NEW GROUP BY NAO MATSUNAGA: 'FORLORN TREES' (2011)

This new group of three pieces by Nao Matsunaga, titled Forlorn Trees, was delivered to the gallery today. Other new works by Matsunaga are currently featured in an exhibition called Modern Languages in Galway City Museum (Ireland). The exhibition runs until 23 July 2011.


For more information about Nao Matsunaga please visit the artists page on our website.

Nao Matsunaga, Forlorn Trees (2011)
photo © Alida Sayer/Marsden Woo Gallery

Nao Matsunaga, Forlorn Trees detail (2011)
photo © Alida Sayer/Marsden Woo Gallery

NEW PHOTOGRAPHS OF OUR CURRENT SHOW: GORDON BALDWIN

Philip Sayer has just taken some fantastic new photographs of Gordon Baldwin's latest series of ceramic vessels, which feature in Baldwin's current show Dark Water and Boulders Shouting here at Marsden Woo. The show continues in our main gallery to 30 July 2011.

Gordon Baldwin
 'Water Vessel V' (left) and 'Water Vessel V' (right), both 2011
photo © Philip Sayer 

Gordon Baldwin
Detail view of 'Water Vessel V' (left) and 'Water Vessel V' (right), both 2011
photo © Philip Sayer 

Gordon Baldwin
'Water Vessel III' (left) and 'Black Vessel. Boulder Shouting III' (right), both 2011
photo © Philip Sayer 

Gordon Baldwin
'Black Vessel. Boulder Shouting I', 2011
photo © Philip Sayer 

Gordon Baldwin
'White Vessel Study III', both 2011
photo © Philip Sayer 

RETROSPECTIVE VIEW: CAROLINE BROADHEAD

The next show in our main gallery this September, Taking the Chair, will be an exciting and unique collaboration between the ground-breaking multi-disciplinary gallery artist Caroline Broadhead and her talented daughter Maisie Broadhead.


With this in mind, we invite you to cast a retrospective eye over a small selection of elegant and innovative works that Caroline has produced in the past, gleaned from our own image archive. These delicate installation pieces in particular, several of which featured in the publication 'Chiaroscuro' (2001), are gently suggestive of the kind of aesthetic language we can expect from Caroline's contribution to this new collaborative project.


To view a press release for Taking the Chair please click here. 

photo © Philip Sayer

'Ready to Tear' detail (1998) photo © Caroline Broadhead

'in-crease-de-crease' (1999) photo © Caroline Broadhead

'Tunnel Dress' (1999) photo © Caroline Broadhead

'Dress With Black Holes' (1999) photo © Caroline Broadhead

WORK IN PROGRESS: RENATO BEZERRA DE MELLO

This September will see a solo Project Space show from the Brazilian artist Renato Bezerra de Mello, exploring the theme of childhood. We have just received some exciting images of the work in progress...

For his first exhibition in the UK the Brazilian artist Renato Bezerra de Mello has created a child’s universe - a meditation on the early interests and experiences that provide the framework for an adult’s life. His works are often autobiographical in nature, featuring collections of personally significant artefacts. In past works he has

presented collections of self-addressed postcards, collectively forming a daily journal of his activities, as well as old family photographs.

While the scenario he presents in the Project Space is fictional, it has a clear autobiographical dimension: The glass marbles he collected as a child are represented by balls of coloured chalk scattered across the floor – a childhood game expressed in the materials of his later artistic practice. The layered, delicate images of flowers reproduce the motifs printed on a tablecloth that was used for childhood lunches with his siblings. He comments: ‘I used to draw flowers as a child but, being a boy, I showed them to no-one.’ 

The exhibition also includes a concertina-folded series of drawings in which he depicts the kinds of little houses we recognise from fairytales and fables. Returning us to narratives known of old, we might associate them with the dwellings of kind and honest woodcutters or terrifying old hags. They prime the imagination.

Childhood is also the theme of a short but haunting video titled Mes enfants, mes enfants, a work that adds to the viewer’s overall experience of accumulations of matter, of an emphatic repetition of significant images and the remembrance of important events. 

All images © Renato Bezerra de Mello (2011)

NEW SHOWS NOW OPEN: GORDON BALDWIN AND JAMES RIGLER

Our superb new shows are now open and will continue to 30 July 2011. In the main gallery the highly influential ceramic artist Gordon Baldwin shows captivating new vessels and drawings influenced by a lifetime of memories and experiences in 'Dark Water and Boulders Shouting'. 


Meanwhile, the downstairs Project Space is occupied by 'The Lost World'. Vibrant and exuberant ceramic sculptures by the talented James Rigler make reference to both grand architectural details and the history and culture of more domestic interiors. 


These two exceptional shows are not to be missed...

Gordon Baldwin, 'Wide Open Blue' I & II (both 2011)
photo © Philip Sayer

Gordon Baldwin 'Dark Water and Boulders Shouting' June 2011
photo © Philip Sayer

James Rigler, 'Cascade' (2011), photo © Philip Sayer

James Rigler, 'Gothic Tower' and 'Branches' (both 2011)
photo © Philip Sayer 

FROM OUR ARCHIVES: OWEN BULLETT, 'PORTAL'

May-June 2010 saw Owen Bullett's solo show of dynamic sculptures in our downstairs Project Space. The focal point of the show was ‘Portal’, an installation work in which the massive presence of a carved and curved oak tree was spiralled into the space. 


Owen is currently showing a major new piece of work, made in collaboration with Rupert Ackroyd, at the Art House Foundation (London). 'Romeo' will continue to 1 July. For more information please click here

Owen Bullett, 'Portal' (detail), 2010, photo © Philip Sayer

Owen Bullett, 'Portal' (detail), 2010, photo © Philip Sayer

Owen Bullett, 'Portal' installation shot, 2010, photo © Philip Sayer

Owen Bullett, 'Proposition I' and 'Proposition II', 2010, photo © Philip Sayer

Owen Bullett, 'The Space Between the Bars', 2010, photo © Philip Sayer

FINAL WEEK OF OUR CURRENT EXHIBITIONS: MARTIN SMITH 'POTS - PLATES - CHAIRS' AND STEPHENIE BERGMAN 'THE WIRE AND OTHER WORKS'

Both of our current shows will end this Saturday 18th June 2011. Last chance to see!

Main gallery installation shot © Philip Sayer

Project Space installation shot © Philip Sayer

UPCOMING SHOW: GORDON BALDWIN 'DARK WATER AND BOULDERS SHOUTING'

The next show in our main gallery will be 'Dark Waters and Boulders Shouting' by Gordon Baldwin, 23 June - 30 July 2011.


Marsden Woo Gallery would like to present an exhibition of captivating new work by Gordon Baldwin.  The eminent and highly influential ceramic artist explains: ‘this work is a continuation of my journey, new pieces developing from old memories. I am surprised and pleased with the way this new work has turned out; the water vessels probed deeply into my past’.  A lifetime of experiences, influences and inspirations run through Baldwin’s latest work, and his profound thoughts are communicated in these new ceramic sculptures and vessels.

To view the press release please click here.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES: ALIDA SAYER, 'THERE IS NO WHY'

Some images from Alida Sayer's debut solo show in our Project Space, June-July 2010. The exhibition, titled 'There is no why', comprised a series of three-dimensional typographic works inspired by the novel 'Slaughterhouse Five' by Kurt Vonnegut.


Sayer will continue her exploration of three-dimensional type and layered forms in her upcoming show 'Presence - Absence'. This time it is a group display with Zachary Eastwood-Bloom, James Irwin and Brendan Olley at Kingsland Road Studio, Haggerston Studios Basement, 284-288 Kingsland Road, Hackney, E8 4DN. The exhibition opens on June 9th 6-9pm and then 11am-5pm daily until 13th June. For more information please visit www.kingslandroadstudio.com

Alida Sayer, 'Why anything?' (2010), photo © Philip Sayer
www.alidarosie.co.uk

Alida Sayer, 'All moments' (2009), photo © Philip Sayer
www.alidarosie.co.uk

Alida Sayer, 'There is no why' installation (2010), photo © Philip Sayer
www.alidarosie.co.uk

Alida Sayer, 'There is no beginning' (2010), photo © Philip Sayer
www.alidarosie.co.uk

UPCOMING PROJECT SPACE SHOW: JAMES RIGLER 'THE LOST WORLD'

James Rigler, 'The Lost World', Marsden Woo Project Space, 23 June - 30 July 2011. To read the full press release please click here.

PHILIP EGLIN: CURRENTLY SHOWING AT BLACKWELL, THE ARTS & CRAFTS HOUSE

Philip Eglin is currently showing work in a solo exhibition at Blackwell, The Arts & Crafts House, Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria. The show, titled 'Mixed Marriage(s)', features both new and previous pieces and will be on until 10 July 2011. For more information please visit the Blackwell website.

Image © Philip Eglin / Blackwell.org.uk

CLERKENWELL DESIGN WEEK

There has been quite a buzz about the usually rather sleepy Clerkenwell this week thanks to the three day design event Clerkenwell Design Week. 

As far as we can tell there has been a huge boost in interest and visitor numbers since the event launched in May 2010 and hopefully this will grow in future years and continue to promote the area as a key destination for viewing, exhibiting and purchasing contemporary design.

It's also been largely responsible for the impressive influx of visitors to Marsden Woo to see the brilliant exhibitions we are currently showing: Pots - Plates - Chairs by Martin Smith (main gallery) and The Wire and Other Works by Stephenie Bergman (Marsden Woo Project Space).

Hopefully the avid visitors won't be put off by the pouring rain for the last day of the festival today...

Martin Smith, Pots - Plates - Chairs installation © Philip Sayer

Stephenie Bergman, The Wire and Other Works installation © Philip Sayer

WEBSITE UPDATE: BRAND NEW ARTISTS SECTION

We've now added a whole new section to the 'Artists' part of our website. It includes images and other information about some of the other fantastic artists and designers who have exhibited with us both in the main gallery and our downstairs Project Space, but are not part of our gallery stable. 


Currently, the featured artists are; Tord Boontje, Owen Bullett, James Evans, Tom Foulsham, Tony Hayward, Bryan Illsley, Jim Partridge, Alida Sayer and Philip Sayer.


Please click here to visit the pages and have a closer look

SPOTLIGHT: CAROL McNICOLL, 'FLIGHTS OF FANCY'

'Flights of Fancy' is the latest ceramic piece by Carol McNicoll to arrive in the gallery, photographed here by Philip Sayer. 


To make an appointment to view the piece, or any other work by our gallery artists, please contact us directly either by email: info@marsdenwoo.com or telephone: +44(0)20 7336 6396

Carol McNicoll, 'Flights of Fancy' (2011) photo © Philip Sayer

Carol McNicoll, 'Flights of Fancy' (2011) photo © Philip Sayer

GORDON BALDWIN WORKS IN PROGRESS

Some studio shots taken at the studio of Gordon Baldwin as he prepares for his upcoming solo show with us this June 23rd - July 30th. Baldwin speaks of the show, titled 'Dark Water and Boulders Shouting';


'...this work is a continuation of my journey, new pieces developing from old memories. I am surprised and pleased with the way this new work has turned out; the water vessels probed deeply into my past'


To read a full press release please click here

Work in progress at Baldwin's studio, April 2011, photo © Gordon Baldwin 

Work in progress at Baldwin's studio, April 2011, photo © Gordon Baldwin

Work in progress at Baldwin's studio, April 2011, photo © Gordon Baldwin