Mike Silva: New Paintings, The Approach, London
London-based Mike Silva’s often intimate paintings take as their subjects the artist’s friends, lovers, and the domestic interiors he has inhabited. Using as his reference an archive of personal pre-mobile phone photographs, some captured as long as 15 years ago, Silva says he seeks to give these images a sense of “present tense cohesion” or a “here and now” feeling through the act of painting. With a sombre colour palette and soft focus to many of the works, there’s certainly a nostalgic feel to the resulting paintings, but perhaps it’s their offer of a glimpse into the artist’s private world that gives these works their nowness.
Until 20 October 2019. theapproach.co.uk
No Particular Place to Go? 35 years of sculpture, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester
Marking 35 years since Castlefield Gallery was established, by artists, in 1984, ‘No Particular Place to Go?’ highlights the gallery’s rich history of engagement with British sculpture. The show has been curated in collaboration with art historian Dr Clare O’Dowd and artist and curator John Plowman to reflect upon the gallery’s archives and exhibition history, exploring this history particularly through the lens of sculpture. Included are works by Sir Anthony Caro who was the focus of a solo show in 1984 and was also the gallery’s ‘Artist Patron’ until his death in 2013, and Henry Moore, the subject of a solo show gallery following his death in 1986. ‘No Particular Place to Go?’ also includes works by James Ackerley, Nicola Ellis, Ana Genovés, Lee Grandjean, Charles Hewlings, Hilary Jack, Stephanie James, Stephen Lewis, Jeff Lowe, Michael Lyons, Jill Randall, Veronica Ryan and Laura White.
Until 27 October 2019. www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk
Yuko Mohri: slower than slowly, mother’s tankstation, Dublin
For ‘slower than slowly’, Yuko Mohri has transformed mother’s tankstation gallery into a ‘laboratory-workshop’ to create one of her ‘water works’ installations that is both humorous and earnestly serious. Generically entitled Leaky, the works make specific reference to the everyday water leaks that occur around Tokyo’s metro stations, but the artist has also cited the Fukushima nuclear disaster and resulting Tsunami as an ongoing concern. Set against a backdrop of recorded sounds of the ocean amplified through a 1970s Japanese stereo amp at full volume, ‘slower than slowly’ uses black electrical cable to circulate electromagnetic power through and around the gallery, connecting together disparate objects including a trumpet and a feather duster. At the same time, miniature compass needles set into the elaborately inlaid wooden top of an old music box oscillate with such speed that the movement becomes almost indiscernible.
Until 14 December 2019. www.motherstankstation.com
MOSTYN Open 21, MOSTYN, Llandudno
Selected from over 750 submissions, the 21st anniversary edition of MOSTYN Open presents works by over 30 artists working in disciplines including textiles, photography, painting, sculpture, installation and film and video. This year’s £10,000 main prize has been awarded to Sarah Entwistle for her sculptural installations You can make your own balance sheet and Do not attempt to break the seal, which are part of a project centred on the deconstruction of the archive of the artist’s late grandfather, the architect Clive Entwistle. New for MOSTYN Open 21, the Exhibition Award of a solo show at the gallery has been awarded to Richard Wathen. An Audience Award of £1,000 will be announced at the end of the exhibition.
Until 27 October 2019. www.mostyn.org
Grace Schwindt: Five Surfaces All White, CCA Glasgow
Grace Schwindt’s multi-channel moving-image installation results from the artist’s ongoing interest in how public health is perceived and treated, and how mental health is discussed in contemporary society. While Five Surfaces All White is in part informed by the work of the Socialist Patients’ Collective, a radical and occasionally militant 1970s intellectual and political anti-psychiatry collective from Heidelberg, Germany, the film’s title makes reference both to conversations between Schwindt and her grandfather in which he recalls details from his own care home, and interviews with people affected by illness or working in public health.
Until 13 October 2019. cca-glasgow.com
Images:
1. Mike Silva, Kitchen Table, oil on linen, 40.6×30.5 cm, 2019. © Mike Silva; Courtesy: Mike Silva and The Approach Gallery; Photo: ©The Approach Gallery
2. Jill Randall, End of The Line, plaster and steel, 1988.
3. Yuko Mohri, sadly (water-pot), French brass electrified candelabra, silver-plated water pot, filament bulb, cable, motor, step-down transformer, candle wax, temple bell, dimensions variable, 2019. Installation view of ‘slower than-slowly’ at mother’s tankstation. Copyright: the artist and mother’s tankstation limited
4. Sarah Entwistle, Do not attempt to break the seal, hand woven wool tapestry, glazed ceramic, 2018. Courtesy: the artist and Etage Projects
5. Grace Schwindt, Five Surfaces All White, 2019. CCA Glasgow. Photo: Alan Dimmick
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