The best art exhibitions coming up in Bristol and the Westcountry – selected by the Friends of the RWA…
Here’s our pick of the best art exhibitions and events happening in and around Bristol and the south west in the month ahead – including a look ahead to upcoming features….
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
Compiled by Sue Quirk and Laurel Smart
1) SIX OF THE BEST
5 MARCH – 2 APRIL, ACEARTS, SOMERTON
Six artists (Sebastian Chance, Tom Clark, Heather Fallows, Nina Gronw-Lewis, Frank Martin and Ricky Romain) brought together by ACE founding trustee Frank Martin to showcase current contemporary art practice in the South West now.
2) JOHN WALKER
6 MARCH – 3 APRIL, MESSUMS WILTSHIRE, TISBURY
From as early as the 1970s Walker was one of the most influential and imitated painters working in the UK; he exhibited alongside Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, represented his country at the 1972 Venice Biennale, had extensive survey shows at both the Tate and Hayward galleries and was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1985.
John Walker is a rare species, a British born internationally applauded abstract painter. He is considered one of their own by both Australia and America, and more recently China where he is visiting teacher in art at Beijing. However, a 2019 museum show with Ikon Gallery in Birmingham has started a process of reawakening within the UK for Walkers work and a repatriation in a sense of one of this countries most vaunted painters.
3) SPRING GREENS
10 MARCH – 2 APRIL, LIVINGSTONE ST IVES AT CLIFTON GALLERY, BRISTOL
A fresh and uplifting exhibition of figurative and still life paintings by emerging young artists: Layla Andrews, Meg Fatharly, Philippa Paterson, Emily Powell, Rosa Roberts, Danny Romeril, Oriele Steiner.
4) REBECCA HOLLEY: SACRED DARTMOOR
UNTIL 12 MARCH, ARTIZAN GALLERY, TORBAY
A solo show in the Courtyard Gallery for Devon Based artist, Rebecca Holley.
Sacred Dartmoor exhibition is a collection of textile works inspired by sacred sites and places of special interest across the Dartmoor landscape.
Each piece has been individually designed from direct reference drawings of the area. A palette of reclaimed materials has been selected and hand hooked into a hessian backing, closely following the design to form the finished textile panel.
5) VICKY LINDO & BILL BROOKES – BREAKING WITH TRADITION: A TALE OF TWO CITIES
UNTIL 20 MARCH, BURTON AT BIDEFORD, BIDEFORD, DEVON
In a new partnership, The Burton at Bideford and the British Ceramics Biennial celebrate the importance of heritage and place in the progression of contemporary ceramics.
Showcasing a range of established, resident and early career artists, this exhibition will explore how the clay traditions of Stoke-on-Trent and Bideford differ historically, and how artists and makers embrace and challenge those narratives.
6) MILLFIELD OPEN 2022
UNTIL 24 MARCH, ATKINSON GALLERY, STREET, SOMERSET
Established in 1992, the Atkinson Gallery is nationally recognised and holds major contemporary art exhibitions, which are open to the general public. It aims to support young, aspiring artists and bring high-calibre, international art to the South West region.
Millfield’s stimulating arts landscape is also enhanced by a unique sculpture collection within our extensive parkland, featuring large-scale permanent works from artists such as Glynn Williams and Peter Randall-Page.
7) DIANE KAUFMAN
26 MARCH – 9 APRIL, ANDELLI ART, WELLS
Kaufman describes her paintings as more about the substance of the face than the likeness, but all the same each one has a clear, often haunting, individual identity that transcends conventional portraiture to touch the fundamental condition of being human; like us these are strangers in strange lands, living behind the masks we all choose to wear sooner than reveal our nakedness to the world. As spectators we look at them, and as we do so they look back: confrontational or questioning, anguished, suspicious or serene, but above all and inescapably one human being to another. These may not be not paintings about beauty, but they are beautiful paintings, full of the fascination of process and becoming, inviting us into a recognition of other dimensions to things we too easily take for granted or at someone else’s valuation. Paint is powerful stuff; in the right hands it can challenge our perceptions of even the most familiar aspects of our lives.
LAST CHANCE TO SEE
- UNTIL 2 MARCH: OLLIE SMITH & MARK ELLIOT SMITH: DREAM JAMS FUEL A joint exhibition by the Living Too Late artists. CENTRESPACE, BRISTOL http://www.centrespacegallery.com/exhibitions/
- UNTIL 6 MARCH: DIANE MARY ALICE: AN ARTIST’S JOURNEY First solo exhibition. LYME REGIS MUSEUM https://www.lymeregismuseum.co.uk/exhibitions/
WATCH OUT FOR…
- BRENDAN LANCASTER: THE STORY SO FAR: UNTIL 19 MARCH Selection of work which captures small incidents of quiet attention, isolated from the stream of humdrum daily experience. THAT ART GALLERY, BRISTOL https://www.thatartgallery.com/
- ECHOES IN TIME: 19 MARCH – 9 APRIL This group exhibition explores the theme of identity from portraiture to intimate personal works. Featuring works from Emma Roberts, Genevieve Murray, Rocio Bucheli, Thomas Oscar Miles and Virginia Griem ARTIZAN GALLERY, TORBAY https://www.art-hub.co.uk/ex/march22
- TIM SHAW: FÁG AN BEALACH (CLEAR THE WAY): UNTIL 4 APRIL Solo exhibition which brings together seemingly disparate strands from a number of Shaw’s most recent multimedia sculptural and installation projects. ANIMA MUNDI, ST IVES https://www.animamundigallery.com/exhibition-tim-shaw-fg-an-bealach-clear-the-way
If you would like an exhibition or artist to be listed please email laurel.smart@blueyonder.co.uk for consideration.
The Floating Circle 