That, which binds us-2024 show brochure

R o n n i e R e n n o l d s o 20 24 T H AT , W H I C H B I N D S U S .

Exhibition Catalogue That, which binds us, The Crypt, St. Michael on the Mount Without, St Michaels Hill, Bristol.

April 2024

Published by Dumbmutt publications, Bristol and available on ISSUU

Contents Biography.

That, which binds us.

The paintings and other works: That, which binds us: Paintings and sketches.

Dances. No’s 1-12: Backlit paintings.

Contemptible. Nine portraits: Giclee from original paintings.

V for victory: AV piece with found object assembly.

Black’s move: Paintings and commissioned carpet.

The anthem of my youth.

Biography Born in Germany to army parents, Ronnie initially studied under the Scottish colourist, John Nelson, at the newly opened Stevenson College in Edinburgh.

Living in garrison towns in both England and Germany, summers were spent in Berlin with the German side of his family and while negotiating the impact of both a divided Germany and the Berlin wall, he developed a taste for modernism and an understanding of place.

Moving to Dundee he studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design before graduating with degrees in Architecture from Dundee University.

While working in Bristol and winning accolades for his public sector projects he enabled notable artists such as Elizabeth Frink, Martin Donlin, Robert Harris, John Hubbard and Kate Blee to incorporate their work within his projects. Having set up the award winning architectural consultancy CODA Architects, he was able to explore themes that would also inform his Art; themes that were intellectually generated, poetically inspired and reflecting the ’genius Loci ‘ of a place.

Now working full time from his Bristol based studio he produces twelve to fourteen works a year. His work is held in private and corporate collections and has been exhibited in Royal Scottish Academy, Royal West of England Academy, Swindon Museum of Art, Centre space in Bristol and at the Swiss Art Expo in Zurich .

V for Victory: a self portrait ( and a cry for help)

That , which binds us, and other paintings. April 2024 The show is in five parts, each capable of standing in isolation but together they form a narrative that explores what it is that binds us and causes us to repeat the past .

Narrative is perfected by retelling; the repetition helps develop new layers of understanding.

Memory works this way, it is only what you choose it to be. It is a truth wrapped up layers of emotion and self-deception but there are no answers.

This is where my art lies.

Memory, inspired by photographs and music (sometimes too painful to hear), indicates that a future unfettered by the past is not possible. Through detachment and self reflection, the opportunity of reinvention presents itself, a canvas to paint over, but the past continues to haunt.

The act of reinvention is then replaced by a stillness that merely shouts of the possibility of better things. The stillness is too loud so you repeat what you know, and in repetition, you find exactly what it is that binds you to the past and so find a future in an invented narrative, modified through reiteration, calcified by use.

These new paintings start with a line covered by a broad field of paint into which signifying marks are made and over which specific details are layered. Non-figurative elements that create a notion of place merge with fixed points creating mostly abstract and nonrepresentational images.

Canvas is sometimes left unpainted either as vestigial space to allow the subject to breathe or from a belief that what isn't said also has value; the canvas merely recording a fleeting moment of a much larger event.

V for Victory.

The paintings and other works .

That, which binds us: Acrylic on canvas paintings and preliminary sketches on handmade paper

Dances. No’s 1-12: Acrylic on canvas backlit paintings

Contemptible. Nine portraits: Giclee from original acrylic, inkjet and decoupage paintings on canvas

V for Victory: AV piece from acrylic on metal paintings with found object tallow assembly

Black’s move/Tale: Acrylic on canvas paintings and a carpet commission

Other paintings are acrylic on canvas

That, which binds us #1 Acrylic on canvas: 1000 x 1000 Five individual paintings, conceived to be seen together but each work is self-contained.

Inspired by the poem ‘For what binds us’ by Jane Hirschfield.

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That, which binds us #2 Acrylic on canvas: 1000 x 1000

That, which binds us #3 Acrylic on canvas: 1000 x 1000 .

That, which binds us #4 Acrylic on canvas: 1000 x 1000 .

That, which binds us #5 Acrylic on canvas: 1000 x 1000

dances: no’s 1-3 Acrylic on canvas, backlit: 250 x 300

Cadmium, cobalt and gold overlaid with black and liquid white This series of paintings was inspired by the 2010 Seigensha publication ‘ A dictionary of colour combinations’.

The dictionary is a collection of combinations originated by Sanzo Wada ( 1883-1967) who laid down the foundations of colour research offering an alternative to western influenced colour theory.

dances: no’s 4-6 Acrylic on canvas, backlit:. 250 x 300

Purple, phthalocyanine and gold overlaid with black and liquid white .

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dances: no’s 7-9 Acrylic on canvas, backlit: 250 x 300

Veridian, violet and gold overlaid with black and liquid white .

dances: no’s 10-12 Acrylic on canvas, backlit: 250 x 300

Lime, ultramarine and gold overlaid with black and liquid white .

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Contemptible: nine portraits.

Giclee on 350g Hahnemuhle museum quality paper.

150 x 150 image/300 x 300 framed.

Limited edition of 25 each.

The portraits result from a chain of thought that started with the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and a recognition that many have died in the name of populist/nationalist rhetoric and that the despots who initiate authoritarian regimes, despite their corrupt moral compass, all crave admiration.

Although portraiture tries to capture the essence of the subject while showing something new about them, I chose to follow a portraiture tradition (in both paint and photography) of flattery and mockery and having selected benign photos of some leaders that I consider to be authoritarian, imagined them after a bit of help with a makeup artist, adding props to further disguise their inhumanity as if they were to appear in a popular TV game show, rendering them ridiculous.

Blankety Blank anyone?

black’s move Acrylic on canvas: 250 x 300

Tale Acrylic on canvas: 1400X1000 Commissioned as a 1750 x 2000 sheep's wool carpet handmade made in India India and Pakistan have always made carpets with Mirzapur and Bhadohi as the traditional hub of production in India dating back to the 16th century during the reign of the Mughal emperor, Akbar, with small workshops tucked away across cities, towns and rural hamlets,.

The industry has since developed to embrace natural dyeing and artisanal manufacturing techniques and now accounts for 40% of the worldwide market for handmade carpets.

Modern techniques avoid the repetitiveness of industrialised processes or the time required for hand knotting by using a modern stitching gun and yarn technique with designs often generated by computer.

Individual stitching guns are loaded with yarns, a design is printed and pinned and then drawn and painted onto a stretched fabric base. The yarn is loop stitched using the guns while standing.

Although Tale is entirely black and white, two to three artisans can work on a carpet at a time, looping colours in and around each other, mixing, as on a palette.

See: www.ronnierennoldson.com/carpet for more detail on how these are made .

‘...but not mine’ Acrylic on canvas: 910 x 460

everything in its place Acrylic on canvas: 900 x 900

dance Acrylic on canvas: 900 x 900

Lime, ultramarine and gold overlaid with black and liquid blue .

www.ronnierennoldson.com