Do not miss Jay Staples & Stephen Brameld’s RECESS exhibition which opens tomorrow 1 October 2022 at 6 pm at the gallery, 1b Packenham Fremantle, and runs until 9 October.
Our Arts Guy, Ted Snell, is opening the exhibition and is in a state of mild enrapture about it. That tells you something.
While we hear about folk writing a novel together, chapter about, have you heard of two artists painting together, at the same time? Well, read on!
Ted says the exhibition will upend your Romantic conception of the artist as a unique individual whose hand and mind unite in the creation of art. Stephen and Jay work on their paintings at the same time creating works that combine and consolidate their ideas in a process of creative collaboration
On top of that, the gallery, where the exhibition is happening, is also the studio where the works were made: the paintings were literally made for and made in this gallery.
Ted says –
The surfaces of Stephen and Jay’s remarkable paintings are a record of a conversation. Some ideas remain unresolved, others are documented as they morph and change, and one key image rises to the surface and survives the critical onslaught of two independent hands. Working together on the same painting simultaneously, Collaboration is a word currently invoked in respectful tones. We all know that innovation in all fields is complex, requiring an ever more diverse range of skills. As a result, any project that brings together individuals with specific expertise to work in tandem on a project is not only deemed sensible but in many instances, it is seen as essential.
They have succeeded in orchestrating a shared visual language that materialises through a process which is etched in the richness and complexity of each surface. Their intensity is a chronicle of the process of becoming that accounts for the joyous outbursts, the changes of direction, the nervous assertiveness of certain forms and the restless energy throughout.
The evocative title of their exhibition ‘RECESS’, is suggestive, Ted says, of time on the school grounds during that magic interlude when the serious business of collaborative play was initiated by the ringing bell.
Ted adds –
Understanding their motivation of serious play our first reaction is to smile. These are performative paintings, a playground in which the rigorous interrogation of painting is carried out. We ponder on why one form is lost in in the miasma of paint and it opens up other embedded stands of possibility. These works are similarly reenergising because of their serious intent. Underscored by an understanding of the history of art, their exploration of abstraction, and their interest in modernism, street art, and the visual imagery of children’s drawings. These ideas and interests coalesce in their recessed laneway studio.
It is the birthing place of their works, and with its alcove recesses, it becomes the ideal gallery to present their paintings and sculptures as votive offerings. As we journey through these portals they have opened up into an ever-changing world of surprise and fascination, we are encouraged to dive deeply into the recesses of our own minds and souls. It is an intoxicating experience.
Words by Professor Ted Snell AM CitWA, Honorary Professor, School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University
For more by Ted Snell here on Fremantle Shipping News go to Recommend_Ted
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