- Venue
- The Arts Forum
- Location
- South East England
By Paul Baines
For a change I thought I’d feature an artist from around my way, well relatively speaking. Paula MacArthur is a bright, witty yet sometimes caustic character, with a fantastic eye for subject matter. I and my partner Christina were wondering towards the beach and as usual we stopped by the Arts Forum to peek through the window. In truth we almost never breach that invisible barrier, perhaps I am an arts snob, perhaps I have an aversion to the literal and generic style of many local and in fact British artists in general, but Paula’s exhibition ‘Seaside Special‘ certainly jumped out at us.
Her solo show is now on at The Arts Forum, Marine Court, St. Leonards, East Sussex, you should pop in if you happen to be in the area. If you want a fix of local pop art this maybe your only chance. For the main part I witness little else than seascapes, boats on beaches, floral displays, the occasional nude and of course dreaded still lives, which I have a particularly aversion to. Paula MacArthur has focused on something far more powerful as her subject, the death of The British Seaside, the once popular haunt for millions of British factory workers throughout the last century, ousted for the guarantee of fun and sun on the Spanish coast.
Of course things are changing (slowly) as the recession begins to bite and families cut back on their expenditure, many will probably manage little more than a few day trips to the seaside this summer. You can feel that oh so familiar buzz, the ‘high season’ is almost here, there’s that all too familar smell of salt and vinegar saturated fish and chips swimming in a deep fat fryer on the air, the crazy golf course is filling up again, the pubs and cafes have tables and chairs out on the pavements, and even the pensioners have ventured to take their coats off in the height of the sun.
As we ventured in to the gallery Paula’s uniquely Pop Art vision of the local area, the faded glitzy glamour of the tawdry slot machine and video arcades, and the clapped out funfair at The Stade certainly turned my head. I wasn’t too keen on her other choice of subjects, however when it comes to Pop I think that we are somewhat in tune with each other.
Paula Mac Arthur studied at Loughborough and The Royal Academy of Arts, she is an accomplished oil painter and works on quite an impressive scale. As we talked about her work she told me how she has been ‘out of the loop’ for some time due to raising a family and other commitments, although she has had her moments of acclaim in the past including in 1989 she won the First Prize for The John Player Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London. John Player was a cigarette brand as far as I recall, it’s funny how times change, so fast. I’d like to see Paula get a little more attention for her work and so I’m hoping this post will help in some small way to draw attention to her talent.
To see her full portfolio visit Paula at www.67contemporaryart.co.uk or visit her at her open studio during the South East Open Studios event between the 5th and 21st of June at – Stone Cliff Farm, Knock Hill, off Military Road, Stone, Kent TN30 7JX. To enquire about purchasing one of her pieces call or email her on 07941 158327 / [email protected].
This is a perfect example of just how far perception and reality can live from each other. The Deluxe is one of a few ‘amusement’ arcades that co-exist in Hastings, but a short walk from where I live. The Deluxe also offers bingo upstairs just to add to the mounting excitement that I am sure the owners wished their establishment exuded.
Paula has picked up on the feeling of tawdry faded British nostalgia for places like Las Vegas, when the coastal moguls of the late 1960s onwards decided to up their game and battle the decline of the seaside town. This building, underneath the ugly façade, is actually rather impressive, or rather it was. However time, the economy and the British attitude to cheap and cheerful entertainment has taken its toll over the years.
Paula has taken the brave step of drawing attention to a subject that many local artists avoid, with a lack of pretension or a longing to depict the nostalgic beauty of the British seaside, she has managed to capture an essence of the decline of many aspects of our society in recent years. Amusement arcades in the main create addicts, gamblers with little skill or understanding of the odds at play, relentlessly feeding machines every spare piece of change in order to grab a quick fix of a £10 jackpot. It’s a sad and lonely place, luxury has nothing to do with it.
A very powerful piece by Paula that truly bares the soul of 21st Century Britain in all its failings. Kids will gamble because there’s little else to do, their parents and grandparents know no better. The garish façade does little to convince many out there that they are living the ‘high-life’ when stepping through the doors of ‘The Deluxe’, yet for some it still beckons with the false promise of the thrill of winning, even in some small way achieving something in the face of impossible odds. Britain has almost lost all hope, breeding a generation that will never even experience that emotion.
Paula’s other subjects include Elvis’s favourite gun, Elvis’s pool balls, and this strange little piece ‘ Bonhomme Carnaval Dances in Lights’ from the Quebec Winter Festival which again captures that same essence of faded throwaway excitement and glamour. I particularly like the missing light bulbs of the ‘Bonhomme Snowman’ street decorations.
Visit Paula MacArthur’s site to see the rest of her work at www.67contemporaryart.co.uk.
