Patterns of Shadows by Pip Dickens

6 Mar 2012 to 17 Apr 2012

Monday – Friday, 9:30am – 5:00pm.

At the Daiwa Foundatin Japan House Gallery

Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation

“…we find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates.” Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows.

Patterns of Shadows is an exhibition of oil paintings by Pip Dickens, derived from her research in Kyoto in 2011 as part of a Leverhulme Trust Award Artist in Residence project within the Music Department of the University of Huddersfield and collaboration with composer Professor Monty Adkins. The paintings (oil on canvas) draw upon colour, pattern, rhythm and vibration, associated with kimono fabrics and katagami stencils, and frequently juxtapose these with quieter, understated greys, shadows and subtle interplays of light. These extractive works observe distinctions within Japanese visual culture – sometimes celebratory, playful and exuberant, at other times subtle, introspective and reflective.  The works are produced using bespoke tools, combs and ‘dysfunctional’ brushes to produce intriguing oscillating effects set against quieter, meditative, colour fields. Dickens draws on references such as Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s essay on aesthetics, In Praise of Shadows, as well as her own private collection of katagami stencils and kimonos.

 

Pip Dickens (MFA Slade) is a painter concerned with visual perception, in particular, examining and challenging theories and methodologies of light and movement within the second dimension.  She has exhibited regularly in London, other areas of the UK, and also San Francisco, USA. She was shortlisted for the NatWest Art Prize (1997) and was the recipient of the Jeremy Cubitt Prize (Slade). She won the Edna Lumb Art Travel Prize (1995), and shortlisted for the Celeste Painting Prize 2009. A book – SHIBUSA-Extracting Beauty – including texts by Monty Adkins, Pip Dickens, arts writer Roy Exley and kimono designer Makoto Mori is to be published early in 2012. She also has a substantial solo exhibition, Toward the Light – Pip Dickens, at The Brindley Arts Centre, Cheshire (31 Mar – 12 May 2012), which is a Bradford Museums and Galleries touring exhibition.  www.pip-dickens.com

Miró

Miró

Tate Modern 14 April  –  11 September 2011

About the exhibition

Joan Miró’s works come to London in the first major retrospective here for nearly 50 years. Renowned as one of the greatest Surrealist painters, filling his paintings with luxuriant colour, Miró worked in a rich variety of styles. This is a rare opportunity to enjoy more than 150 paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints from moments across the six decades of his extraordinary career.

Miró is among the most iconic of modern artists, using a language of symbols that reflects his personal vision, sense of freedom, and energy. The exhibition includes many of the key works that we know and love. It also shows that, behind the engaging innocence of his imagery, lies a profound concern for humanity and a sense of personal and national identity. Extraordinary works from different moments of his career celebrate his roots in his native Catalonia.

The exhibition also traces an anxious and politically engaged side to Miró’s work that reflects his passionate response to one of the most turbulent periods in European history. Working in Barcelona and Paris, Miró tracked the mood of the Spanish Civil War and the first months of the Second World War in France. Under the political restrictions of Franco’s Spain, Miró remained a symbol of international culture, and his grand abstract paintings of the late 1960s and early 1970s became a mark of resistance and integrity in the dying years of the regime. Telling the story of Miró’s life and the time he witnessed reveals a darker intensity to many of his works.

This is a must-see exhibition for 2011, filled with astonishing, beautiful and striking paintings by one of the greats of modern art.

See Miro for free and get fast track entry as a Member – join now!

Please note if the exhibition does get very busy Members may be asked to wait 5 or 10 minutes before entering.