Island Hopping
The 2016 Setouchi Triennale

From this week onwards a small cluster of islands in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea will host its third international art festival. The 2016 Setouchi Triennale will run for a total of 108 days, and is expected to receive upwards of a million visitors, along with over one hundred new artworks joining the permanent installations already dotted across the archipelago.

Twelve islands in total will be taking part, along with Uno Port on mainland Honshu and the town of Takamatsu (known by fans of Haruki Murakami as the setting of Kafka on the Shore) on nearby Shikoku. This year’s thematic focus looks both inward and outward: paying particular attention to local Setouchi cuisine and traditions alongside ‘cultural exchange among Asian countries that are connected by the sea. Continue reading “Island Hopping
The 2016 Setouchi Triennale” →

Wu Lan-Chiann
Contemporary Ink Paintings

The first UK solo exhibition of the Taiwanese ink painting artist, featuring work produced over the last 20 years.

Reflections is the first UK solo exhibition of Wu Lan-Chiann, Chinese ink painting artist. This exhibit shows a selection of Wu Lan-Chiann’s work produced over the past twenty years. Displayed in reverse chronological order in the museum’s galleries, the exhibition has three themes; early career work, dusk to dawn series, and current directions.

At the core of Wu Lan-Chiann’s work, is a deep personal contemplation of universal themes and values that connect people across time and place. While continuing a tradition that is centuries old, her paintings are distinctly contemporary both in concept and execution. Starting from a young age, she combined Asian and Western modes of representation into a personal style that is intensely poetic. Blending two very different painting traditions, she has emerged as an artist with an authentic style marked by decisive brushwork and delicate application of colour.

In her recent work, Wu Lan-Chiann is interested in capturing the precious but fleeting moments of life through the depiction of free floating petals and leaves. She sees a comparison between the rhythm of nature and the human cycle of life. Her work captures special moments and at the same time represents the invariable and eternal cycle of life and nature.

Wu Lan-Chiann is exhibiting at the Museum of East-Asian Art in Bath

Brian Sewell
Eminent critic and writer dies aged 84

Eminent critic and writer, famed for his dislike of Tracey Emin, dies after being diagnosed with cancer.

An acerbic critic, Sewell made no secret of his contempt for modern art and was renowned for barbs directed at the likes of Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst. He called Emin “trivial” and Hirst “fucking dreadful”.

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His waspish putdowns, love of fine drawing, knowledge of art history and his genteel diction made him one of the UK’s best-known critics. His witty turn of phrase led to regular television appearances, including two turns as a panellist on the BBC gameshow Have I Got News For You.

Continue reading “Brian Sewell
Eminent critic and writer dies aged 84″ →

Second Shot At Life by Dom Kavanagh
An Art Circus Book

In the Summer of 2014, Dom Kavanagh underwent a double lung transplant following a lifetime suffering from Cystic Fibrosis. This inspired him to produce this fundraising book of Wildlife and Landscape Photographs in collaboration with UKGiclee

“As my own life neared expiry due to respiratory failure following 47 years of damage caused by cystic fibrosis, I returned to painting to reflect on what I would miss most and to celebrate subjects and scenes which are great for the soul and which reminded me of what we all have around us that we should be grateful for.

After a successful transplant, my painting continues and my photography resumed. Beavering away from my man cave nestled at the end of my garden in rural north Shropshire, surrounded by woodland and its evocative sights, sounds and smells, I have been inspired by the natural world to give something back, in the shape of this fundraising book, for the gift of organ donation so selflessly offered to me.”

Second Shot At Life will be published in September 2015

Take a look inside

Continue reading “Second Shot At Life by Dom Kavanagh
An Art Circus Book” →

‘Into the Night’ by Christopher Gee
On Show At The James Freeman Gallery

23rd April – 9th May, 2015

Christopher Gee’s paintings draws the viewer in with their intimate scale, dusky colours and naive, painterly charm. In these eerie, spectral landscapes we see eclipses and comets wiz by; abandoned churches and glowing towers left as reminders; lone gaunt figures looking back knowingly; and midnight familiars, appearing and disappearing into the blackness. The viewer has the feeling of rummaging through a collection of old photographs, inspecting the images and trying to piece together what ominous events may have taken place.

‘Into The Night’ is on show at the James Freeman Gallery until the 9th May, 2015 and you can find out more about Christopher Gee in our Q&A.

Continue reading “‘Into the Night’ by Christopher Gee
On Show At The James Freeman Gallery” →

Deluge by Sam Branton
An Art Circus Book

Over the last few months, The Art Circus has been collaborating with artist Sam Branton to produce our first artist portfolio book published under the Art Circus imprint. Artist’s Books deeply involve the artist in the process; from concept to artwork and layout – and in some cases the printing. They are usually published in small editions or created as a one-of-a-kind object and are often seen as a work of art in itself.

The book, titled Deluge, comprises a sequence of 19 miniature drawings which imagine the bizarre, comical and confused moments that could happen during the aftermath of a great downpour. We see newly paired and mystified inhabitants set against idyllic, pastoral landscapes – a whale hanging from a tree, waiting for his weight to break the branch; elsewhere, a horse, awkwardly struggles to escape from an inflated pufferfish; savage peacocks tearing apart an octopus; and a baby elephant struggling to carry a beached whale back to the water.

Deluge is available as a hardback from Blackwells Art Shop and YouCaxton Publications.

Take a look inside

Continue reading “Deluge by Sam Branton
An Art Circus Book” →

New Work by Christopher Gee

Gee’s paintings are rich with midnight creatures, mysterious figures, a melancholic atmosphere and scenes of the cosmos. The works plays with a loose motif of subtle observations, moments and arcane happenings, giving the viewer clues and suggestions to create their own little dark tales. Find our more about the work with our Q&A with the artist. Continue reading “New Work by Christopher Gee” →

Artist Show
Ilona Szalay in ‘It’s Just A Short Walk To The Future From Here’ On Show at the Arusha Gallery‏, Edinburgh

12th November – 5th December 2014

Ilona Szalay paintings will be shown in ‘It’s just a short walk to the future from here’, a group show at the Arusha Gallery in Edinburgh. Ilona’s pictures are permeated with a lonely sense of yearning and a poignant straining towards something infinite. There is an intensely visceral quality to her recent paintings, a sense of abundance and illumination. Ilona also creates video art in which she uses stop motion animation to create free-wheeling narratives of oil paint on glass. These ‘moving paintings’ exist only in recorded form as each drawing is extinguished to allow room for the next. As such the work is ephemeral and spontaneous, the images dissolving into each other and sliding across the surface of the glass. The pictures tell of metamorphosis, desire, dreams and death.

Find out more about Ilona Szalay’s work in our previous Q&A.

Claire Partington at the Young Masters Art Prize 2014

Claire Partington’s elegant and witty ceramics, ‘Goldilocks’ (shown top) and ‘Catfishing’ (lidded vases), will be on show at the Young Masters Art Prize 2014. Claire’s ceramics, inspired by European Applied Art and Design styles from the 1600’s, are meticulously hand crafted and use traditional ceramic techniques. Her figurative pieces, based on the salt glazed “bartmann” figurative bottles and court mantua dresses of the 1700’s, feature charming interchangeable heads to create curious little stories around her characters. Find out more about Claire’s ceramics in our Q&A.

The Young Masters Art Prize was set up In 2009, by gallerist Cynthia Corbett and celebrates artists who pay homage to the skill and traditions of the past and draw inspiration from the Old Masters. Artists are selected for their appropriation of an element of the established art-historical canon; either through technique, imagery or subject, whilst establishing an undeniably contemporary spin.

Young Masters is on show at The Lloyds Club from 16th September 2014 – 5th December 2014 and Sphinx Fine Art 14th October 2014 – 31st October 2014.

The Art of ‘The Art of Swimming’ (1587)

Everard Digby, born in 1550, was an academic theologian at Cambridge University. Digby created a series of 40 charming woodcuts to illustrate his book titled De Arte Natandi (The Art of Swimming) published in 1587 and is considered the first English treatise on the practice. The Art of Swimming was very influential and not only taught readers how to swim but also covered many safety issues. Digby warned of the dangers of swimming outdoors, jumping in feet first (particularly if the water has a muddy bottom to which your feet would stick), advised against swimming in murky ponds (in which animals may have been washed). and also suggested swimmers have a companion with them, to help if they get into difficulties. (Via) Continue reading “The Art of ‘The Art of Swimming’ (1587)” →

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