FABERGÉ ABROAD : NEAR WINCHESTER

Just another lonely boy from the city finds his way back home

sit in quiet down by the river

wait and hope for my luck will change

sit in silent sounds in the mirror

watch my twig slowly drift away..

An hour outside of London is the city of Winchester: known for its namesake cathedral, the former capital of England, and the location in which the Domesday Book was compiled.  Twenty minutes further southeast and you will find yourself in Bishop's Waltham.

I traveled there to visit Loopy, a darling friend who runs the award-winning Bowman Ales Brewery and who appointed himself my de facto tour guide through Hampshire. 

One of our first visits was to the New Forest, a surprisingly large area of pasture, heathland and forest to be found in such a densely populated county. We found a modest Canadian war memorial dotted with flags and faded photographs; according to Loopy, the New Forest was the international site for D Day preparations where tens of thousands made camp and prepared for their call. The heath is now populated by indigenous ponies and donkeys who happily graze in peace.

Nearby in the tiny town of Fritham is the most marvelous of pubs, the Royal Oak. Its timber walls and thatch roof frame two cozy rooms, a fire roaring in its hearth and ramblers sipping pints of best bitters well before noon. 

Across the parking lot we found the site of the Schultze Gunpowder Factory. Suffering rapid decline in business during the early twentieth century due to anti-German sentiment, all that remains of Schultze is a metal post box. 

We next ventured to Pagham, a seaside village in the country of West Sussex. As we walked along the beach, Loopy explained that it was the site of massive coastal erosion. An ever-growing spit has displaced the entrance to the harbour, and is forcing an aggressive tide to flow parallel to the beach. Last year during a storm the tide rose up to the door of the yacht club, and residents were panicking about the lack of interest and support they were receiving from the government. After our walk we continued our beer tour at the nearby Kings Beach Hotel, named for King George and also under threat of purchase by a supermarket chain.

The next morning I was left to my own devices, and was intent on finding Hazelholt Farm. My parents were tenants in a servants lodge on the property (the other lodge apparently occupied at the time by a German POW), and it was there that I had spent some of my earliest days on this earth. I set out across a public access footpath and wandered from farm to farm, eventually relying on the kindness of strangers to guide me. The quaint little lodge was deserted, bucolic, and predictably not at all as I remembered it.

-Henri Fabergé

 

HAPPY EASTER

I'm not sure whether paper cut outs have always been a pervasive art form in Denmark or if Hans Christian Andersen popularized the technique.  There is no direct connection between the author's paper cut illustrations and his fairy tales, though he used to accompany his paper cutting with a fantastic tale.  It has been said that at the end of telling a tale, to amuse friends and children, Andersen would unfold the paper to allow the amazed listeners to take in an intricately cut image.  Regardless, at each holiday the Danes love to decorate with paper cut outs. 

Walking this quaint little town I've noticed many Easter themed cut outs hanging in the windows of  people's homes.  Bunnies and daffodils, chickens and eggs brighten the streets when the weather is grey.  Admiring the cheerfulness of these seasonal ornaments, it was just my luck that the Red Cross second hand shop were selling these three, homemade by somebody. I purchased the small lot for 15 dkk ($1 each).  They are a perfect token of my spring here, not to mention lightweight and flat for easy packing!

BENTE SKJØTTGAARD : CUMULONIMBUS

Copenhagen Ceramics, is an artist run gallery space that aims to showcase and demonstrate the high quality and great diversity of contemporary Danish ceramics, as well as work by selected international artists.   Bente Skjøttgaard is one of the founding members of this collective, and her latest works are now on display in a solo exhibition titled Cumulonimbus.

Turning down a back alley and climbing several flights of steps in a dark stairway, I arrive at the top floor to enter an extremely bright gallery space featuring both large and small ceramic sculptures.  Over the past five years Bente Skjøttgaard has been working with ideas around clouds as a starting point for these complex structures.  She states, 

The cloud inspiration continues to provide material for new ceramic ideas: the clouds must be floating and in motion.  They should be intense synthetic marshmallows in psychedelic colours - the colours of the sky : red, orange and purple.

Before reading a bit about her practice, I was inclined to believe the abstract structures were constructed in such a way to solely show off her unbelievable glazes in the most dynamic ways possible.  Setting aside her working relationship to the scientific parallels between clouds and ceramics, I simply see one who loves the challenges of working in clay.  Like cake remnants dipped in confectionary, they are coated in matte glazes of various pastels.  The glazes do very much simulate the consistency of marshmallow (however, I wouldn't use the word psychedelic to describe these works).  Regardless of the semantics, I love them and I look forward to what Skjøttgaard produces in the future.

DAVID RODRIGUEZ

The Cité International des Arts held an open house last week, allowing some of the over 300 residents an opportunity to share their work.  Many people wandered into my studio, one of them being David Rodriguez, a Paris-based artist originally from Bogota Colombia.  We quickly discovered a shared love of flea markets and this past weekend he showed me the prime spots at Marché aux Puce St-Ouen. On the way I visited his studio (located under a former train track), where he is preparing for an exhibition at the 59th Salon de Montrouge.

Rodriguez's current body of work was sparked by a part-time job working at a Parisian confectioner's shop just steps from the Louvre.  Dressed in a bright yellow apron, he peddled "old-timey" tins of cookies and candies to tourists.  The garish colours of the marketing and store fixtures created a reaction and he began painting miniature pornographic scenes on damaged and discarded tins.  Because he uses a similar palette to the product, the nude figures are not instantly apparent.  He is now working with older tins (flea market finds), using the text and original product as inspiration.

Work that could be construed as misogynistic, on closer examination reveals a humour, sensitivity and egalitarian attitude. Instead of women being subjugated, it is the fantasy past depicted by the biscuit tin company being subverted.  The reworked antique tins remind me of a mechanic's garage or basement workshop; spare nuts and nails in coffee cans standing beside pin-up girls have been melded together with outlandish subtlety.  There is the spirit of the outsider artist here, too: a raw pleasure in both execution and tongue-in-cheek intent. By exploring taboo subject matter that is nonetheless prevalent in print and digital media, Rodriguez invites viewers to react to their perceptions of sexuality. In some viewers this experience sees their subconscious glossing over the nudes to replace them with bonbons or bolts.