Watch out for Coral Churchill’s new exhibition at the Menier Gallery, London on 16-20 February 2010.

“The Trouble with Women” brings together an eclectic body of work from a small group of Fine Art graduates from Central St Martins. The show is a humorous, lively yet sometimes dark exploration of femininity in a postmodern post feminist world. It is an exploration of women’s interior worlds as well as the way they are perceived and represented today. The works examine notions of femininity as enduring as motherhood and sexuality but also the ever changing expectations of women.

Coral Churchill is interested in intuitive art and the role of the woman as creator. The subconscious and the symbolic are central concerns, while automatism is interwoven with observational work. Recent work reflects the social construct of femininity in a patriarchal society, looking at transformation and the shape shifter archetype.

To find out more about Coral Churchill’s work, including sneak previews of her prints, please contact info@bluerimgallery.net.

From this Thursday to Sunday, the Blue Rim Gallery will be showing a selection of works on paper at Guest Projects, E8 4QL, just off Broadway Market. Guest Projects is the brainchild of Yinka Shonibare, 2004 Turner Prize nominee. The space has been open to artistic projects since 2008.

You will get to see Antonio Cabrera’s Hans Bellmar-inspired mixed media prints, Thomas Laroche Joubert’s brand new island-inspired drawings, and Atalya Laufer’s vivid flower paintings. We hope to see you there!

–Petra

One of our artists, Atalya Laufer, was recently invited to produce an installation at Clockwork Gallery in Berlin. Here is her latest postcard about her new work…

” This is an alternative public exhibition space, situated near the central train station Hallesches Tor, in one of the many clock-towers that are dotted around Germany. This particular clock-tower-cum-gallery has a revolving cube, with artworks inhabiting both sides. Since ‘07, artists have been invited to produce site-specific works of art that relate to its unique location:

I decided to look at the clock-tower’s cube holistically, and activate the rather unattractive advertising posters nearby. They are orange, depict a feminine blue eye and accompanied by a title and a website address: Pfad der Visonäre (”Path of Visionaries”). Outreaching as they may, they are unsuccessfully designed, as the posters - mistakingly - seem to promote a local optician store. A spot of research however revealed that they alluded to a local non-profit social/art organisation aiming to promote “contemporary interpretations of the historical meaning of this place” and initiating a project, bearing that same name (Path of Visionaries) and claiming to be “a symbol of unity and the cultural varieties of Europa”.

More than a simple conglomeration of social statements, the area around the clock-tower has constantly provided an interesting backdrop for urban interventions. Today, named Mehringplatz, after a socialist publicist, the place was initially created as part of the expansion of the city in the early 1700s and named Rondell after its circular shape (in contrast to the nearby octagonal Leipziger Platz and the Square Pariser Platz). Hallesches Tor was one of the 14 gates surrounding the city, a portal through which people frequented. Later, it was renamed Belle-Alliance-Platz to celebrate the European joint force against Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo. Consequently, in 1843, a typical peace column with a bronze of Victoria was inaugurated right in the centre of the circus. Nowadays,  the column stands to bear without its feminine upper half, which has been taken away for a 2 year long restoration treatment. During the war and particularly after the battle of Berlin, the area was completely devastated. Re-development plans of the 60s resulted in the current pedestrian zone and social housing estates by the Architect Hans Scharoun’s.

Back to my idea. I hoped to find a visual and thematic sense in the “path of visionaries” poster. I wanted to make it more attractive and eye catching and relate to the fact that this is originally a commercial space. I was also hoping to create an alternative to the neighbour peace column, which, without its Victoria seems to be a podium devoid of meaning.

So, I decided to duplicate the posters in order to create an impression of a face. I figured out that by mirroring the posters, the set of eyes would be alternating in and outward, as the cube rotates. What you see is a humanised cross-eyed clock-tower and “a symbol of unity and variety”.

The title of the work Spielgn / Mirrotating is an attempt to create another union, this time linguistically, in both English and German: Spielgn comes from Spielen (to play) and Spiegel (Mirror); mirrotating comes from mirror, rotating and irritating.

Tschüs!”