Brenda Hoffman | Katherine Jones | Stuart Redler | Patricia Swannell | Kazuhito Takadoi
As the nights draw in, and the leaves fall, a selection of works which explore and celebrate nature.
In the late 1800’s, the poet Rainer Maria Rilke had a tempestuous affair with the Russian author and psychoanalyst Lou Andreas-Salomé. Salomé – an intellectual, mature, married, and well-travelled - influenced the young Rilke in his writings, rhythm and style. When she ended the affair in 1900, Rilke visited the artists’ colony of Worpswede, Bremen. In 2014 Brenda Hoffman visited the colony and wandered through the forest imagining what the heartbroken Rilke had thought and felt during his walks in the woods. The series of black and white hand-painted photographs, Rilke’s Promenade, is inspired by this surrounding landscape, the robust and yet vulnerable nature and how it echoes our feelings. In his 1898 correspondence to Salomé, Rilke wrote:
“And now I feel loneliness growing with every new day; the region, devoid of colour, grows endlessly, it expands to become a background with trees shaken by the storm. I want to remain in the storm, and not miss any shudder of this vast commotion. I want to have the Fall. I want to be immersed in Winter without betraying myself with the minimum hint of colour. I want to drape myself with snow longing for the Spring to come, so that what grows in me does not surface too soon from the scars.”
Katherine Jones’ new small prints began as experimental test plates for a larger series of etchings she is making with master printmaker Peter Bennett at Atelier Ji. She has used LEGO to create the dot on the copper plate, which is then printed in combination with digitally printed Chin Colle (a method of layering or collaging tissue between the print and paper) using Japanese tissue. The results were beautiful so she decided to continue to make a series of smaller prints specifically with this exhibition in mind. The LEGO dot was used to incorporate traces of actual children’s playthings alluded to in earlier works. The prints depict a fusion of real and imagined spaces. For example a wooded landscape grows up around an overflowing bathtub and a bubble like fountain springs into life in the middle of a tree-filled Autumnal wilderness. Layering a variety of printing techniques and juxtaposing different themes, a richness and veiled quality is present in her provoking prints. Katie has been awarded numerous print-making prizes and the Royal Academy of Arts have invited her to take part in an exhibition Painter Printmakers which will run for six months beginning on 29 October 2014 in the Royal Academy's Keeper's House.
Patricia Swannell’s Undergrowth monoprints relate to Legacy; A Reciprocal Tribute, her forthcoming project at the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Wood, Leicestershire that will open on 25 November. Legacy is a photography and print project conceived and designed by Patricia Swannell and part-funded by the Arts Council. It will record the emerging wood by photographing one family, in the same place with the background of the growing woodland, every year, over the next six decades. These ambitious plans revolve around the creation of a designated location for fixed point photography, marked with brick platforms and engraved stone plaques to ensure that an identical photo is taken every year. A selection of prints of wildflowers and plants of the Undergrowth of this forest will be displayed in the gallery. Legacy continues Patricia’s ongoing preoccupation and interest in nature and the effects we have on it. Her focus on environmental matters is also reflected in her work for The Royal Botanic Garden Kew at Wakehurst Place. She has designed a brick and turf maze and a series of small bronzes, which highlight the conservation work of Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank for visitors to the garden.
Inspired by the rich woodland surrounding his birthplace of Nagoya, Japan, Kazuhito Takadoi grows and hand picks grasses, leaves and twigs from his garden, sowing each blade through the paper. As the grasses dry and mature they embark on a subtle colour shift, comparative to seasonal change. Kazuhito’s exquisite works are full of dichotomies: His work is both minimal, yet opulent. It is simultaneously fragile yet has strength, and combines the formality of Eastern discipline with abstraction from Western art. In addition to his obsession with shadows, these new works incorporate folded disks of washi covered in gold leaf. In this way, Kazuhito is trying to capture and reflect light from every angle, adding another dimension to his work. Kazuhito trained in Agriculture and Horticulture in Japan the US and in the UK, before studying Art and Garden Design.
Compositionally bold and varied, Stuart Redler’s photographs are unified by a striking aesthetic, unusual perspectives and exquisite detail. From striking geometric architectural structures to tumultuous landscapes, engaging portraiture and witty still lives, Stuart approaches his subjects with perceptiveness and alacrity. With a highly distinctive photographic style, Stuart’s striking and contemporary black and white images are accentuated by the bright sunlight and the strong deep shadows. This stark contrast is present in his works of Africa, the Middle East or India. However, Stuart’s palette becomes almost monochromatic in his depictions of London, where the subject matter emerges from the usually dark background almost like lace. After shooting with Mamiya and Leica medium format cameras, Stuart edits and hand prints each series of images, a highly important part of the process that often takes more time than the trip itself.