Clouds on a warm Tuesday evening
…the Bernard Jacobson Gallery held a preview of William Tillyer’s new paintings, a series of innovative metal lattice works inspired by Tillyer’s cloud study of the Helmsley sky in Yorkshire. Clearly a man of his word, Mr. Jacobson had promised to introduce my friend & I to the artist, and indeed, Mr.Tillyer snuck up on us while we were enthusiastically flicking through an archive book of his exceptional water-colours. It was a real treat actually, and a privilege, I mean how often does one get the opportunity to ask an accomplished artist such daft questions as ‘what prompted you to start painting?’, it was like asking a fish why they like swimming. More insightful, however, was Tillyer’s description of his long-term love affair with employing interactive materials as part of his creative process, while using the archive book as a reference point to demonstrate. ‘Do you remember every piece of work you’ve ever created?’ asked my friend, ‘oh yes, every one’ Mr. Tillyer replied. At the age of 71 that’s not bad going, given that I seldom remember what I had for breakfast. The last two paragraphs of the artist’s wall-mounted notes are especially poignant, and for me, sums up the motivation behind artistic endeavor:
‘This simple observation states my need to ‘prick the bubble’ and operate in today’s ever narrowing gap between order and chaos, the romantic, scientific, rural and urban, and most of all between control, and letting go.
In setting down these brief notes, I have started with the least important aspects of theme, or any other body of work. It is the very last point, that gap, that space between, for which I have no real name that is important, and in the end that which I am unable to verbalize.’ William Tillyer 2010
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I definitely floated away on a Tillyer Cloud 9.
V
William Tillyer etching Clouds 2010
Tillyer etching Clouds, work in progress 2009
Tillyer Bloworth Blue
Ed: note that from June 24th, the Bernard Jacobson Gallery is holding the first exhibition of new work by Pierre Soulages in London since 1972 – not to be missed!
Rob Jones abstract paintings at York Open Studios 2010
ceramics by Ruth King
Recently, while browsing York Art Gallery, I came face to face with a Ben Nicholson painting that I’ve not seen before, Still Life: Birdie, 1934. I had to remind myself to breath. And why stealing is bad.
In the same exhibition room sits a pot, Vessel According To Klee XI, 2002, by Gordon Baldwin. According to Rothschild, Baldwin is one of the UK’s best potters, and it’s easy to see why; this pot is the quintessence of abstract sensibility.
So I did a quick search on the internet when I arrived back in London to find that the Barrett Marsden gallery is currently running an exhibition of Baldwin’s ceramics and drawings. For The Alchemist 1, currently showing at BMG, reminds me of a page I found in an El Lissitzky book stashed in the upstairs room of Janette Ray, a very cool rare art & design book store on Bootham. This particular page (in a German edition of El Lissitzky’s work) really stood out for it’s abstract simplicity.
