Mall Galleries

Annual ExhibitionWed 5 - Sat 15 March 2014, 10am to 5pm (closes 1pm on final day)
The Royal Society of British Artists is dedicated to promoting the highest standards of skill, concept and draughtsmanship. To further this aim, the RBA works with schools to encourage students into the Arts and a section of the Annual Exhibition displays work by talented A-level students.
Most works are for sale.
Admission £3, £2.50 concessions (Free to Mall Galleries Friends, National Art Pass holders and under 18s)
Admission £3, £2.50 concessions (Free to Mall Galleries Friends, National Art Pass holders and under 18s)

The Annual Exhibition exhibits the best of contemporary painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing sourced from member artists and through open submission.

Robert Capa, Falling Soldier.

Robert Capa, Falling Soldier.

I came across this image in one of my photography lessons and it has stuck in my mind ever since. Apparently this picture was taken as this solider was about to light his cigarette but then got shot as the picture was being taken. This is amazing timing of a photo and the fact it is not blurred and the crisp lines is so fascinating. You can imagine the feelings of the time of this photo.  Two men just sitting there, about to have a cigarette when suddenly bang! And then there was one. I find this very powerful and the emotions are overwhelming.

            However there are allegations on this photo that it is staged. This photo was supposedly taken on September 5^th, 1936 during the Civil War and the man was identified as Federico Borell Garcia. The full title of this image is Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death, Cerro Muriano, and September 5^th, 1936. Anyway this picture has been called staged from the beginning but it was believed to be a true documentary image until the 1970’s. Now recent research shows that it most likely was staged.  It was definitely not taken in Cerro Muriano but it was taken about 30 miles away in Espejo. However Federico Garcia was known to of been shot in Cerro Muriano while being sheltered by a tree so who this man in the photo is still a mystery.  I find this a very eye-catching and shocking as a photo however I think the message it is getting across is very strong and made a lot of people open their eyes. 

Damien Hirst- Shark

Damien Hirst – Shark

I believe this artist takes great pleasure in making the viewer think about death and how all living beings are a part of its cycle, how nothing can remain on this earth forever. It makes me think about life, living for the moment and being adventurous as well as facing your fears. I personally have a fear of sharks and death, to me sharks represent danger, chaos and death. Sharks have been feared for years because of their ferocious predator lifestyle, shape and flesh piercing teeth rows upon rows of them. Their demonic black eyes showing no emotion with the murderous glare strikes fear into my heart even if it is just an image.

            I asked others on their opinion and received varied responses. The most prominent was how they believed the art was based around natures beauty. Myself I find this to be true however not just nature itself but the beauty in evolution. This piece makes me think about how such a terrifying animal came into existence and has managed to survive for so long. I believe this is also a point Damien was trying to portray.

In conclusion it makes me think long and hard about how our lives are so short, they seem to fade away rapidly as we won't be around forever, how a shark has managed to become one of the worlds most feared predators for centuries even by ourselves who as a whole believe we are better than them. It also gives me the opinion that sharks have evolved for the sole purpose of destruction and death, whenever you mention a shark humans naturally panic. How can a creature that lives to solely to feed its hunger be feared by more sentient beings so easily? Hurst really got into peoples minds with this masterpiece.

Phlegm Illustration

I found this art work from a street artist Phlegm on a sight called Broken Culture. After reading about what they had to say about the artist and being able to view some of his work I have been able to find out that I was able to purchase a eighty page book showcasing his amazing ink and pen illustrations based over the past few years. Furthermore it is retailing at £25 and are available on his BigCartel so there are a few ways for you to get your hands on a copy! The reason I like his work is because I am a big fan of black and white pen and ink illustration, however the level of detail Phlegm achieves is next to none and his surreal style is quite literally out of this world (if you get what I mean). I would highly recommend Phlegms art to people who are interested in surrealism and illustration because of the high quality of his work.

(posted by- Benjamin Dixon)

Vivienne Foley

Hand thrown porcelain 

Fired and Glazed

Black and White

Vivienne Foley is a well know ceramic artists who uses her own hands to carve and mould her pieces in vases. She also has private collections around the world in different countries, and presents her work globally. Vivienne produces lots of her work out of porcelain, which is better for moulding and easy to form into. She gets most of her inspiration from Chinese processes and techniques. 

Vivienne places her pieces not by size, but how she groups her vases together and makes them into a still life composition. She focuses on positive and negative colours, which are black and white, and she has used this throughout her ceramic vases. Vivienne likes to produce weird and unusual shapes, which makes her pieces look fantastic and beautiful, and she carries on with this idea in many of her other ones. She always makes the bottom the same as all the rest, but when nearing the top of her vases, she creates a different shape each time. 

Vivienne vases take a life of their own when the get fired and this is what makes them so special to her. 

By Conor Murray

http://www.vesselgallery.com/gallery/detail2.php?productCode=OM-VF-BC

http://www.viviennefoley.com/

Ruth Power

Ruth Power
Ceramicist

Ruth Power creates her ceramics out of porcelain, but also uses bronze casts. She exhibits her work in the zozimus gallery in the Kilmainham arts club. Ruth Power also creates jewellery and other crafts, which she then sells at fairs and festivals. Ruth Power pushes the boundaries of Irish ceramics. She is inspired by Japanese tentacle pornography and has used a ranged of sea creatures and human with deformed faces. Ruth looks at the sexual side between humans and sea life creatures and how they respond in her work. The way she uses the tentacles in her ceramics to show tentacle rape rapped around human faces, shows its not just humans that influence this sort of behavior. Ruth Power uses casts of parts of her body to influence the meaning of sexual pornography and to explain how creatures and humans can be seen as sexual pornography objects. 

Ref:

http://ruthpowerart.blogspot.co.uk/

By Conor Murray

V&A Illustration Awards

V&A Illustration Awards 2014

Supported by the Enid Linder Foundation

(Submissions have now been closed winners will be announced on the 2^nd of June 2014)

The V&A Illustration Awards is to celebrate the best Illustration published over each year. Original artwork from the best Illustrated book, book cover, editorial Illustration and student Illustrator of the year are all recognised.

            Entry on to this competition is free and only happens once a year, which takes places online. All winning entries can be viewed here on the V&A website. Annual submissions increasingly constitute an online archive of contemporary Illustration styles. The winning books are added to the holdings of the National Art Library and may be read in the Library’s reading Rooms in the V&A.

            The winner of each category receives £2,000 and a trophy; furthermore the judges also select an overall winner of the V&A Illustration Awards who will receive an additional £2,000. In the student category 1^st place is awarded £2,000 and a trophy, however the student runner up receives a £1,000 award.

These are the winning work of the best student Illustrator of the year and the runner up. 

(First place above/Second below)

(Posted by- Benjamin Dixon)