CACOPHONY
Copyright 2023 View Art Gallery
The rights of View Art Gallery as author of the work has been asserted to them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
books
View Art Gallery presents the group show
February 23 - April 9, 2023
View Art Gallery
159 Hotwell Road Bristol BS8 4RY
United Kingdom
info@viewartgallery.co.uk
CACOPHONY
THOMAS DOWDESWELL LOUISE C EAMES
HOLLY
MINGO
MARK ELLIOTT SMITH
JESSIE WOODWARD
CACOPHONY
An exhibition of visual Jazz, dissonant tones coalesce on canvas to create vivid colour harmonies. As with many abstract artworks we may be immersed in moving contours of form and colour. Or perhaps, before our eyes, order manifests from chaos so that the paintings modulate into recognisable forms; a feeling evoked from imagined or forgotten memories.
Artists often describe the sensation of synesthesia (not necessarily using the expression) when creating their artwork. This psychological condition can be described as the blending of senses, where an experience in one sense stimulates another. One of the most common forms of this is when we ‘hear colour’, such as listening to music and seeing different colours for different sounds. Some researchers have gone as far as to create a dictionary of sound and colour, where one sound or note corresponds to a specific hue.
For many years, visual artists have been inspired by music in their creative practice. Kandinsky painted his feelings after attending a Wagner concert... “I saw all my colors in my mind, they stood before my eyes. Wild, almost crazy lines were sketched in front of me... It became quite clear to me that art in general was far more powerful than I had thought, and that painting could develop just such powers as music possesses.”
The artists in CACOPHONY are all inspired by music in their work, either directly in the creative process or from emotional triggers.
Jessie Woodward
Jessie Woodward is an abstract painter and mixed media artist, based in Bristol, UK. Her instinctive way of working explores the language of paint and mark-making to evoke emotions in the viewer, aiming to communicate how pure abstract work can generate visual energetic joy and pleasure.
The way Jessie experiments with materials, a vibrant colour palette and textures is key to making each piece vividly unique. She looks at the dynamics created when colours, marks, textures and ratios are set with and against each other to create a cohesive piece.
In Jessie’s mark-making and expressive palette, we can imagine a visual interpretation of musical notation from sounds that are osmosed as she works.
#646
Acrylic, Posca pen and oil bar on canvas
100 x 100 cm
#652
Acrylic, Posca pen and oil bar on canvass
100 x 100 cm
#657
Acrylic, Posca pen and oil bar on canvas
60 x 60 cm
#658
Acrylic, Posca pen and oil bar on canvas
60 x 60 cm
#659
Acrylic, Posca pen and oil bar on canvas
60 x 60 cm
#660
Acrylic, Posca pen and oil bar on canvas
60 x 60 cm
#661
Acrylic, Posca pen and oil bar on canvas
60 x 60 cm
#662
Acrylic, Posca pen and oil bar on canvas
60 x 60 cm
#650
Acrylic, Posca pen and oil bar on canvas
80 x 80 cm
#582
Acrylic, Posca pen and oil bar on canvas
40 x 40 cm
#588
Acrylic, Posca pen and oil bar on canvas
40 x 40 cm
#593
Acrylic, Posca pen and oil bar on canvas
40 x 40 cm
Thomas Dowdeswell
Thomas Dowdeswell pulls back the curtain on current, controversial issues with surreal political satire, challenging the viewer to confront, digest and empathize with multiple perspectives, both literally and theoretically. The complexity is discernible and at times even daunting, yet Thomas’ works remain decipherable like an unnerving cautionary poem of the end of civilization as we know it.
Meanwhile, under the geometrical figures, symbolic colour palettes, and explicit imagery, an intellectual voice is always present. Thomas’ surrealist style creates a dreamscape atmosphere where he deliberately juxtaposes imagery of desperation and opulence, victimization and exploitation, in an attempt to explore the inequality of society through a flurry of abstraction and symbolism.
Thomas dreams big, thinks big and creates big. His large canvases fill a room, both physically and through the high impact of their aesthetic and narrative. The painting “A Complex State Of Affairs” is one of his more abstract paintings, where we can see and feel without a prescriptive narrative. There is agitation in the movement and chaos, but also calmness in the curves of parallel lines and the use of a soft pallette. Symbols combine mechanic with organic and lead us to consider the meaning of the painting’s title. In musical terms, the painting is a multi-instrument concerto with rises and falls in tempo and dynamics. It has elements of jazz, where the apparent chaos of improvisation is brought to order with a common rhythm. It is also pure punk rock, rebellious and raw.
The work of Thomas Dowdswell allows us to reverse one of the synesthesia conditions of ‘seeing sound’ by imagining the musical inspiration of the painting by ‘hearing colour and form’.
A Complex State of Affairs, oil on canvas, 178 x 137 cm
Mark Elliott Smith
Mark Elliott Smith explores the realms of suggestive, enigmatic apparitions, seeing thoughts and ideas as patterns which interact to define the optimum image in new shapes and configurations. His large abstract canvases are worked in pure colours with vivid, clean edged forms with playful and energetic elements. Paint is laid on flat with a brush to a smooth crisp finish, while a dynamic illusion of three dimensions is created through the placement of form and colour.
Through altering and dramatising the scale of his preparatory, often very small drawings, and representing chance actions in a controlled and deliberate way, the process of painting reveals and amplifies previously hidden information. This is both visual and psychological and hints at some kind of narrative beyond the viewer’s conscious grasp. What is sought is a combination of spontaneity and control; a chaotic precision that extracts and re-presents the lost and found on an epic scale. Likewise, the titles of his paintings, though they parallel rather than describe the work, are precise and are chosen to function as micro-poems analogous to the images as they emerge and are defined.
Mark is a deep thinker, a precise technician, with a fluid artistic flare. These unusual combinations contribute to the controlled chaos of highly impactful paintings.
Parading With The Jester In The Details Of My Mind acrylic on canvas, 75 x 75 cm
The Phantasmagoric Symphony Of Soundscapes On The Wing acrylic on canvas, 75 x 75 cm
Clapping Backwards Through A Lemon Drop In A Lightning Storm acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100 cm
In A Kaleidoscopic
Moving Bricks
Wall Without Permanence Or Focus acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100 cm
The Interconnecting Energy Of Unifying Elements
Radiance, colour pencil on paper, 54 x 42 cm
acrylic on canvas, 160 x 160 cm
Resonance, colour pencil on paper, 54 x 42 cm
Solace, colour pencil on paper, 54 x 42 cm
Holly Mingo
Holly Mingo is a unique abstract expressionist who creates conscious and spontaneous depictions of the mind, inspired by music and experience.
Focusing on the process rather than the outcome, she uses music and a meditative approach to create otherworldly works with no planning. Her work is created only with permanent mediums as she insists there are no mistakes when creating. Holly’s main inspiration is nature, experience, and freedom; she sees her work to be a visual metaphor for life and the mind. Her process often uses rhythmic auditory stimulus to allow a ‘free-flow’ state.
Holly is showing her large format work for the first time at the CACOPHONY exhibition. Having become a prominent artist outside of the commercial gallery arena, she is now seeking to transition from performance artist to fine art exhibitor.
We can see Holly perform at our private view of the CACOPHONY exhibition, where she will be creating a drawing on glass, responding to live music. She can often be seen in clubs, festivals and on the street, spontaneously drawing on different materials and using large format projection. Holly has her own designs on various clothing, available to buy.
Holly also runs workshops where she guides participants through the sub-conscious freestyle drawing to music. She will be running these ‘creative experience workshops’ at View during the period of the CACOPHONY exhibition.
This is an exciting young emerging artist who has a unique creative process.
Oil 1, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm
7 Worlds, acrylic on canvas, 90 x 90 cm
Limitless Possibility, acrylic marker on canvas, 120 x 150 cm
next page: Blue, acrylic marker on canvas, 100 x 150 cm
Red, acrylic marker on canvas, 40 x 50 cm
Chaos 1, acrylic marker on canvas, 50 x 60 cm
Louise C Eames
Louise Charlotte Eames is a gestural abstract painter, who has great interest in exploring the relationships between aesthetic sensibility and improvisatory practice. She paints in a free ranging manner, working at a quick pace and endeavours not to visualise the final outcome, attempting to avoid the infiltration of more rational thought processes.
“I love brash, bright and zinging colours and the lush materiality of full bodied acrylic paint. I relish the act of painting and the handling of paint.”
Louise’s work is influenced by improvisatory nature and the processes of modern jazz, drama and dance. She describes herself as a ‘desert island disc’, type of music lover, with diverse playlists covering a vast range of differing sounds. It is this eclectic musical inspiration that translates to the canvas. Her process is to allow the music to guide her palette and brushstrokes and it is often only on reflection that she sees the connection with the music, often reflected in the paintings’ titles.
Louise’s creative process is unplanned and free flowing. A particular Joan Miro quote resonates with her... ‘When I stand in front of a canvas I never know what I’ll do and I am the first one surprised by what comes out’.
Firecracker 2, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 cm
Firecracker 1, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 cm
Firecracker 4, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40 cm
Arabesque 1, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 cm
Buzz, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 cm
Cool Zing, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40 cm
Scherzo 4, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40 cm
Scherzo 1, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40 cm
Sway, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 cm
Scherzo 3, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40 cm
Tutti Frutti Grande, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40 cm
Smoothie, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40 cm
viewartgallery.uk
