Becoming Part of Something

AIR Interview: Rosalind Davis on the new coalition

AIR member Rosalind Davis is a mixed media painter and graduate from the RCA. She creates melancholic dystopian landscapes that explore human experience and identity. A freelance lecturer and creative practitioner with work in both public and private collections, Davis is also founding member of Core Gallery, an artist led exhibition space in Creekside, the new art hotspot in Deptford, London. Here she discusses her thoughts on the new coalition government and how cuts to arts funding will affect her personally. Read it here!

My newletter has arrived, that’s right people, with pictures, jazzy boxes, links and everything. My friend Tammasyn Gambell ( www.tammasyngambell.com ) has a studio in cockpit arts and she sent me hers a while ago which was gorgeous and smart and I coveted it immediately and her lovely boyfriend Jamie Young assisted me.

Check it out here:
Rosalind Davis Newsletter http://bit.ly/dt3mxO

Why a newsletter one might ask, well what with exhibitions, press, core gallery etc its all too messy to put in an email and expect people to read all the info- this way people can just check out what interests them in bite size nuggets. I know it may not be very ‘ arty’ to be so professional and to do all this sort of ‘ marketing stuff’ but being an artist means you have to stand up and show yourself, get exposure, otherwise how are you going to survive telling no-one about your work? In this recession we have to work even harder to get noticed and you have to be professional; A two liner email with no image attached isn’t going to get people outside your circle of friends to a show.

On a different note our core gallery website may be live soon – only a few months delayed….somehow I ended up being the one to be instructed on how to update the website, a few words went into my brain from Max Saunders, our webdesigner and then the rest was dalek speak. Chantelle and I spent an evening tearing our hair out over the functionalities and I really did not understand what the heck I was doing…..so if it is down to me then it may not be live for a while…..plus I feel like I am going blind with tiredness at the moment, but one last push is the final week of Wilderness and open studios, a lovely blurb written below sums it up nicely;

We are sad to announce the coming of the end of the much celebrated “WILDERNESS” exhibition at Core Gallery, which will end on Sunday 20th June. *sighs and moans of grief*

But we are very happy to announce it has been a very great success. With over 400 visitors, an extended showing time, several artist talks including among them Deptford Arts Map and the fantastic discussion with the reputable Graham Crowley, we wanted to invite those of you who didn’t make it down yet, or for those who just want to see it again, for the final few days. *cheers and hoorays rise in crescendo*

Friday 18th June, we have a little chilled out bar, with some music and who knows what little surprises on the way.

Also starting on Friday through to Sunday there will also be the fabulous ‘JUMBLE JUMBLE’ arts sale going on in and around the space with guest such as Pigeon Wing Gallery and Miss Led…..and as if that wasn’t enough, the quite excellent Cor Blimey Artists are opening up their studios for everyone to have a little butchers at what everyone’s up to and maybe bag a bargain piece of artwork whilst you’re there. *exasperations of WoooooWWw*

Anyhoo…

It’ll be lovely to see you all again where you’ll all have the final chance to check out Rosalind’s dizzyingly beautiful painting-stitching, pull me up on my layering and spectaculour use of colour and have you’re photo taken in front of Neil’s now famous, idyllic mountainside wallpaper.

*applause ensues*

The Deptford X entries for Core Gallery’s open submission are pouring in which is fantastic and the entries are very strong already, Emily, our super intern is sending all over the place. If you would like to apply the info is here-

http://coregallerydeptford.blogspot.com

Plus theres a load of other great opportunities to get involved with Deptford X: www.deptfordx.org

we would love to hear from you……

I have been trying to clamber atop the mountain of paperwork as I mentioned, my to do list however has gotten out of control and its looking like I may never paint again! On the other hand I have worked my ass off painting lately, so the balance must be addressed and to keep all those various plates as creative practitioner, gallery manager and writer keep spinning away. besides I am letting ideas boil away in the background.

Our artists talk at Wilderness, ( my exhibition at Core Gallery with Enver Gursev and Neil Kelly) with distinguished painter Graham Crowley , ooh , a couple of weeks ago now , was superb.

Graham was utterly brilliant. Erudite, enthusiastic and full of energy, throwing art history, critical theory, opinion, popular culture; morsels of delicious information at our hungry feet. Charming too is Mr Crowley, when I introduced him as my visiting professor at RCA who taught me how to paint, he demurred, ‘No Rosalind I told you about painting, not how to paint, you did that…’ Graham has seen me develop in the last 5 years as a painter and I think he is happy with the result of what he sees from what I could gather. Neil and Enver were equally bowled over and charmed. To have a critically constructive eye over our work is wonderfully motivating.

Graham also gave us an overview of his work, admittedly difficult for a man whose career as an artist spans over 40 years, ‘like trying to do a short overview of Proust’ he told us. Graham started at the beginning of his art school education and emergence into the artworld; the climate, the way people were taught, again: more political, cultural and social history thrown in. Talking about his processes of working and ideas behind the work was fascinating.

A very satisfying day!

On another note, we finally got a teeny bit of funding to do a project at Cor Blimey! A one day drawing workshop involving the community working with 3 external artists from local studios in Deptford. The wrangling and endless re-workings of our application was worth it! As although its not much funding, we have had a success in it and it motivates us to try to do more.

Plus we have launched our first Gallery open submission with 3 fantastic judges; Graham Crowley, Kate Jones and Matt Roberts launched on

http://coregallerydeptford.blogspot.com

Now, about that paperwork, I have 2 articles to write- one for AIR about the government cuts to the arts under the coalition government ( eek !) and another for Becky Hunter who is going to create an artist led space in the US. All again very exciting stuff!

Neil Kelly did a Behind the Scenes Interview about the setting up of Core Gallery and the launch show
‘ Exquisite Corpse. ‘
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrlHhd3YZAs

Its pretty cool despite me being a it brain dead at the time !

Clambering on top of the mountains of paperwork now I realise I have published my actual review ofa recent video of me talking about my work at a Cor Blimey Group Show ‘ The Truth is Rarely Pure and Never Simple’

So here they are !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAiWPG4FMVI

Review from Pop t’art

May 10, 2010

http://poptartlondon.com/2010/05/10/a-difference-i…

by Pop T’art London

I first noticed Rosalind Davis‘ mixed media paintings last year at the Deptford X art festival. I was drawn by the vibrant colours and clever use of fabric to create collage pieces which she then paints and embroiders over.

So it was a real pleasure to be shown round her new solo show A Difference in Vision by Rosalind herself at Bloww gallery off Regent Street recently.

The above piece, from which the show takes its title, is oil and embroidery on vintage print cotton sateen. It depicts the huge Robin Hood estate in Poplar, East London which was designed in the 1960s and condemned in the 2000s (much to the dismay of many leading architects campaigning to preserve it as a modernist masterpiece).

What I really like about Rosalind’s work is the surprising contrast between her subject matter of brutalist architecture with the materials she employs to depict them – florid fabric and delicate hand stitching – to create otherworldly, surreal pieces. “I enjoy mark making with embroidery,” says Rosalind. “It’s more controlled and emphasises the fragility of our buildings and of our own existence.”

Rosalind meticulously researches the buildings she paints by photographing them and talking to their residents where possible (many of the buildings are derelict).

26 Remain refers to the 26 remaining families in the Ferriers estate in Kidbrooke, Greenwich.

While you may recognise Elephant and Castle’s famously dilapidated, and soon to be demolished, shopping centre in this piece, Belong Nowhere.

It can take Rosalind between one to four months to execute a piece. Often sourcing the fabric becomes a mission in itself as she likes to incorporate material which reference the period of the buildings’ construction.

Her work highlights the breakdown of social housing, community and the overall failings of modernity. And it certainly lives up to this show’s title. I really like Rosalind’s unusual, thorough and intricate approach which gives layers of meaning to each picture. Go see!

A Difference in Vision runs until 9pm, this Saturday 15th May. After that you can see new and existing work from Rosalind Davis (and two other artists) at a new exhibition Wilderness which runs at Core Gallery in Deptford from Saturday 22nd May.