Artists and exhibs that have caught my eye.

Whilst visiting my very good friend Pauline Woolley's show in London I came across two artists work I loved. I had to find out more.The exhibition was really interesting but artists were packed in, Parallax  AF, Mall galleries, London. See Pauline's blog for her latest exhibs and gorgeous work.

 Alexis Rago makes beautiful ceramic sculptures.

They are just stunning in real life, fragile, monumental, complex and very, very interesting. He describes his work in part as follows:   I draw together evolutionary biology, archaeology and ethnology with tribal and religious iconography in an exploration that is influenced by museum collections and sacred art. The result is a visual response to a sense of the numinous derived from the consideration of natural forms, their genesis and functions.

His website is well worth a look and  he's a member of the Linnean society.

Well there are definitely similarities in our interests, if not the final work. My paintings started in my interest in the depths and layers of life, particularly from my travels to many different rainforest habitats around the world and later other natural environments. Submerging myself in seemingly alien places and cultures hopefully comes out in my paintings. Coming face to face with creatures great and small. This is where my love of insects started too. I love the first explorers depictions of what they saw in the new worlds. Brillant montages made up of landscape, specimen documentation and anthropological studies. Our dusty museums are full of preserved, pickled, dried, stuffed specimens, etchings, drawings and paintings. Of course more recently my work has also been a personal exploration of spirituality and nature, animal icons, neolithic stones, iconography and religious arts, rituals and symbolism.

I think Alexis Rago's works are fabulous and can't wait to see more. In real life they stun you in there delicateness. I magine them worked in glass too. Although I love the raw bone like quality of the unglazed clay.
He also led me to The Crypt Gallery, St Pancras, London. I definitely fancy showing there if possible someday. Not this year Billie, this year is for play, push, play not exhibition! But remember for the future, that's what this blob I mean blog is for!
The next artist found at the same show was Sooim Jeong.

They are again delicate works. Fragile somehow and beautifully painted. Fleshy, furry, primal yet pure. Beautiful layers of creatures that should seem perverse but infact seem heavenly, dreamlike. Gorgeous creatures layered theatrically like a heavenly circus of life and death. Nature and humanity subtly  and gently squeezed and tweaked. Just brilliant and captivating. The works I saw were quite small, I imagine them huge though. Will keep my eyes open for an opportunity to see them again.

So next i went to Derby Museum.  I met Kate Smith among other artists whilst doing a Post Grad in Arts Practice. This was a number of years ago in Leicester. She currently has a show with two other artists and I loved it. I've recommended to friends. Kate draws in a big way! Her website gives more insight  into her practice and the way she works. But the act of drawing and making marks is fascinating to any artist surely. It's intriguing how she captures this idea in her work in such a beautiful way. You can get lost in the big drawings. A journey, different every time you return.

Photo and write up by artist Natalie Dowse