Latest news with #landscapepainting
Asharq Al-Awsat
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Art in Mind… Wry Reflections that Blend Art and Reality
In the Brick Lane area of East London, a mischievous creative spirit reigns, expressing itself through graffiti on every wall, door, and window. Words and slogans mingle with imaginary or even realistic drawings. Here, creativity is vibrant and boundless, making the area attractive to young and old alike. The streets are crowded, and the bagel shops for which the area is famous attract passers-by, while the scattered art galleries offer visitors a place to consume sandwiches and to chat. Amid this buzz, a group exhibition is currently being held at the Brick Lane Gallery, featuring artists who lack notoriety, but make up for it in talent and creativity. The exhibition showcases eight artists, whose works range from landscape painting to photography and portraits. Some of the works appear amateurish, but others exude strong artistic talent and distinctive style. The show explores the different ways artists express visions that blend abstract nature, landscapes, and dreamlike fantasies. It explores the works of artist Shelley Hordiyuk, who chose to display her canvases without frames to evoke the idea of liberation from constraint. Her paintings, entitled "Drawn by the Light", depict a world of trees and branches. She chooses to depict her trees from the perspective of a person standing beneath a web of branches. She chooses a uniform color background for each painting. One has a green background, where the trees appear almost devoid of leaves, and then there is a painting with a yellow background mixed with brown patches, reflecting warmth. "Drawn by the Light" paintings by Shelley Hordiyuk. (Asharq Al-Awsat) She says of her paintings, "I feel a love for the impossible tree or the sky painted in unrealistic colors. I also like to exaggerate these colors and lines, to take shapes from reality and gradually transform them into abstract pictures." On a separate wall, the paintings of English artist Bryn Haworth are distinguished by their calm, confident brushstrokes and vivid colors. They also have an air of mystery that prompted visitors to ask the artist what they meant. One of them explained, "I sense a sarcastic tone in the paintings. They appear serious and traditional, but the artist has a distinct sense of humor that provokes discussion about what he depicts." In an introduction to his work, Haworth discusses two paintings entitled "Remoaner Lisa" and "Something Rotten." The first takes Leonardo da Vinci's smiling Mona Lisa, removing her smile and transforming it into a sulky pout. Behind her, instead of a Tuscan landscape, he depicts the reality of Britain after its separation from the European Union (Brexit). Behind the Mona Lisa, we see the Eurostar train tunnel, its entrance closed, and the white cliffs of Dover with the word "Goodbye" written over them, a reference to a cover from the pro-Brexit newspaper The Sun. The painting combines seriousness with bitter irony. It was first presented in Paris as part of an exhibition on the stance of British artists towards Brexit. Haworth explains that he was keen for the Mona Lisa to resemble former Prime Minister David Cameron, whom many blame for the Brexit referendum. Art by Bryn Haworth. (Asharq Al-Awsat) The political dimension extends to another painting inspired by the French artist Chardin's painting "Ray." In it, a ray fish hangs above a kitchen table, but it appears grey, as if mold has begun to invade it. The artist used the features of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson to express the confusion that characterized his term in office during the COVID-19 pandemic. The two paintings are the beginning of a parodic series the artist is working on, creating an alternative to the portraits that line the main stairway in 10 Downing Street. From da Vinci and Chardin, the third piece is based on Renaissance artist, Sandro Botticelli, and his iconic work, "The Birth of Venus." In the original, the goddess emerges from the depths of the sea, radiant with breathtaking beauty, standing on a shell. Here, we see her as reimagined by Haworth, sitting on her shell as she watches a scene unfold near the Uffizi Museum where she resides. It's a scene from Italian history: the trial of the extremist priest, Girolamo Savonarola. From her position above the scene, Venus witnesses the brutal end of a period of religious extremism to which Botticelli himself fell victim, to the point that he burned several of his paintings in the so-called bonfire of the vanities – a pivotal moment in the history of art. The "Remoaner Lisa" by Bryn Haworth. (Asharq Al-Awsat) "The Price of Bananas" is a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the art market and on the sale of "Comedian" in particular. Created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, this was a real banana attached to the gallery wall by duct tape, which sold for more than $6 million at auction. Haworth's version borrows from Andy Warhol in its depiction of four bananas against colorful backgrounds. However, he chooses to place the current price from various local markets under each banana, ending with the art market. The work attracts visitors with its ironic touch and its colorful brilliance. In a nearby corner, Russian photographer of Turkish origin, Daniel Buyukotsun, displays a number of photographs entitled "Street Layers", a black-and-white series in which the photographer experiments with layering different scenes on top of each other without resorting to digital technology. He superimposes a shot of one London street over a view of vehicles from a different street. Buildings, pedestrians, and vehicles blend within a single frame, giving the image an experimental feel, but also representing an emotional record of the capital's streets. A work by Daniel Buyukotsun. (Asharq Al-Awsat) Buyukotsun notes that he deliberately created one sequence of shots, but in other images the arrangement of layers was accidental: "My aim is not to record city life as it is, but to explore how life can feel within those layers." It's the kind of feeling the visitor to Brick Lane will instantly recognize, a combination of urban reality with flights of the imagination. *"Art In Mind" exhibition at Brick Lane Gallery, London runs until 25 August.
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Constable's 250th anniversary set to be marked
A town is set to host a set of exhibitions and events to mark the anniversary of one of the UK's most renowned painters. Christchurch Mansion, in Ipswich, Suffolk, is set to host the events in 2026 to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of John Constable. The Constable 250 will showcase work by the artist, who was born in East Bergholt in 1776, featuring paintings on loan from a number of museums. Carole Jones, Ipswich Borough Council's portfolio holder for planning and museums, said: "These once-in-a-lifetime loans will tell the story of our own Suffolk-born artist whose radical approach revolutionised landscape painting." Constable, who died aged 60 in 1837, is best known for his depiction of the English countryside, particularly his native Suffolk. He is best known for his 1821 oil painting The Hay Wain which became a sensation in the art world when it was exhibited at the Louvre in Paris in 1824. Constable 250 will feature three exhibitions which will be led by Colchester and Ipswich Museums, which is jointly run by Colchester City Council and Ipswich Borough Council. The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund, Arts Council England, and other key partners, are set to work alongside them. The year-long programme of exhibitions and events will be showcased at Christchurch Mansion. The authority said the exhibitions would include work on loan from the Tate, National Galleries of Scotland, Victoria & Albert Museum, Royal Academy and the Government Art Collection. The showcase will feature three exhibitions - Constable: A Cast of Characters; Constable: Walking the Landscape; and Constable to Contemporary. Ms Jones added: "We are very grateful to all the organisations supporting Constable 250 and partnering with us to make it possible." Local workshops and artist-led sessions will be held for families and school across school holidays, the council added. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Constable sketch expected to fetch up to £200k Iconic Constable artwork focus of new exhibition Unrecorded Constable work sells for £300k Tests to discover if paintings are by Constable Ipswich Borough Council
BBC News
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Ipswich to host 250th anniversary celebration of John Constable
A town is set to host a set of exhibitions and events to mark the anniversary of one of the UK's most renowned Mansion, in Ipswich, Suffolk, is set to host the events in 2026 to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of John Constable 250 will showcase work by the artist, who was born in East Bergholt in 1776, featuring paintings on loan from a number of Jones, Ipswich Borough Council's portfolio holder for planning and museums, said: "These once-in-a-lifetime loans will tell the story of our own Suffolk-born artist whose radical approach revolutionised landscape painting." Constable, who died aged 60 in 1837, is best known for his depiction of the English countryside, particularly his native is best known for his 1821 oil painting The Hay Wain which became a sensation in the art world when it was exhibited at the Louvre in Paris in 250 will feature three exhibitions which will be led by Colchester and Ipswich Museums, which is jointly run by Colchester City Council and Ipswich Borough National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund, Arts Council England, and other key partners, are set to work alongside them. The year-long programme of exhibitions and events will be showcased at Christchurch Mansion. The authority said the exhibitions would include work on loan from the Tate, National Galleries of Scotland, Victoria & Albert Museum, Royal Academy and the Government Art showcase will feature three exhibitions - Constable: A Cast of Characters; Constable: Walking the Landscape; and Constable to Contemporary. Ms Jones added: "We are very grateful to all the organisations supporting Constable 250 and partnering with us to make it possible."Local workshops and artist-led sessions will be held for families and school across school holidays, the council added. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
New York Times
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
A ‘Romantic Idealist' Renovates a Derelict House on an Artist's Budget
Standing in his kitchen, with walls the color of green tea, Peter Daverington stops, closes his eyes and surrenders to Nina Simone's melancholy rendition of 'Mr. Bojangles,' a haunting lullaby of love and loss. He plays it twice. 'This song is about taking on hardships with grace,' he explains. 'Turning something ugly into something beautiful.' He understands this well. As an Australian-born street artist turned landscape painter, and an accomplished Turkish ney — flute — player, Mr. Daverington, who is an acquaintance of mine, has dedicated his career to the enrichment of space and the pursuit of the sublime. As a recently divorced 51-year-old man, he has rebuilt his life by rehabilitating a derelict old house on a small lot in Esopus, N.Y. 'This house is healing medicine to me,' he said of the 1897 three-story vernacular just steps from the Hudson River. 'It is my deliverance from the darkest of nights and it's my phoenix rising.' Mr. Daverington, known for his public works fusing old master sobriety with new urban swagger, renovated the house with the eye — and the wallet — of a working artist. Enlisting a contractor and designer was out of reach, so he did most of the work himself. Sourcing his materials from accessible vendors like Home Depot and Facebook Marketplace, he remodeled his home from a blank canvas of beams and studs to a historically detailed live/work studio. Purchased as a two-family fixer-upper with his ex-wife for $60,000 in 2020, the house remained uninhabitable until the marriage ended two years later. With no other place to live, he moved into the owner's unit in 2022, camping out on the floor for a full year while struggling to work and pay bills. 'For a long time, I didn't know where my next dollar was coming from, because I rely on periodical sales of my paintings,' he revealed. 'I had to live like that and just felt defeated.' With little savings, Mr. Daverington needed help with the down payment during the marriage and the equity buyout during the divorce. Simon Ford, a retired investment banker and longtime super-patron in Sydney, came to the rescue by commissioning a painting to provide funds for the initial purchase of the property and mobilized other Australian patrons to follow suit for the buyout. 'Artists particularly have trouble buying a house because they can never put the deposits together,' said Mr. Ford on a video call. In the background hung one of Mr. Daverington's commissions: a colossal $40,000 quadriptych based on Giovanni Boccaccio's 14th-century book The Decameron. 'Everyone needs a home, and we were happy to help.' At the time of purchase, the house was covered in beige siding and dead vines, and the inside housed a warren of bleak rooms and fixtures awaiting demolition. 'The rooms had all been cut and chopped up, and I had to put all the character back in,' he said. Out of necessity, Mr. Daverington addressed the kitchen and bathrooms first. He moved the location of the kitchen and installed basic white cabinets with butcher block countertops from Home Depot. He later painted them green. To complement the warmth of the laminated surfaces, he exposed and varnished the wooden beams in the ceiling, which raised the room height by several inches. He added visual interest to the kitchen with a set of arched corner cabinets flanking a widened Greek Revival-style architrave enhanced by a pair of fluted columns. Having collected these elements from various thrift stores, lumberyards, and Facebook Marketplace, he unified the decorative pastiche with several coats of white paint. For the primary bathroom, he wanted early 20th-century mosaic flooring but found the cost prohibitive. Instead, he bought sheets of black-and-white penny tile and methodically sequenced each tessera to form diamond-shaped patterns. The process took months. He also mounted a vintage pedestal sink that he bought from an online seller for $100, and swapped the baseboard heater for a functional antique radiator, which required an overhaul of the plumbing system. Maintaining aesthetic consistency was worth the extra effort. 'I'm not a practical person,' he confessed. 'I'm a Romantic idealist.' This philosophy is most evident in his upstairs hallway, which is being transformed into a panoramic, Zuber-style scene of the Hudson River Valley at sunset. With exacting detail and astonishing depth, his hand-painted mural evokes the landscapes of the Hudson River School, a deeply Romantic collective of 19th-century landscape painters who celebrated the intensity of emotion and the splendor of nature. For a maximalist like Mr. Daverington, plain white walls beg for color, texture, and pattern. He has lacquered walls in phthalo green, burnished ceilings with Venetian plaster made of marble dust and lime, stretched old painted canvasses as wallpaper, and is currently hand painting a second bathroom in a repeating pattern of kookaburras, kangaroos, and koalas in a style he has named 'Australasiaoiserie.' Walls also tell stories about the house's past. In what is now the guest bedroom, original lath and plaster smoothed over a rough brick insulation called nogging, had decayed in sections, and was coated in five layers of paint. Gentle application of a scraper revealed a floral lattice wallpaper, which he left as is, creating a distressed cottage-core atmosphere. In addition to painted walls, he taught himself to make bluestone ones using the historical abundance of materials quarried in Ulster County. Inspired by Harvey Fite's Opus 40 in Saugerties, he used traditional techniques — no mortar — to build retaining walls, curved steps, garden niches, and a flagstone patio. Avi Gitler, an art gallerist in Manhattan and neighbor in nearby West Shokan, N.Y., saw Mr. Daverington's masonry and hired him to build a sprawling stone terrace and fire pit to accommodate 'en plein air' retreats for artists at his home. 'Peter is such a Renaissance man,' said Mr. Gitler. 'He's a great musician, a great painter and street artist, and a hell of a builder.' To date, Mr. Daverington estimates that he has spent $300,000 on his ongoing project. 'When I sell another painting, I'll put in reclaimed vintage flooring,' he said. Since the job in West Shokan, Mr. Daverington has landed several more commissions to paint residential murals upstate, allowing him to carry on the ideals of his artistic predecessors in addition to paying for new renovations on his house. 'I have discovered my own America here in the Hudson Valley,' he said. 'I came here to pursue a career in contemporary art in New York City, but what I really discovered was New York State.'
