Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting exhibition at the Mayor Gallery looking at two conceptual artists Billy Apple®   and Braco Dimitrijevic. I always find it difficult to see conceptual, performative art shown in a static gallery situation but this show was made by the friendly attendant who explained the work of the two artists to me with made the works, which were mainly photographs come to life. I liked this work by Billy Apple as it references Brighton Beach so it won me over straight away. I’m now off to do some googling on the two artists. Closed 24 May 2024  

Fascinating exhibition at the Mayor Gallery of work by New Orleans, untrained artist Roy Ferdinand. These pictures of daily life in the city’s poorest neighbours were often brutal subjects but tenderly painted with an inside understanding of the lives being lived there. They had a documentary quality while being naïve in style. It was useful to have the good press release to learn about the life of Ferdinand who sadly died of cancer at 45. I got a real sense of standing in a group of people who knew and interacted with each other. It is probably better to see a group of them rather than individual works. Closed 7 October 2022

Calm exhibition at the Mayor Gallery of series of paintings by Josip Vaništa. This series consisted of a straight line crossing a monochrome surface which the press release said represented “striving for infinity” and they did have a sense that the line would carry on for ever. The pictures were hung beautifully so the lines matched around the room with just the colours changing not the image or levels. I found these works had a sense of focus and calm despite the fact other works were being examined for a future show round the bottom of the walls. Closes 29 November 2019