Exhibitions

Exhibitions

The Aubrey Beardsley Exibition at Tate Britain, March - September, 2020

For this exhibtion of Aubrey Beardsley's consummate draughtsmanship, Tate Britain collected the largest collection of Beardsley's original artwork ever seen. Towards the end of the exhibition, there is a section on artists who have been influenced by Beardsley since his death. I was honoured to have my drawing of Beardsley on his deathbed (from my film, 'After Beardsley') included, appropriately, as the final image of the exhibition.

The Aubrey Beardsley Centenary Exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1998.

For the 100th anniversary of Aubrey Beardsley's death, the V&A staged a major exhibition which then moved to the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. My animated film 'After Beardsley' was shown on a continuous loop throughout, and my drawing of Beardsley on his death bed (purchased by the V&A after the exhibition) was included in the exhibition catalogue.

My pieces in Andrew Lanyon’s exhibition, ‘Von Ribbentrop in St. Ives – Art and War in the Last Resort’  

‘Von Ribbentrop in St. Ives’ was exhibited at Kestle Barton Gallery, Cornwall, the Peer Gallery, London, and Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge in 2010/11. It was also published as a book.
(Click on the image for a larger view) 
Andrew Lanyon sawing the toes off a doll during one of his ‘Ribbentrop’ model-making workshops in Falmouth attended by a number of local artists. 

Freud with Patient

The brief to me from Andrew was to depict Sigmund Freud interviewing a patient on a couch in one continuous, unbroken line. I ended up using soldering wire suspended from above. Being somewhat soft, the soldering wire led to some unfortunate ‘Freudian slips’ which required continuous gluing and wiring before the rendition was finally stabilised. 
Various views of the finished piece, using a single length of soldering wire (through a hole drilled down the centre of the pencil). 
The image as it appeared in Andrew Lanyon’s book.

Praxinoscope

Because there was a larger exhibition space at Kettle’s Yard than at the previous two venues, we decided to add an extra piece to the exhibition. I had the idea of using a simple praxinoscope animation of Edward VIII turning into Joachim von Ribbentrop, the connection being that they both had affairs with Wallis Simpson. I told Andrew I was trying to source a praxinoscope and he told me not to bother, because he happened to have one in his mother’s garden shed (doesn’t everyone?). 
The praxinoscope comprises an inner drum, to which are affixed 24 small mirrors, and an outer drum, inside of which are placed 24 drawings. The viewer slowly rotates the praxinoscope while looking at the mirrors. As each drawing casts its image on the mirror, a rudimentary form of animation takes place. 

24 drawings were perfectly sufficient for me to achieve the transformation of Edward VIII into Joachim von Ribbentrop. At the top of the central drum, four small gold-framed photos of Wallis Simpson, their shared inamorata, join the dance.  

My pieces in Andrew Lanyon’s exhibition, ‘The Only Non-slip Dodo Mat in the World’, 2013 

‘Dodo’ was exhibited at the Falmouth Art Gallery in 2013 and was accompanied by a book (see Print on this website). The underlying thread of the work is how archaeologist and explorer Ambrose Fortescue sets up home inside the statues of notable people as a way of getting closer to understanding them. 
The statues of Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz and children’s story writer Beatrix Potter were only a short train ride apart, so Fortescue would often alternate between the two to keep his mind expanded. 

My pieces in Andrew Lanyon’s exhibtion, ‘The Musings of Creatures’, 2016

In this exhibition of his book, Andrew Lanyon imagines the sort of tomes animals would write if they had opposable thumbs. Listed from Albatross to Woodworm, I was assigned the ant and the mole... 

Andrew Lanyon’s ‘Nature’s Laboratory’, 2018/19  

Nature’s Laboratory was premiered at Falmouth Art Gallery in 2018. Its purpose, to document how Nature created the world as we know it… or not.
When Nature was experimenting with Swiss Army knives, centuries before they even existed, She ventured to invent human hand gestures, which could be flicked out when required. Here is one such prototype, with all blades out.

Redwing Gallery Open Portrait Exhibition (2020)

Share by: