8th -28th August 2010
exhibition ended
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION @ DECAY
Artist Natalie Taylor will be creating a collection of “GREEN” fingers and toes during the exhibition.
If you are a gardener and like the idea of adding to the collection of casts, then come to the Patriothall Gallery on Saturday 14th, 21st or 28th August between 13.00 and 15.30.
Please come with “EVIDENCE” of your garden.
Patriothall Gallery off Hamilton Place, Stockbridge, Edinburgh EH5 5AY
Nataliej_taylor@yahoo.co.uk
The exhibition Decay has come about through the various collective experiences of the four participating artists from The Netherlands, and the UK. Although each artist speaks of a passion for nature, and a concern for the environment, the work is visually and technically diverse with a rich vein of the unexpected. Most of the works seen here are specially created for this exhibition, and offer challenging and new approaches to subject matter and technique. For example, Marielle van den Berg’s tapestries combine traditional weaving loom techniques with state of the art digital transfer technology, and Kevin Dagg’s use of the ancient form of wood carving is presented within a surprising installation context. Many media are harnessed throughout the show, including installation, photography, tapestry, cast forms, and time-lapse filming.
Each of the artists has been operating nationally and internationally for many years and has a high standard of presentation and skill as their aim. Although potentially challenging and difficult subject matter will be tackled here, it will be done with a light touch, and an aesthetic appeal. For those interested, there will be an evening presentation by the artists about the works, and a daytime workshop to involve children. The exhibition will be touring internationally after its U.K. premiere in the Patriothall Gallery and the EAF.
image: Guest speakers at the Opening of Decay exhibition - Hon. Dutch Consul Ian Parkinson and artist Kate Downie
Decay is an exhibition that has become more than the sum of its international parts. Four artists share a theme, an attitude, a way of looking at the world, which brings them together for this unusual show.
Mariëlle van den Bergh (NL) is fascinated by mosses and lichens, by the rampant growth of parasites and mushrooms using them as symbols of the way death and life are intertwined.
Mels Dees(NL) takes man’s constructions - at times wonderful, sometimes arrogant and often rather ridiculous - as a starting point. He ironises the way our civilization takes nature for granted and allows it to take revenge.
There’s a dark streak in Kevin Dagg’s (UK) work –presenting his pieces with a kind of deadpan realism his images almost always present the end result of a process, an inevitable progression like the unwinding of a clock.
Although most of Natalie Taylor’s (UK) work is emphatically about growth, decay forms a persistent undertone in her work. Recently dealing with food technology and industrial cultivation, she presents the theme with an exuberant touch which can’t fail to move.
All of the artists are very much aware of the dangers and destruction we –humans beings - are causing. But you will look in vain for slavish admiration of Nature or compulsory Environmentalism. There is some serious thought and more than a touch of humour to be found behind the idea of Decay. And most important of all: they obviously had fun creating it.
Two Dutch and two Scottish artists whose work collides on the theme of ‘Decay’ present their multimedia work together for the first time at EAF.
Exhibition Opening Hours: 12-4pm Tues- Sat 8th -28th August. Also open Sun 9th 12-4pm.
For the exhibiting artists' blog click here Blog Page
also on:
www.landenbeeld.nl
Please see Current Exhibition Page for more information about the artists and their work for the exhibition.
EVENT INFORMATION:
Artist Talk
Thursday 12th August
This event will consist of an informal evening in which members of the public are invited to meet the two Dutch and two Scottish artists exhibiting at Decay. Each artist will present some images of their work and any other relevant or related works, giving background information to the pieces on display.
Many of the works are new and have been created especially for this exhibition, including installation, sculpture, film, print and tapestry.
The exhibition is in a sense an artistic collaboration across the borders of two European countries in that each artist has created works on the same theme, for exhibition together.
The work will deal with various issues such as the current attitude of the human race to the natural resources in the environment, the growing of food, natural life cycles politically inspired sculpture.
We will present our works through Powerpoint projection, showing images of the works on show as well as other related works. In order to engage a wide audience, we will explain the ideas and issues behind our motivations in accessible language, and in an informal way.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION @ DECAY
Artist Natalie Taylor will be creating a collection of “GREEN” fingers and toes during the exhibition.
If you are a gardener and like the idea of adding to the collection of casts, then come to the Patriothall Gallery on Saturday 14th, 21st or 28th August between 13.00 and 15.30.
Please come with “EVIDENCE” of your garden.
Patriothall Gallery off Hamilton Place, Stockbridge, Edinburgh EH5 5AY
Nataliej_taylor@yahoo.co.uk
Potato Fun
Tuesday 17th August
This is a family workshop for children between the ages of 3 and 7yrs old. Artist Natalie Taylor will show you how to build your very own Mr or Mrs Potatohead using potatoes and various other materials. Drop in on the day. Feel free to bring your own silly or sprouting potato as a starting point. All materials provided.
Natalie Taylor has worked with children in many different settings, and loves finding ways to engage a younger audience in the art making process. Her work often takes seeds as the starting point leading her to investigate various processes used in the industrial-scale production of crops. Wherever possible she uses recycled materials in her workshops.
The potatoes used in this workshop are unusual varieties held in the Commonwealth Potato Collection. donated by the Scottish Crop Research Institute, Dundee.
Demonstration by Mariëlle van den Bergh
Sun 8th, Tues 10th, Wed 11th
http://www.edinburghsculpture.org
For further information, interviews and images contact: Natalie Taylor, artist- on 07745732177, or nataliej_taylor@yahoo.co.uk
Past Festival exhibitions.
