TAG #2 features: Gregory Evans, Chris Oddie and Clare Thatcher. Shirley Fletcher, Gerry Halpin, Malcolm Taylor and Ron Coleman. Tubes Artists Gallery - a showcase for great contemporary art and artists
a few words about this issue from the painters Tubes Gallery Curator, Denis Taylor.We are so lucky to live in a time where Art and painting in particular is so diverse and so readily available to view- remotely or otherwise. I have visited the studios of a number of the artists featured in TAG issue #2 - And I mustadmit that it is the best way of really ‘seeing’ the work and delving deeper into what theartists create and why. However, there are a few on show that I have had the pleasure of discussing their art (andother activities) by way of ‘live’ on-screen chats. This was the case with our guest artists Amanda and Peter Worralwho live and work from their home studios in New Zealand.Our talk centred around the artists development of 3D galleries, something I have personally beenfollowing with great interest since 2007. Their combined talents include TV video productions as well as fine art.This technical understanding gave them the knowledge of the digital problems and the solutions, to enable them tocreate a program which, in my opinion, is one of the best 3D platforms that I have tried and tested. With the increasein speed of all devices, from mobile ipads to smart phones, the 3D exhibition world has now become a dynamic real-ity with limitless possibilities to help promote and sell a work of Art to a much wider and culturally diverse audience.painters TUBES magazine have planned to introduce this new 3D platform for artists groups and individuals, as awelcome addition for our on line audience, which is now approaching 90,000.The new platform will help open even further our growing global audience for the work of artist and for painters inparticular. TUBES magazine will advise all fellow artists and readers of this exciting development of the magazinesreach and artists work presentations, for both groups, galleries and solo exhibitions closer to the launch date ofSeptember 2019.Three super artists in TAG #2 are Gregory Evans, Chris Oddie and Clare Thatcher All three are totally differentpainters, but equally talented and original. Tubes are also delighted to welcome Shirley Fletcher, an artistI have admired for some years and now can finally introduce her powerful and thoughtful artwork toour readers in mainland Europe, the USA and beyond. And I have to thank Matrianne Arnberg for suggesting my ownart been shown in this issue and writing the summary.I must also mention, Gerry Halpin, Malcolm Taylor and Ron Coleman, who between them not only create unique andstunning paintings, but also have worked with dedication to help and enlarge the artistscommunity in the North of England and beyond through the Manchester Fine Art Academy and theStockport Guild of Artists .. photograph: Artist and TUBES Gallery curator. Denis Taylor Photograph: ©Marianne Arnberg -instagram @marntay www.painterstubes.gallery & www.painterstubes.com
Shirley Fletcher“from studio to gallery” left: “Jazz” ref:TF1 Bottom left: “The Judges after Rouault”. ref:PF2 Top right: “Fishwife” ref: PF3 Middle right: “Card Players” ref:PF4 Bottom: “Night Club” ref: PF5
Shirley’s work is energetic and gives off an almost palpable effecton the eye of the viewer. Her paintings reflect the natural artisticinner need to communicate with an immediate and strong effect onthe senses - One that the viewer can translate in the mind slowly,absorbing the subject matter and having been given that opportunityto read what they wish into it. The artist provides only ambiguousgeneral titles to her work. “Mob” “Jazz” “Night Club” “Riot” arenot ‘untypical’ of these simplistic titles , titles that belies the workbehind them. With a bank of work that stretches over 30 years Shirleyis a compulsive painter who has a very strong work ethic and ano-nonsense approach to her own daily work discipline . As KahlilGibran said in his book ‘the Prophet’. “Work is Love made Visible.”Shirley is always looking to progress in her artistic approach tocreating art. Her belief in ‘drawing’ is well documented and it’s adiscipline she still holds a passion for, demonstrated as the founderand close involvement with the ‘life drawing’ group’ since 1983 inher home town of Saltburn-by-the-Sea, on the East coast of Yorkshirein the UK, where her studio is also located. “I believe that practising artists need to draw from life - it’s the backbone of the artistic process.”The artist also diversifies within her painting process from ‘purepainting’ to ‘print making’ - However, not one to take the easy route ofmany artists who turn to print from paint, Shirley decided some yearsago to create a different art using the ‘Collography’ method - It’sa way of hand printing that was first developed/introduced in 1955by Glen Apps. The method comes from the ‘classical’ plate printingmethod (17th century) but takes this a stage further. It could be seenas ‘collage’ where various materials (literally any materials frombubble wrap to Bananas) are used in conjunction with the brush -all hand applied - finished off with colour pigments to ‘collages plateis then pressed onto a rigid substrate (card or paper).The process is almost an experiment every time it is employed, andthe result can be either ‘great’ or not so great. When Glen Appsintroduced this ‘new-wave’ of printing for the masses - ShirleyFletcher was only eight years old at the time, but even by thenshe must have known full well, that she was born to create Art,and in her own way.When I first saw Shirley’s work two master artists came to mind -both happen to be much admired by many artists and myself for manyyears. They were Ensor and Rouault - I think the imagery of Shirley’sart is so defined by the artworks painted and artworks printed thatthe influences of these two painters must have inspired and drivenher forwards to gain her uniqueness. I do believe Shirley may beenseen as an artist with a solid or even a tough exterior, but underneaththat exterior, I think, is a wickedly good sense of humour, a sincereempathetic heart and truly dedicated artist - who works - not forapplause or even necessarily financial reward - but simply becauseshe cannot help herself or stop creating Art that lifts the heart andchallenges the mind whilst simultaneously pleasing the eye.written by Denis Taylor. Artist and Curator for TUBES gallery & editor ofpainters TUBES magazine ©2019 all rights reserved by TUBES magazines
top left: “vision of landscape” ref:PT6top right: “sense of place” ref:PT7left: “surfaced” ref:PT 8middle: “vision of landcsape 111.”ref:PT9bottom right: “vision of landscape”ref: PT10
Clare Thatcher “from studio to gallery”Clare could be viewed as a 21c minimalist painter, or at least herwork seem to suggest a strong influence of theminimalist concepts relating to what are the essential elementswithin nature. That basic structure of the space between the realand the abstract that she identifies and places are at the forefrontand as the focus of her paintings.Look a little further and you can see the colour decision processby way of layers that are worked and reworked which indicatesa keen awareness of what tone or shade is right and which is notquite right - The changes are evident.Some of her pieces are large, (2000mm x 1500mm) which givesthe impression that this is a painter with ambition to chal-lenge, not only the viewer but also herself. The visual effects sheachieves are quite delightful and rather than totally occupy themind certainly please the senses.The subtle colour balances added to the forms that theartist creates are often complex in their finishing, with carefuldetailing using textures made from individual strokes of paint ap-plied with dexterity.Clare has recently enjoyed some official recognition as her workwas selected to be part of the John Moores Painting Prise (2018).She is also an active Artists Network member at the Royal West ofEngland Academy, (Bristol from 2017).Her studios are in Thornbury, Bristol but has spent time inFinland where she attended the Helsinki DrawingLaboratory at Aalto University. She hold a master degree in fineart and a first class honours degree in Drawing and the appliedarts.summary written by Denis Taylor. ©TUBES magazine 2019Photograph ©Newsquest Media (Southern) Ltd 2018.
Denis Taylor above: the artist at Crossley Gallery, Dean Clough. paintei 600mm. Oil on wood. “Life began in Water” 1700mm x 15 “from studio to gallery” far right: “Cellular Abstraction” #1 - 1200mm x 1200mm (48 (written by Marianne Arnberg Taylor) left and far lright: ColourMany readers of painters TUBES know of Denis Taylor as the interactions- #2Editor of the magazine. However, Denis is an artist in his own right. and #3His first major solo exhibition was in the UK (1989) where he (Sweddishexhibited over 30 large works produced in his studio in Greece midsummer(1987-1988). From there he exhibited in Stockholm galleries (1993 conversations)onwards) in a number of exhibitions before moving on to be thefounder member of the *W.O.R.K organisation which was the influ-ential artists collective that mounted the now renown “Heart 2 Art”exhibition (2002) for the Swedish Government Estonia Trust Fundand the International Support Group (D.I.S) in Sweden.The artist also wrote and performed a 45 minute version of “Wait-ing for Godot” for three actors . Performed 4 times in Stockholm,it was written especially for the Heart 2 Art exhibition where it wasalso performed on stage by Denis Taylor, Bjorn Sundius (1954-2016),Agneta Larrson - (d-2014) And directed by Ulf Ekeram (d-2017).Denis is a multi-disciplined artist, and when creating the“Reflection” series of paintings (2005-2012) at his Manchester (UK)studio he also wrote the script, filmed and edited three videos (2006)for the BBC North West to highlight the development of visual Artin the region. These videos were instrumental in artists been givenencouragement to form groups and take up residence in theconverted cotton mills throughout the Manchester (UK) andthe surrounding district.He has written a large number of published poems and prose andwrote a regular column for the International Art Market Magazinebefore initiating the concepts for painters TUBES magazine (2013)having accepted the role as its Chief Editor in 2016.His extensive bank of work is centred on exploring the possibilities ofpaint on canvas as an Art Form. To that end he created the ‘SecondChance’ series which dealt with Male Cancer - of which he himselfwas a survivor (2004-2007). This important work which included“Portrait of a Tumour” a large oil painting was used by the OxfordUniversity initiative as a banner for the Male Health awarenesscampaign in 2012. And “Cellular Abstraction” (#1 #2 and #3”)a three part exploratory painting to highlight the research work in theUSA of how ‘protein unravelling’ plays an active part in thedevelopment of cancerous cells. (one of these works was exhibitedrecently at the ‘Defining the Elemental” exhibition at the CrossleyGallery, Dean Clough, West Yorkshire, UK. (2018-2019)Shown on these pages are examples of the 30 pieces of work whichare experiments in “Colour Interactions.” This series is an ongoingprocess of colour research of which these paintings are the seminalpieces that utilise the human figure, nature and abstraction integratedinto a single format. In 2020 - Denis is the lead artist for the‘Second Nature’ panel discussion and exhibition project which theartist is currently working on. And a participating artist for animportant exhibition “Journey” at the Chester Cathedral, UK. The artist paintings are in several collections in the UK, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, USA and Israel. To declare an interest in acquiring the work by Denis on these pages, or to discuss exhibiting the series of painting ‘Reflections’ ‘Second Chance’ ‘Colour Interactions’ please contact: Marianne Arnberg by emailing her on: [email protected] or telephone the artist directly: telephone 0046 76 19 19 007 to discuss your proposal.*Waxholm Organisation for the Reformation of Art
ing far left: Acid Trip (1986) 1200mm x above: Colour interactions #1 - Seminal work for the series of 30 pieces - (2016500mm. Oil on canvas. -2018) 1000mm x 1000mm (c.40 inches x 40inches) Oil on linen/ cotton twill8 inches x 48 inches) Oil on board.
Gregory Evans “from studio to gallery”I first saw Gregory’s work on the new ArtMo artists social media top: “an English Pub” ref:PE15 middle left: “figure on the rocksplatform, of which we are both members. My gut reaction was mixed middle: “waiting room” ref:PE17 top right: “Six Cubed- where t- that was until saw the full range of his work. It’s different, ironic and ref: pe18 bottom right: “caryatid (with Pizza) after Modigliani. rquite frankly it made me laugh out loud in a good way - That’s whatis so great about it. Greg is a well read guy, and his intelligence isobvious in his work He explains what his work is all about far betterthan I... “...I think of my work as snapshots of a larger experience. They’refrozen moments in time, moments that are usually lost in the biggerpicture. My images come to me complete and whole, but that imageneeds to be processed. Like a photograph, it’s developed, revealingmore of its wholeness and beauty, though over a longer period of time.I know my images intimately before they’re even begun. At times, myimages are zany, other times serious, at times irreverent and othertimes poignant. I feel that its life’s elusive qualities that transform ourperspective of it, so my focus is to convey that overlooked sense ofbrilliance by capturing it in my subjects.While it may seem that our reality is fixed and solid, it’s the rubbery,changeable qualities that come with this reality as a gift. It’s this thatallows us to celebrate the human and the little things people makeof life in this world. When we allow ourselves to see this glimmeringshadow, we can respect ourselves and others in our small moments, inthe transience of life. “This is what I wish to show to people who see my art. Life really is a candy-store.”Born in Wimpole Park in England, he was implanted with a senseof creativity and color by his mother, who was also an artist.He studied Art and Art History and has a degree in Graphic Designand Commercial Art. Gregory studio is in the Southwest of France.summary edited and written by Denis Taylor and Gregory Evans.All images and titles © Gregory Evans.
s” ref:PE16the fool becomes magnus”ref:PE19
ref: PMT19
ref:PMT20 Malcom Taylorref:PMT21 “from studio to gallery” I visited Malcolm Taylor in his studio some months ago. Having seen his work many times before on social media it was a pleasure to get up close and discover the way he approaches his work by way of reading his brush work. The paintings I had seen were ‘almost formal abstractions’ although earlier in his painting life he was essentially a figurative landscape painter. He mentioned to me how the St Ives in Cornwall had inspired him, no doubt assisted by his knowledge of the history of art from St Ives School (i.e. James Whistler, Walter Sickert, Motimer Mempes,Thomas Millie Dow, Edward Simmons and Howard Russel ). What Malcolm may not have known is that Sweden’s most renown artist (Anders Zorn) also painted in St Ives, which had become a veritable magnet for painters and sculptors alike (i.e Barbara Hepworth). Malcolm is a prolific painter, and most of his work is on the small side, but beautifully presented. However, his natural talent for ‘drawing’ is less known. Whilst in the studio he shown me a very large number of sketch books full of drawings that were quite beautifully created in charcoal, pencil and the odd one pen and ink, so many in fact that I simply did not have time to see them all, as each one was a page stopper. Malcolm Taylor is a very active artist and a supporter of other artist fellows by way of his close involvement with the Manchester Fine Art Academy, which at the time of writing is the Vice-President. I do hope to be able to visit his studio again, and really spend time thumbing through the pages of those wonderful sketchbooks. In the meantime here what he has to say about his paintings and his methodology: ‘Many of my paintings are derived from an ongoing exploration of the landscape but, with my purely abstract paintings, I do not have a fixed image in mind when I start, preferring to let the imagery develop and evolve through the process of painting. I have never restricted myself to working in one particular medium and continually find myself switching between acrylics, traditional oils and both soft and oil pastels depending on what I am trying to achieve. Brushes, sticks, fingers and thumbs are used to scrape, score and scratch marks onto the surface. I continually redraw, rearrange and obliterate passages in a desire to achieve a balance of colour and form. The end result is what is important and I may use collage, mixed media, dripping, scraping, drawing with sticks – anything to achieve a spontaneous and lively painting that is harmonious in composition, tone and colour.. “ all images ©Malcolm Taylor Photograph by Denis Taylor ©Tubes magazine 2018 Summary by Denis Taylor ©painters Tubes magazines
Ron Coleman ref:PRC22 “from studio to gallery”The driving force behind Ron Coleman’s work is colour and form.He seeks to imbue balance achieved through colour harmony that resultsfrom his handling of colour relationships, texture and the brushwork.The subject matter he employs may have had it’s origin in a sort ofremembered landscape of a journey, but he uses colour, form, and textureto create his own visions. The resulting semi-abstract work. He saysthat one of his aims is to create work that appeals to the visual senses,balancing form and to perhaps hold the viewers gaze to and allow themto engage more with the painted surface rather than simply an image.Many artists and movements have influenced his work, ranging from theSt. Ives abstract artists to the Scottish Colourists. He takes inspirationfrom the American expressionists and contemporary British artists.His brush work has become more fluid over the years, the imagesproduced and the application of paint seem spontaneous and more freeand his colour palette is typically strong and vivid. Ron is an activeartist outside his own work and supports his fellows with his work withthe Stockport War memorial Art Museum where he had been took a deepinterest and was instrumental in bringing the Open Art Exhibition toStockport Art Gallery (UK). More recently he was noted in the 100 yearanniversary book of the Stockport Guild of Artists along with some of themost influential painters in the UK (i.e. L.S Lowry and Harry Rutherford).above: portrait painting of Ron Coleman by Peter Davis ©2018/19 ref:PRCwww.peterdavisartist.com - email: [email protected] by Denis Taylor- ©TUBES magazines 2019
ref:PRC24 ref:PRC25C23 ref:PRC26 ref:PRC27
Gerry Halpin “from studio to gallery”I visited Gerry Halpin at his studio last year after we had discussed theactivities of the Manchester Academy of Fine Art, of which he was thepresident (at the time of writing). My visit was concerned only abouthis position as an artist however and I was keen to see (in the flesh) thework I had seen on various digital media platforms.I knew of Gerry’s background as an art teacher, and therefore believedour discussion would be not only interesting for me personally but alsofor readers. of painters TUBES magazine. But it was his reason forpainting his subjects that caught my imagination. He has travelled farand wide over land and sea and it was this ‘travelling’ that inspired himto paint landscapes from another perspective.These ‘arial’ landscapes provide the ideal catalyst to produce ‘abstract’looking work - and with the addition of visual memory and choiceof colour palette extends them from ‘the norm’ to the unusual andattractive. Gerry paints these ‘images’ in varying sizes and shapesdepending on the ‘shapes’ that he feels best fit in with what he has seenand what he has imagined.The colour lines of the work are complimentary, sometimes vivid andoften surprising. He showed me a large canvas in luscious blues that Ireally liked…here is what he has to say about the work that he has beencreating for some time, this what he had to say about his work;“Travelling further afield to places such as Mauritius,Madagascar, Zambia, Borneo and Australia afforded me that‘eureka moment’ of ‘seeing’ the landscape in an entirely differentway than what I was more familiar with.Seeing the world from above rather than being in it and lookingacross, brought an exciting new challenge in ways of observingand recording the landscape. Looking down on the world meantthat I could see the ordinary features ofa landscape in an extraordinary way and I had to find newmethods of painting in order to represent that new perspective. “Gerry is an accomplished professional artist and it is not surprisingto learn that he has exhibited and is collected widely, but ‘landscape’although a passion, is not the only subject he paints. Figurative worksalso play a part in his port folio. Once again these paintings of ordinarypeople in ordinary places are treated as a composition of form andcolour. He employs the same range of tonal vibrance to these as he doesin his landscape work, which gives them their ‘collectable’ label formany galleries around the UK.top right: Arrival V11 - Burnt Earth ref:PGH28middle: Aerial V11- Coast Tamil Nadu.E India ref: PGH29bottom right: Figures (urban) ref:PGH30all images ©Gerry HalpinPhotograph by Denis Taylor ©Tubes magazine 2018Summary by Denis Taylor ©painters Tubes magazines
ref:PCO32
Chris Oddie “from studio to gallery” My interest in Chris Oddie’s work stems from of the sincerity that can be perceived in the artwork itself. There is something very real about the various figurative painting he creates and yet they are absolutely abstract expressionist in nature. His lines are clean and placed with a surety that comes from an accomplished and confident artist who needs northing other than his own sensibility and a flexible medium (oil paint) to manipulate until he feels the artwork is completed. Below Chris explains in is own words what he believes that his art is centred around:ref:PCO31 ref:PCO33 “I would say my work is expressionistic, and an essential component of my practice is that as a draughtsman observation is fundamental to my work. Generally, I prefer to work from life, I do not use preliminary sketches, each drawing or painting stands as a finished piece. My paintings do not necessary reflect the recognisable subject; my method is to work at speed, consciously and unconsciously responding to the subject by making an image of it, destroying that image, and remaking it exploiting shape, form, and colour until I feel the drawing/painting is complete.” images:©ChrisoOdie. summary written by Denis Taylor ©Tubes artists gallery
Arwyn Quick ref:PAQ34 “from studio to gallery”Arwyn has a passion for colour and the natural forms that thespaciousness evoked in him by the remote Derbyshire Peaksthat is his local environment.The power of his first impressions of the landscape totallyrelate to the colour he chooses in his palette. He allows thecolours and his inner vision of nature to rise to the surface andcreate the raw force behind the landscape. What is probablymore interesting was his discovery of semi-abstract painting. Itseems he created these works at a time when they were totallyoutside his comfort zone and the more realist work he is knownfor in his immediate area.Perhaps this ‘happy accidental’ creation was always insidehim and simply took it’s time to surface. For me these abstractlandscapes or more precisely semi-abstract landscapes, are thestand out works he has created so far and go far beyond therealistic landscape paintings that one can see on the web andon the high street in abundance.It does seem that his more recent abstraction paintings aremore ‘conscience’ in their creation and they do bring to mindthe work of John Smout, (a painter featured in Tubes issue#22017) who works in the same vein as Arwyn. That vein isexploring what is underneath the earth whilst simultaneouslymaking the representation of the landscape evident.It may take for his collectors to ‘come to see and admire’Arwyn’s abstractions in the future rather than today, but that issadly, more often the case than not. However, I do hope Arwyn‘takes the risk’ and grasps the opportunity to go one stepfurther by seriously looking at ‘scale’ of the work he currentlyis making. ‘Up-scaling’ is often challenging for a painter butthe reward and satisfaction of a successful piece is both worththe effort and the risk of failure.images ©Arwy QuickSummary written by Denis Taylor.©Tubes magazine 2018 and 2019 ref:PAQ35
ref:PAQ36ref:PAQ37
TUBES Special Guest Artists Amanda and Peter Worral Denis Taylor (Editor of TUBES and curator for TUBES gallery) has had a long discussion with Peter and Amanda in connection with their creation of a VR three dimensional art gallery. It was during these talks that he was to discover that both were also gifted artists in their own right. The common creative ground soon became apparent, what resulted was a collaboration agreement with painters TUBES magazine and TUBES artists gallery. This agreement will result in TUBES magazines being to curate exhibition for artists groups, solo shows and special project exhibitions presented in probably the best VR 3D gallery for talented independent artists. A full feature and the first exhibition will be published (September) in both the main magazine and the TUBES gallery complete with premiere days, where the artists can also meet and greet visi- tors to the exhibition, ask questions about the art on show, having first downloaded the exhibition catalogue. This is a great opportunity for artists world wide and TUBES are excited to be at the forefront of changing the playing field for artists as we go further into the 21c. This feature on Peter and Amanda allows our fellow artists to get to know our new artists friendsPeter and Amanda have always been involved in the creative industries.Peter originally trained as a prototype engineer and began exhibiting when he and his brother arrived in New Zealandfrom the UK in 1974. In the same year he was invited along with his brother to join the stable of ten artists at Barry Lettgalleries, one of Auckland’s leading art galleries at the time. The gallery suggested they move to an island just off thecoast of Auckland (Waiheke) where they could live and paint. They enjoyed the next few years doing just that and soldwell in the local market. Peter also secured a job at the Auckland City Art Gallery as an assistant to the curator.In 77 Peter moved to San Francisco and over the next few years co-founded the famous ‘Deaf Club’ and managed punkbands including the “Dead Kennedys” whilst also creating electronic music with early computers.The Chief designer of Dolby C (noise reduction technology) wanted to record Peters band ‘KiDiMe’ and did it at Dolby’sexperimental facility in downtown SF. They were only able to work from 10pm to 6am so it went on for several weeks. One night at around 2am Mr Dolby himself came in saying he was sorry but he needed the studio to put an (early digital)soundtrack on a film and test the sound quality, so treated the band to Hamburgers across the road at Clown Alley’s whilsthe did the work. This recording won KiDiMe a contract with Rough Trade records when they first opened in the US.Although opportunities were unfolding for Peter in the US he chose to return to New Zealand.During the 70’s Amanda was working for an equestrian stable in Austria where she had been riding Lipizzana dressagehorses at professional level. She had also come home (to New Zealand) to be closer to family and had a job at AucklandsMercury Theatre as a scenic artist before moving to Television NZ as an art director and then a set designer.
The 80’s were the exciting times for New Zealandfeature films and generous government tax breaksmeant the industry was booming.Peter and Amanda first met on a film ‘Trespasses’featuring Patrick McGoohan (Danger Man andPrisoner) where they were employed as scenicartists.For the next few years whilst still working in Filmand Television Peter and Amanda began producingsome of the first computer generated title sequencesand commercials. It was in the mid eighties whilston a film called ‘Willow’ (Ron Howard) when theyaccidentally set fire to a bunch of dried flowerson their table at a restaurant, that they decided tofinally leave the film industry and start their owncomputer graphics and animation company.Before moving to Austria Amanda had gained adiploma in Graphic Design and 2d animation.So between them Peter and Amanda had someknowledge of how to apply their skills to the newdigital technology available.During the 90’s Peter and Amanda grew thecompany to ten people, updated their hardwareand software and changed the name to 3D Ltd.They went on to produce many animations forfilm, Television and Corporate advertising in NewZealand and Australia.In 2001 the couple moved to Waiheke island wherespent years experimenting with the technologyavailable for creating online 3D environments.Although high street gallery exhibitions aretraditionally the way for an artist to grow areputation, they were aware and how few spaceswere available for the thousands of gifted artists inthe world. They felt there had to be a betterway for artists to exhibit and how they could helpto nurture an artists career to gain an audience fortheir work or groups of artists and artist projects.They soon realised that the current technologyinfrastructure could not deliver the kind ofexperience they had envisaged. They also needed tocreate a system that enabled people to upload theirown artworks and to curate and manage their ownexhibitions. There was a lot more work to be done and it wasnot until 2009 when they were finally ready tolaunch their first own 3D on line software.Since then the software has been through severalnew releases, the most recent and major was acomplete rebuild of the VR side which took nearly 3years to complete. left: painting “seaweed bouguet”by Amanda Worral (©Worral)
above:“Post Nuclear Family”right: “the Moment Final”
“...the virtual galleries run smoothly across all platforms.”It was very difficult, and at times it must have like seemed an impossible taskto reach the goal both of them had set, but in November 2018 together with anexcellent team of developers and a brand new version of the software, in additionto having learned a great deal more about software development, they felt it was asperfect as any artist would expect it to be to mount their work with absolute pride.The virtual galleries run smoothly across all platforms on Desktop (Mac and PC)and mobile (Android and iOS). We named the new VR gallery software ‘Exhibbit’which is appropriate. The platform has made it easier for professional artists andcurators to mount and promote ‘a true artgallery exhibition’ online and providedconnection points for collectors to acquire the artwork directly from the artists ororganisations or group by way of their own e-commerce pages or direct from thegallery exhibition itself.Peter and Amanda are now finally able to deliver the kind of experience they hadimagined all those years ago, where viewers have a non passive, immersive anduninterrupted experience. People become actively involved because they are inan environment where they get to choose which way to move and what to look at.This kind of immersive experience, involving viewers in decision making, is thebig difference that a VR gallery provides and is a precursor of the way online art-technology is sure to be headed as we move into the 21c.Since the 19th century exhibitions have been the primary way to showcase art,provenance is built on exhibition sales and now the virtual gallery can play asupportive role in this. For the vision Peter and Amanda hold, this is only the beginning, there areplans to add audio and streaming video - for painters TUBES magazine this newaddition to our existing VR magazine and exhibition catalogue publications issomething that we believe will change the face of the contemporary art world andon a global basis.painters TUBES are delighted to welcome Amanda and Peter into our fabulouslygifted artists fellowship and look forward to visiting them on their New Zealandisland in the not to distant future. TUBES three dimensional virtual reality artists gallery For more detailed information on the painters TUBES 3D gallery exhibitions, the cost per artist/group or to register for a group show or a solo exhibition please contact Denis Taylor (Curator) on +46 76 19 19 007 email: [email protected] email subject: 3D VR note: only 10 exhibitions per annum each lasting for 18 days
TUBES now with 13 publications free on line - best viewed on ipads, slates, laptops or desktop PC’s for direct links go to www.painterstubes.com