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A St. Helier-based gallery has reopened its doors with a colourful exhibition of figurative works from local and British artists.
Every Friday, Express presents a selection of online and offline exhibitions, performances, workshops, events and other historic and creative content to help islanders get their weekly dose of culture.
Here's this week's offering...
Pictured: 'Go Figure' can be seen until 5 April.
After holding off at the end of its annual winter break, Private and Public Gallery finally reopened its doors last week with ‘Go Figure! ‘Between Fiction and Autobiography , a group exhibition of figurative painting and sculpture.
The show features early works by Jason Butler, including the strikingly realistic ‘Folly II’ and ‘The Rubbish Men’, a portrait of the eponymous semi-fictitious artist duo formed by Paul V Lawford and Robert Greene.
Pictured: Robert Greene's latest works were inspired by his time in lockdown in Paris.
The latter, who recently returned to the island, is showing a series of works, inspired by his time in Paris during lockdown and his continued fascination with bohemian intellectualism. The new works form part of ‘Spiritus Paris’ series which are said to provide ‘a dérive’ though the time and space fabric of Paris.
Butler’s ‘The Colour of the Earth’ and ‘The Painter’, where clouds of colour surround a lone figure, show he was well into his abstract journey in the mid 2010’s.
‘Go Figure’ also celebrates the woman’s figure with two voluptuous limestone sculpture by Mark Guest, known, among other things, for his ‘Granite Ring’ sculpture for the Millennium Town Park.
Video: A virtual tour of the exhibition.
It also includes works from the 20th century such as colourful women’s portraits by Sir Claude Francis Barry, clearly influenced by the Fauves and John Minton’s Harbour Scene.
Speaking about the resurgence of figurative painting, Gallery Director Chris Clifford said: “It seems that now more than ever that artists are proposing a ‘new realism’ that positions us on familiar ground and provides a sense of security in an ever more confusing world where fact and fiction are increasingly hard to distinguish.
“In recent years, in literature but also in film and fine art practice, autobiography and memoir have made a notable resurgence. Their present day variants have sometimes been referred to as ‘narrative essay’ ‘autobiographic fiction’ or simply ‘autofiction’."
Pictured: 'Doreen, Isobel and Sarah' by Sir Claude Francis Barry.
He continued: “Critics attribute the phenomenon to the rise of social media. It is now entirely normal for anyone to narrate their own life to a wider audience. The diverse writers associated with autofiction range from Rachel Cusk to Ta-Nehisi Coates to Maggie Nelson, all noted for portraying “both their fictional and putatively authentic ‘selves’ as nodes in which social forces interact”. They examine how the ‘self’ is formed through social constructs of gender, sexuality and race as well as the personal dimensions of capitalism and its class structures.”
“In this, our first exhibition of 2021, Private & Public Gallery present a group exhibition of 6 artists who have elegantly used figuration as a means to express their feelings about the society in which they live,” he added.
“So it is with great pleasure that I throw open the doors to visitors at the start of a new year pregnant with hope and a genuine desire to see the anxieties of 2020 consigned to history.”
Video: Christian Jegards continues his exploration of Jersey's music scene.
If you enjoyed watching Rapper ‘Lil’ Langtry, DJ Puddleduck and guitarist Shoulders Pallot dishing the dirt on Jersey's music scene, a new episode of Christian Jegard’s 'rockumentary' is now available.
‘Jersey - A Musical Journey - Part 2’ features Anton Decque, a folk singer from St. Ouen, festival organiserGraeme LeBreton and punk rocker Billy Unrest from The Bloody Livid.
ArtHouse Jersey commissioned Jersey-born, Brighton based comedian Christian to write and produce the spoof documentary piece which explores 'Jersey's music scene’ and following the success of the first instalment ordered three more.
Talking to Express about the first episode, Christian, who many islanders will remember as the frontman of indie rock band ‘The Valentines’, said:
“It was just fun to do,” Christian said. “When I was younger, and I was in a band in Jersey, I was silly but for some reason people want you to be earnest.
“Even though I like music, comedy is better suited for me.”
Pictured: ‘Lover in Blue’ is an unreleased track Viv wrote around two years ago.
The life of Jersey-born Viv le Vav is what you might expect from a Berlin-based Experimental Pop music maker. Living in a yurt by night, glueing concert and exhibition posters to lamposts by day, his latest release, Lover in Blue is a “colourful slow-building vignette of characters and events”.
‘Lover in Blue’ is an unreleased track Viv wrote around two years ago, somehow inspired by the lyrical structure of Bob Dylan’s ‘Fourth Time Around’.
Last summer, he released a version recorded in his yurt after one of ‘Live from the Yurt’. He has now released a studio version of the song, recorded last year with producer Steph Marziano.
Video: Last summer, Viv recorded the song in his yurt.
“The lyrics wheel freely between images of isolation and union, between introspection and hedonism (loneliness is a crowded room, as Bryan Ferry would say),” Viv said.
"This is bedroom pop done hi-fi with producer Steph Marziano (2021 MPG Producer of the Year award nominee) at the helm, mixing an 80s drum machine, 90s portamento organs, and electric bass that wouldn’t go amiss in a Blood Orange track.”
Pictured: 92 year-old Barbara Jouanny, the start of the 'Face of Liberation' mural, who took the first box for a spin. (Peter Mourant)
ArtHouse Jersey’s ‘Memory Box’ project hit the road this week with volunteers began delivering the ‘art-in-a-box’ experiences to older islanders.
The project was imagined by digital artist Thomas Buckley to reach older members of the community who may be lonely or socially isolated, by bringing a unique theatrical experience directly into people’s homes.
Pictured: A sneak peek at the inside of the box.
Designed as an immersive arts experience, when opened and activated each Memory Box brings a touching story to life, using sound, projection and other materials.
“I hope people will feel a sense of connection and hope,” Thomas said. “The memory that's been captured inside is one of kindness and overcoming tribulations. Although each box tells just one story, one perspective, I've learnt that often our experiences are universal.
"By hearing another person's story, we can't help but relate that to our lives. We're an empathetic and communal species. I hope people will close the box after being guided through the story and realise that they too have been shown kindness and feel empowered by the experience.”
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