Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting exhibition at the Bernard Jacobson Gallery of prints by Robert Motherwell. Motherwell made prints throughout his career as an abstract expressionist and this show covered from early experimental work to the sets he made with Ken Tyler. I must admit I’m not a great expressionist fan and I found gesture worked less well in prints as I felt distanced from the artist, however there I did like the collage effect ones including cigarette packets. Closed 7 March 2020

Fun exhibition at the Bernard Jacobson Gallery of new work by Marc Vaux. These works are bright, geometric abstract works either flat or 3D in design. Of the flat ones   I Iiked the big squares with rainbow edges like the one shown here. I love the way you see more colour if you view them from the side. They feel like a cheerful Black Square! I loved the low reliefs which are mounted on a circular hanging devise so they can be turned around so there unlimited ways to view the work however my favourite were the more 3D ones which intersected ovals and trapeze shapes in bright colours. Again they look different from different angles and reminded me of a 3D version a Dora Maar as shown recently at Tate Modern. Closes 4 January 2020

Interesting exhibition at the Bernard Jacobson Gallery showing works on paper by Robyn Denny. Denny was part of the “New Generation” of British artists which included Peter Blake and David Hockney. He a mural for the Austin Reed shop in 1958 and this show included a maquette for this work shown here. I loved some work which used five layers of card with sections cut out and fanned to show all the colours. I also like the early collages. The main downstairs gallery showed small intimate works including a series called 1A. Closes 10 November 2019

Colourful exhibition at the Benard Jacobson Gallery of new work by William Tilyer, one of a series of shows to mark the artists 80th birthday. Despite the fact these were abstracts I loved them for their colour and technique. The majority of the pictures were made by squeezing paint through painted perforated metal with some over painting and manipulating of the paint. I love the texture of the work although it did remind me slightly of popping spots as a teenager! The star of the show was the large work “The Golden Striker”, five large panels ranging from rectangles at one end, through a gold haze to a circular effect at the other end. Closing on 24 November 2018

Beautiful exhibition at the Bernard Jacobson Gallery looking at works by William Tilyer illustrating poems by Alice Oswald.   The poems and pictures developed over three years with each inspiring the others with shared ideas and prompting. The theme is water and the lovely abstract pictures give as a sense of swirling water and reflections on it. Although lines from the poem are stencilled on the wall I would have liked to see more of the words. I did stand and read the book for a while but as it’s on the reception desk you don’t feel you can linger too long.   Closed on 30 June 2018

Interesting exhibition at the Bernard Jacobson Gallery of work by Marc Vaux, from the last 30 years. The show consisted of wall constructions and sculptures. The works were quite minimal but made great use of colour. They changed as you walked round them and the light and shadow fell on them in different ways. Some had a feel of 3 dimensional Mondrian’s with the colour along the end of white strips. There were also nice minimal sketches for the finished work. Closed on 21 December 2017  

Interesting exhibition at Bernard Jacobson Gallery of works by Matisse. The show focused on a picture of Matisse in his studio from 1921 in which he shows himself in a rare self-portrait painting a model. It is shown with various studies of models and other pictures of people in interiors. I loved a picture of a woman in a green dress at a shuttered window with a Bloomsbury style painted wall under the window. There were also two delightful head studies of a girl with a hat and plaits. I was interested in an unfinished picture as I have been to some seminars at the National Gallery so it made me think about his technique and why various sections had been left. The pictures were shown with two bronze sculptures by Matisse, a lovely head study of his daughter and a crouching nude figure, as well as with a   copy of “Jazz” the colourful book of prints made using his cut out technique.   Closes on 16 September 2017  

Colourful exhibition at the Bernard Jacobson Gallery of work by William Tillyer. The title work was a huge long painting which looked great in the space. It was great swathes of colour against a grey background. Up close you could see the wide brush strokes.   I loved the work opposite it, “Skydancer” which a mix between a painting and a sculpture. Acrylic paint had been applied to stainless steel mesh in an abstract pattern so that in places it escaped the rectangle of the mesh to form flat projections. Also interesting was a lovely conventional seascape from 1956 which was shown with four later pictures showing how Tillyer’s art had developed. On the upper floor I liked “Relentless” from last year which again was mesh but this finer with paint pushed up through the holes from the back as well as being applied to the front. It had a wonderful texture. Closes on 13 April 2017

Colourful exhibition at the Bernard Jacobson Gallery featuring the work of Robert Motherwell, an American abstract expressionist. It has been put on to complement the current exhibition at the Royal Academy which I haven’t been to yet. This gallery is just over the road from the RA so pop over if you are at the show there. However I must admit it confirmed in my mind that I think I’ve going to find the RA exhibition hard going.   I just don’t respond well this this sort of abstract work. The pictures I liked were those with some base in the real world such as “The Studio” from 1987 which I think you can see some semblance of a figure at an easel. I also liked “Mexican Window” which I didn’t understand at first but they did see in it a yellow house with a blue shutter. I got on best with pictures that had some explanation on the handout so here’s hoping the RA show has a good commentary or I’m lost! Closes on 26 November 2016