transparency, and will last 1000 years or more. I am delighted to have had this opportunity to present Fairley’swork in the Alpine Journal, and I commend him to readers as a mountaineer-artist of the first quality, to my mindto be ranked alongside such distinguished predecessors as Edward Compton and Ernst Platz, but undoubtedlywith greater range. ©2016 written by Dr Robin N. Campbell Robin’s full article is entitled : “Renaissance Man of Moidart” (The Alpine Journal 2016, Vol 120. pp 416 / 417.)
“...I was very pleased recently to chat with Rob over the ‘messenger’ platform to aske about two works (shown here) The style and use of colour is totally different too much of his previous work. The abstractions, if you can call them that, are based in the natural world, but also take into account myths and legends as a basis for their concepts. Personally I find these work extremely engaging. Perhaps it’s the vibrant colour that appeals? And so, I am very happy to rev-visit Rob’s work and hopefully talk further him, with a view to writing a full feature on his new work. TUBES magazine is also exceptionally keen to write about the artists ground breaking ‘Room 13’ experiment -that that started in his home town (Fort William) and was primarily for children to pursue art and photography. It subsequently spread from Scotland and is now an International Organisation.” www.robfairley.com Denis Taylor Editor for painters TUBES magazine all images are ©RobFairley
the art ofSharron Astbury-Petit all images ©Sharron Astbury-Petit - all rights are reserved
‘ painting: THE DRESS REVISITED ‘gesso, acrylic, graphite and colour pencil on wood panel (61 x 51) 2018 ©Sharron Astbury-Petiit Sharron is an artist that is meticulous in her approach to painting. The subjects range from the human form to nature and often involves symbolism. Time seems to play more than a physical part in her art, bordering on the metaphysical and in a form of symbolism. Symbolism was a movement in art that arose in the late nineteenth century (French, Russian and Belgian poetry as the main inspiration). Although the original criteria behind the movement was a reaction against naturalism and realism, with Sharron’s work the symbolic work hand in glove with beautifully rendered paintings, treating realism to her natural talent and confounding that original critical academic analogy.
Selecting Sharron’s work... ’Passing Through’ (are we there yet?) The above painting was the one painting by Sharronthat first grabbed my attention when I spotted it somewhere on the web - As part of what I do, looking at paintings on theweb runs into hundreds per month. Every now and then the ‘flip’ finger stops, or in this case goes back a flip or two.That’s when I know I have seen something that has “je ne sais quoi.” And I cannot explain what this something is, butI shall try to explain as best I can. The figure in this work, and in most of the ‘realist’ figures Sharron paints, reminds me ofthe delicate faces of Sandro Botticelli (in this work, especially the birth of Venus painting, circa -1482- 1487).Perhaps it was also the interaction that the figure has with the ‘contemporary’ symbols in bright colours, the arrow in theheart, and the disgruntled looking cats face (to the right). Dotted around are graphical roses - which now I know Sharron’sbirthplace, I am assuming have a historical connection. The roses remind me of the rose of York, with reference to the‘Wars of the Roses’ between the houses of Lancaster and York, which happened the same time at Botticelli. painted Birthof Venus. All this combined with her great colour sense and a deft touch - is the sort of painting that makes me stop - lookand look again and then email the artist to ask if I can put their work in Tubes. Hopefully, to bring pleasure to the reader,and to ‘highlight’ an artist that may well gain further merit. At least that is the ambition we have here at Tubes. ‘selecting Sharron’s work‘- written by Denis Taylor - Artist and Editor of Tubes magazine
above: ‘PASSING THROUGH’ gesso, acrylic, graphite and colour pencil on wood panel (triptych 51 x 102) 2019 right: ‘RESONANCE’ gesso, acrylic, graphite, oxidisedmetal leaf and colour pencil on wood panel (61 x 51) 2019
Sharron began her artistic life as a graphic designer and illustrator in the UK.She founded her own company in during the 1980’s whilst still painting and exhibitionin galleries. Her passion and ambition drove her to create art on a more permanentbasis, this was realised in 1995 when she moved her studios to France.It was here that the artist created work that was included in a variety of internationalart and culture exchanges. She also became a member of the Société des ArtistesFançais in 2012, being a regular exhibitor at the renown Paris Salon.Sharron divides her time between France and her studio in Leeds where she playsan active and executive role in the LFA (Leeds Fine Art). This is an association ofartists originally founded in 1874. The association promotes and encourages artiststhroughout the region and holds an annual exhibition mounted at the rather large andwell appointed Crossley Gallery, within Dean Clough in Halifax Yorkshire (UK).Her most recent exhibition was at the MCL de La Roche-Posay’s 50th AnniversaryCelebration Exhibition from 22nd June to 7th July 2019.above: ‘NOTTINGHAM LACE’ acrylic and graphite on poplar panel (97 x 73) 2006