12 Star Gallery

3 September 2008 to 19 December 2008

The following series of exhibitions celebrates the creativity and cultural diversity that is the hallmark of the European Union. The exhibitions take place at 8 Storey's Gate, SW1 ( map) and are open to the public 10am-6pm Monday-Friday. Entry is free.

 

Picturing Europe

26 September - 10 October 2008

Wingedchariot Press - a young publisher of children's picture books in translation - presents a unique exhibition of books and illustrations from all corners of the European Union. From Finland to Portugal these special stories and images reflect the diverse and vibrant nature of European culture. The exhibition includes notes and classroom work done by UK librarians and teachers showing how these stories can be used: offering limitless possibilities for cross cultural discussion and productive, meaningful activities.

This exhibition celebrates European Day of Languages

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Private Universe - New Works

by Natalia Manley

14-24 October 2008

Natalia Manley is a textile artist who was born in Portugal but has lived in the UK for most of her life. Her work is bright and colourful and uses many techniques from hand and machine embroidery to fabric collage and fabric painting. Natalia's work is "vibrant and rich" and has been exhibited throughout the USA, Dubai, Spain and the UK. Her work is bought by private collectors and corporate clients and features in many books and magazines throughout the world.

Natalia was born in the Alentejo region of Portugal, an ancient land of cork trees, eucalyptus, olive groves and vast endless plains.The soil is rich and sun baked, the wild flowers pink and yellow, the dawns velvety and deep blue and the sunsets pink and orange. It is a land of little medieval villages perched on top of a hill and streets lined with orange trees and church bells ringing in the midday sun.

"I spent the first 13 years of my life in Portugal and a large part of it was spent in the Alentejo with my grandparents. The rest of the time was spent with my parents just south of Lisbon by the Atlantic ocean. Here the colours were quite different from those of the Alentejo.The shimmering blues and greens of the Atlantic ocean, the colourful fishing boats and the glorious fruits and flowers in the marketplace, most of them from the Madeira Islands and the then Portuguese Africa. All these influences have helped to shape my work and I must not forget the deep impact that the UK has had on my life and work. After all these years I am sometimes told that I speak portuguese with an english accent and I feel that I belong in both countries. I dont think I would be able to choose between them now! Private Universe is an ongoing collection of work that means a great deal to me. These are the pieces where ' I let myself go' and do what pleases me rather than a client. Some of these pieces hold precious memories, some memories of my childhood in Portugal, some celebrate glorious English gardens but all express feelings and interests and daydreams. Most of the work in this exhibition has been made especially for it and I like to think that it celebrates my Portuguese and English lives".

In association with the Portuguese Embassy in the UK

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Come Tu Mi Vuoi – As you want me

by Stefania Pignatelli Aragona

28 October - 7 November 2008

Feeling good about yourself, whether alone or in the company of others. Today more than ever the theme of female identity takes pride of place all over the world: there are women who have become presidents of major nations (Merkel, Gandhi, and Kirchner) or caused a scandal as new or old wives (Bruni, Sarkozy), women who have relinquished a life of their own for a political cause (Bhutto), and those who have sacrificed their own freedom to fight against terror (Betancourt and Aung San Suu Kyi). And so many more women who struggle with small and not so small problems in daily life, in the family and at work.

Being and feeling like a woman yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Women posing in their little veils, or on the move. So many different figures, so many different ways of presenting themselves in their day, but also many voyages into the conscious and unconscious. For a woman, presenting herself to the group is always a question mark because of the necessary and indispensable requirement of feeling that her own freedom cannot be denied, even if we know that today this is somewhat easier than in days of yore.

All the works on display have in common vintage photographs showing women of the past at various ages: as infants, young girls, married women and femmes fatales. The photographs of fabrics which are interspersed or coupled with these portraits represent the contemporary world – what is willingly worn today for leisure or seduction. A way of feeling ourselves close to these women who, with their presence and their decisions, have made such a profound impression on the life of so many others to come. A thread connecting all the women of the world, like that of a dress, indissoluble even after the passing of centuries.

Stefania Pignatelli Aragona lives and works in Castel di Lama (Ascoli Piceno), in Italy, and her works have been exhibited internationally. She studied at the Central Saint Martins’ College of Art and Design in London, currently works as an art therapist, and is director of the Seghetti Panichi Cultural Association which every year organises exhibitions of contemporary art in the historic residences of Italy’s Le Marche Region.

The exhibition will be introduced by Marisa Vescovo, historian and contemporary art critic.

In collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in the UK

 

 

 

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A Day in Latvia/The View

exhibition of photographs

11 - 21 November 2008

The idea for this exhibition was developed by photographer Ilmārs Znotiņš, who also made the selection of photographs. The works are mainly of rural scenery, townscapes, seascapes and urban landscapes, reflecting life in Latvia during two time periods: the Soviet occupation (1987) and the present day (2007). The photographs have succeeded in recording two differing perceptions of time, world outlooks, and the rhythm of life. The exhibitions contain not only works by Latvian photographers, but also by renowned foreign professionals, who present their view of Latvia. About a quarter of the photographs represents the output of the 1987 event, and the remainder is from 2007.

Exhibition organised by the Latvian Embassy in the UK
 in association with VIENA DIENA (www.vienadiena.lv)

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Recent Work

by Jonathon Brown

25 November - 5 December 2008

Just as one comes to relish the colour in Jonathon Brown's work, one sees also how strong and lively the line is too; in his more recent work - "Brushing with Light" - the manner in which colour and line play between each other has a new richness.

There has always been a narrative streak in his vision — epitomised by the big show of his 'car journey' paintings at Edinburgh University's prestigious Talbot Rice a few years ago, entitled "RoadMovies", and even if only for himself his pictures are frequently animated by hidden references to texts from favourite poets or writers - but now one finds a new audacity in this handling of time, travel, and the onlooker's participation in these almost translucent perspectives.

He has written:

"I took up drawing, then painting, only after a degree in Philosophy; but I don't feel as if I have quite given up philosophy. Much of the challenge — and much of my relish — in making pictures is to try to do something with the way layers of memory of a journey for instance, a car trip, just a short walk, or even climbing a tree, form a sort of fabric of space and time that then the eye has to explore in the picture, on the move and involved with the story. So, I often work in series, with more than one version of each subject. The pictures are made in layers and mostly have to be painted flat; I have found that painting on free-hanging canvas helps this sensation of unfettered flow both for me as I work and when the thing is seen almost floating against a wall.

"As for 'Nietzsche's Walk by the Sea at Eze-Village', illustrated here, though it follows a path I'm sure shepherds knew before Plato, Nietzsche is credited with establishing the walk between Eze Village and Eze Bord de Mer. You can boil on this walk in the noon sun and the steep aspect over the sea seems to emmphasis both the round Earth and the course of the ever present sun towards evening. For my day-long perspective of time, I had in mind Schubert's Wanderer in 'Die Winterreise', whose madness of exhaustion leads him to see three suns...

All very well, but none of this should prevent us from an excited gratitude at his humour as well, and his plain sense of joy in things that artists are now sometimes scared to admit, but which we need.

www.villaparasol.com

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Reincarnated

A series of objects transformed by Anne Schwegmann-Fielding

9-19 December 2008

Born in England to a German mother and Geordie father, Anne Schwegmann-Fielding transforms functional objects. Utensils, tools, logs, hard hats and other familiar objects undergo metamorphosis, and emerge as sculptures, mosaics, jewels and ornaments – they are The Reincarnated.

This act of transformation is central to Anne’s work, making the ordinary extraordinary, she gives overlooked objects significance. Her recycling and re-use of materials began as a child, making things from whatever she found around the home. She has continued to be fascinated by materials which have had a previous life, and has an ongoing concern surrounding the disposable society in which we live and the often thin line between what is valuable and what is worthless.