// Gallery review
Artist Ruth Piper is a little afraid of horses but loves watching Westerns. John Ford’s classic film The Searchers gave her the concept for a new commercial gallery project. While watching a re-run of The Searchers one Saturday afternoon, she realised that all artists are conducting a search.
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1 Midnight Trifle 2011 // Melanie Russell 2 History of the 19th Century Vol 1 // Alex Korzer-Robinson 3 Leaving there too soon // Maggie Royle 4 Wet casements // Brendan Lancaster
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RWA magazine Autumn 2012
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The Searchers Contemporary gallery project Obsessive by nature, the artist travels through unmapped territories and investigates new frontiers looking for fresh insights and new configurations. The Searchers Contemporary gallery was formed out of a desire to increase the visibility and public access to contemporary art and celebrate its diversity. Although Bristol is known for its excellent animators, illustrators and street art and has hosted some innovative conceptual art projects a number of studio artists with growing reputations quietly producing exciting, considered and engaging work remain hidden from view. Ruth’s experience as a successful practicing artist, marketing her own work, organising exhibitions and events, collaborating with designers and running several small creative businesses, provides a firm foundation for the project. She brings knowledge and understanding of both artists and buyers and ways of bringing the two together. The Searchers will celebrate and promote collectable art across all art forms in particular the exciting possibilities and constant reinvention of painting. The gallery will work with and support artists who are exploring the boundaries of their chosen medium and introduce new art from Bristol, the South West and London to a wider public through curated exhibitions, open submission shows and events. The Searchers aim is to encourage and develop a deeper knowledge, understanding
and love of contemporary art. Good art can stop you in your tracks or gradually work its way into your heart and be both familiar and strange at the same time. Good art is not completely knowable but makes you feel alive and wanting more. It can change your life and make you happy every day. To begin with, The Searchers Contemporary will be a roaming gallery with a programme of four exhibitions. Their first resting place and launch opens on 7 September at Centrespace Gallery bringing together ten artists, who either live and work in Bristol or have strong connections in the city. Nine painters and one book sculptor have in common an ability to transform their ideas and experiences into objects of desire.
Objects of Desire Anne Adamson, Stephen Buckeridge, Michael Hayter, Brendan Lancaster, Robert Lang, Midge Naylor, Alexander Korzer-Robinson, Maggie Royle, Melanie Russell, Jess Woodrow 7 – 19 September 2012 Preview: Friday 7 September 6.30 – 9pm Open: 11 – 5pm Mon – Sat Centrespace Gallery 6 Leonard Lane, Bristol BS1 1EA For further information or a preview invitation please join The Searchers mailing list on the website or contact: Ruth Piper 07711 541 852 ruth@thesearcherscontemporary.com