Skip to main content

Roast Beef

I thought I'd use my blog to document the recent 'Spreads' exhibition that I was invited to participate in. If you follow my posts you'll be aware that it was taking place in Arles, France for one week only, running alongside Les Rencontres d'Arles, the huge photography festival. The exhibition went under the collective title of Roast Beef and was curated by Ed Watts and Mark Page. The work was shown in a small improvised gallery just off one of the main squares, right next to the Van Gogh cafe, a tourist photography hotspot, which seemed strangely appropriate. 

The concept for the exhibition was that each photographer contributed one A3 print of their work and some form of book, hence the title Spreads. This was a really neat way of showing bodies of work from ten artists in a very small space, and meant that Ed was able to transport the work on an aeroplane from Manchester, literally in a suitcase. 

Personally I thought the exhibition was very special and looked fresh and intriguing, especially after a day of walking around mega spaces filled with huge prints by internationally renowned artists. There was a real intimacy about both the space and the book works. I spent an hour or so looking after the gallery one day and got to spend time exploring the 10 projects and was amazed at the threads and ideas that ran between the various projects.

Quite a few of the artists were present at some stage of the exhibition and there were other Manchester photographers in town too, so we had a late opening every evening chatting to visitors and between ourselves about photography, the other exhibitions and life in Arles - happy days!

If you are interested there is a very nice review of the show as well as other Arles exhibitions written by Rebecca Dearden for Redeye here:

www.redeye.org.uk/opinion/excess-baggage








Labels:
Location: Arles, France

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Lovely Pair of Pins

I knew the expression 'pins' referring to legs but had to Google what the Cockney rhyming slang comes from. It looks like 'pins & pegs', but there are some great alternatives like 'bacon & eggs' and 'dolly pegs'. I think I might start trying to incorporate more Cockney into my everyday speak, I do have London roots but they are more South  (Saff)  London than East London, where I think it originates.  Anyway this is all to illustrate a new picture that sits quite neatly with an older picture. So brogues, legs and a sea view from my two main muses. This might be turning into a set...  Oh by the way the top view is Morecambe Bay and the lower image is from The Wirral looking across towards Wales. The North West of England is a beautiful place, with some stylish residents. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Liverpool Periphery

L1 City Centre L2 City Centre L3 City Centre, Everton, Vauxhall L4 Anfield, Kirkdale, Walton L5 Anfield, Everton, Kirkdale, Vauxhall L6 Anfield, City Centre, Everton, Fairfield, Kensington, Tuebrook L7 City Centre, Edge Hill, Fairfield, Kensington L8 City Centre, Dingle Toxteth L9 Aintree, Fazakerley, Orrell Park, Walton L10 Aintree Village, Fazakerley L11 Croxteth, Clubmoor, Gillmoss, Norris Green
Post a Comment
Read more

Exquisite Corpse

I've gathered this project together here, although it really just started as instagram posts and me keeping myself entertained/ creative through the early weeks of the pandemic. On reflection, although it looks visually different from my usual work (black and white rather than a focus on colour) the themes that emerge are similar. This is how I've made sense of it: These images are inspired by the exquisite corpse parlour game first played by the surrealists around the time of the 1918 pandemic. In my interpretation each picture is a self-portrait made up of my silhouette and graphic elements found on my Lockdown daily walks in the suburban landscape around me. Living alone I soon realised the only human form I was seeing on a regular basis was my own shadow. I started making these images using my phone camera and a selection of simple apps at the beginning of the first Covid Lockdown and continued until things returned to some kind of normality in mid 2021. I didn’t leave my p
Post a Comment
Read more