- Venue
- Alan Cristea Gallery
- Location
Being in the vicinity, I proceeded in a westerly direction down Cork Street. I admit I haven’t been there for a while, and usually hardly register the exhibitions there.
Many years ago I worked for a while in a gallery in Cork Street which is no longer there. I was what you may call the gallery girl, doing a bit of everything. I remember one day a gallery artist delivering a series of paintings there. She had a private rant to me about having to paint 30 odd slight variations of an initial painting. These were for the gallery, so customers, and so she was an exhibiting selling artist. Only years later do I somewhat understand and sympathise with her feeling that her creativity was being stifled, and that she was something of a victim of her own success.
I was reminded of this rather in the paintings of Alex Rennie, who paints wooden hazard signs in many variations. There is an element of optical illusion and foreshortening which gives them an intriguing drama, and he has a great way of painting glowing orange light against city scapes which is arresting. Perhaps it was the Cork Street effect, but I did suspect that the variations upon a theme were not all painted truly from the heart.
There is something about Alan Cristea gallery which makes it an extreme example of a white cube – extra white walls and strong lighting. Edmund de Waal is a ceramics artist who creates multiple pieces like vessels, often presented in shelf-like installations, sometimes on either side of frosted glass. He uses a muted palette, and creates a hypnotic fascination with the variations in form. There is almost a miasma in the room, which I imagine is even more striking in a more sympathetic gallery and installation setting.
Currently the Cork Street traders and gallerists are campaigning to stop redevelopment, thus losing a long serving art street. Of course these galleries are shops, but it seems that they could do worse than combining to make themselves a more happening place. They should want artists and visitors there, and not just buyers and collectors. They could easily be more inviting to visitors and host artist projects.
