Leamington Spa

Wild Sea Rising

George's abstract painting is grounded in his journeys to many landscapes, which provide the source material for his search for an abstract construct as an equivalent for visual experience within landscape.The experience of viewing his paintings provides those hints and glimpses of space experienced within the natural world. His paintings are landscapes of the mind as much as landscapes of place.

www.georgetaylorart.com

Yes

Libby January says she likes to 'inkle' and her abstract paintings are full of inklings!  Of what?  About what? You will  find suggestions of landscapes, nature, graffitied walls, thoughts, particle physics, poetry, music etc. etc. Inklings of her life that flows discretely and indiscretely through the 'cloud chamber' she names Art.  When inklings collide ideas are born, (virtually)! Libby January invites you to 'inkle' with her!

www.libbyjanuary.com

Starts 22nd February 2010
Ends 12th March 2010
Opening Hours Mon- Fri 8.30 -16.30

Exhibition Review

This is an exhibition of two ‘abstract’ artists both of whom have reached maturity of style. Libby January’s latest work is impish, playful and poetic. She appears to have thrown off the yoke of Cy Twombly and has entered a phase where some of his vocabulary is discernible but essentially the language employed is her own. The use of pastel has given her freedom which she has used to good effect. One can read in the mark making a humour where she plays on the caption ‘1 Red Cup, 1 Blue Cup’, as if a mantra for a child to learn, but the rest of the image is a sort of glorious scribble. ‘Love Song’ again has an evocation, and the titles guide one, as a helpful mode into the mood created by the elaborate and sensitive forms which are sometimes mere wisps, but enough to keep the eye roving and alight. I liked ‘Visual Buzz’ and ‘Mm’ 1 and 2, and ‘Singular Particular’, and in fact I liked a great deal of what I saw. Her work is varied and the whole experience meaningful and delightful.

When one turns to George Taylor there is an odd echo of the same mood although the imagery is very different. Here colour plays a more prominent role, so in ‘Ancient Sands of Egypt’ yellow dominates and sets the right tone in response to the experience. The language abstracted from lived experience is sufficiently intelligible to convey a sense of place without it being necessarily specific. So in ‘Wild Sea Rising’, with its heaving mass of blue tinged with white one feels a response to water, which has become uncontrollable. But nothing threatens as the colour alleviates danger and the lyricism of the touch conveys a life enhancing quality to the work. This is strong, firm, knowledgeable image-making and delight fills the room. One could live in a happy frame of mind with a picture of this kind.
If one were to sum up one’s responses I would have to say this is a strong, meaningful show and well worth coming to see.
Dave Phillips

Photos of the event by Ray Spence