PHOTOGRAPHY NOW Exhibition 6th – 17th February

Photography Now Exhibition

Opening Night: Wednesday 5th February 18:00 – 20:3

6th – 17th February

JINSUN PARK | LILY MILES | NICOLE BOTTLER | JULIE MATHYS

DARREN HOROBIN | AJOY DAS | PRADIP SUR | SOMNATH CHARKRABORTY

SUNIL K DUTT

 

 

Jinsun Park – “A shadow provides a wide spectrum of different ways to perceive a subject. It can make a subject big or small, visible or invisible. Each of us carries our own shadow which we may be unwilling to show other people. The shadow can be an unknown side of oneself, or a side to hide from one’s represented image. Hiding one’s shadow is easier these days; people often judge others from a staged, 2D screen. Sometimes, even myself, can forget the presence of the shadow behind the screen which is a part of me, while only looking at how I portray myself in the screen. By capturing different shadows of a full-time influencer (@naras_) on social media, I would like to remind the audience of the presence of the black shades that we have forgotten – the side others don’t see, or that can be the most honest.”

www.sajinsun.com

www.instagram.com/sajinsun

 

Lily Miles – She is a photographer based in Northern England, recent Graduate in BA (Hons) Photography at Bath Spa University and 2019 winner of the South West Graduate Photography Prize. Specialising her work within documentary story telling; her projects often explore the visual depiction of societal taboos. Aiming to put herself at the heart of these stories, targeting her practice to genuinely represent the people photographed. Her most recent and on-going series ‘Pink to Make the Boys Wink’ is a documentation of a local Sheffield brothel, ran by women. The project emerged from a desire to understand the choice of work that supports these working women. She work primarily on film, moving from 35mm to Large Format in her outputs. Finding that film is a way for her to entice the subject to create a clearer intent to the image, and its aesthetic values.

‘Prostitution is the world’s oldest profession. Over 70,000 people perform sexual services in the UK, (88% being women) but it is currently a criminal offence to solicit sex work. The series ‘Pink to Make the Boys Wink’ is a portrayal of a group of women who have chosen to work at City Sauna in Sheffield. Run by a mother and daughter, the massage parlour provides sexual services to men who desire intimacy with a woman, as well as offering a safe place for the women to work together under one roof. Without judgement or condemnation, these photographs observe the working lives and friendships of these women – and what it means to work in a brothel, an often stigmatized environment. Many women working in the sex industry are already campaigning for social and legal change. This series is presented to contribute to them reaching a wider audience.’

www.lilymiles.co.uk

www.instagram.com/lilymilesphotographic

 

Nicole Boettler – Nicole Boettler is a photographer and artist from Germany; born in Dresden in 1980. She is living and working with her partner and their three children in a small village near Stuttgart, in the south of Germany. In 2019, she participated in the “PhotoMunich, 2019” group exhibition in Munich, Germany and had Solo shows in Karlsruhe(2018) and Stuttgart(2018), Germany. She also worked for the German weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT as a portrait photographer.

“These are photographs of my children living their lives. Some of them are orchestrated, others are coincidental. Most of them are of ordinary things every mother has seen.

But they are also telling another story. The story of a childhood hardly remembered; where only a handful pictures and a stale sense of isolation and disconnection is left. The story of a childhood lost in daydreams to fill the void of a deeply felt loneliness.

And yet, it’s a story of hope: With them, or should I say through them, I find bits of broken pieces of myself and together we are drawing a picture of what it feels like to be a child.”

www.nicoleboettler.com

www.instagram.com/nicole.boettler

 

Julie Mathys – She is a Swiss photographer living in Geneva. She is fascinated by nature, modern cities and light.

In this series, she wanted to highlight the powerful livingness of nature and its diversity by emphasizing the luxuriance of its shades of green.

Each photograph of the series is printed on Hahnemühle Fine Art Baryta paper and framed. Limited edition of 30 in size 45cmx30cm for each photograph.

www.juliemathysphotography.com

www.instagram.com/juliemathysview

 

Darren Horobin – Darren is a London-based photographer. He uses photography as a creative therapy to overcome his PTSD and specialises in urban, street and product photography.   Darren can be found on www.darrenhorobin.com and on instagram @nostoslife Nostos is a nod towards Darren’s Greek roots, Nostos being an ancient Greek reference to an epic journey home via the sea. He regularly returns to Athens and the Islands of his ancestry for inspiration.

www.darrenhorobin.com

www.instagram.com/nostoslife

 

Ajoy Das – Ajoy Das is a well-known name in Kolkata’s art world who is equally adept in painting and sculpture. His recent sculptures in bronze medium, have been highly acclaimed by connoisseur and the famous painter Ganesh Haloi (1936-) is one of them. In painting, his favourite media are watercolour and oil painting. In the field of painting his teachers Ganesh Haloi and Satyen Ghoshalare his sources of inspiration. In sculpting, Debi Prasad Roychoudhury(1899-1975) and Rodin(1840-1917). This devotee of art keeps very low profile, staying close to the studio and far from the limelight, believes his work is his identity.

He utilizes photography as affording scope for the exercise of carving his realistic form. He often visits remote villages to get a feel and captures scenes through photography which he uses as the subject of his artistic creation. His subjects are drawn from everyday life and exclusively Indian, a soft lyrical style aimed at its lucid exposition in each of his artwork. Each work renders a direct sense how the artist views each and every scene, cracks via his eyes, mind and heart. His work articulates the keynote of Van Gogh’s (1853-1890) famous quote: “real painters do not paint things as they are…they paint them as they themselves feel them to be.”

We have in our collection some of his notable works including the sculpture of an owl- named as ‘Bahon”(Vehicle).. Owl is the vehicle of Goddess Laxmi, the Hindu Goddess of wealth, fortune and prosperity whereas throughout the Western World owl has been used as the symbol of knowledge and wisdom, and accompanies Athena, the virgin Goddess of wisdom. The artist represents financial prosperity through it. Das’s Owl also addresses the airy designs of ‘alpana’, a type of folk art often found in the floors in homes in eastern India and particularly in Bengals.
Another one, ‘Aporanhe’(In the Twilight) captures a particular time of nature as well as a particular time of age in human life. It is the time to cross the bar of the light and enter into the dark. In human life the time symbolizes crossing the bar between life and death. The artwork enthralls us by its serenity and the beauty around it. The golden green tint reminds us the remaining ray of the day. The curly tree provides a resting place and the serenity of jungle life gradually hypnotizing us before surpassing to the infinity.

Forty years in this sphere, Ajoy Das has exhibited all over India. His work has also been collected privately in India and abroad.

https://abundantartgallery.com/artist/ajoy-das/

https://www.saatchiart.com/abundantartgallery

 

Pradip Sur – ‘Anatomy depends on expression’— as he defines his method of sculpting. Without following any particular genre, Pradip Sur creates his own form and style. Sometimes a line in his curving speaks to you with its form. His sculptures convey speed, life, situation, thought and most strikingly underscore a social message with them. It could approach the condition of society through its qualities of size, mass, space, colour, shape, texture etc. The artist’s individuality stands out in his work even in the commissioned work, just as Rodin’s did. The artist claims, when basically he follows Ramkinkar Baij’s form and style, Auguste Rodin remains at his heart.

Graphic Designer by profession, Sur has executed Murals and sculptures in varied media like terra cotta, fiber glass and bronze; both indoor and outdoor, all over India for past forty years. His famous works include the logo’ of ‘Nandan’, Kolkata made of glass-fiber designed by Satyajit Roy. Sur has participated in major art exhibitions across UK and India, including Art MoorHouse. Le Dame Art Gallery, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai; Venkatappa Art Gallery, Bengaluru and many others. His work is in the collection of Eastern Zone Cultural Centre, Kolkata and also been collected privately in India and abroad.

One of his selected artwork, ‘Joyful Decision for New One’ depicts the disadvantages of single child in a family. Another of his sculptures ‘Struggle for Existence’ shows the importance of soil for our living. His works reveal multiplicity of meanings in very familiar forms. His carvings of ‘Unexpected Return’, ‘Instinct’, ‘Heart is Beating’, ‘Allowing to Breath’, ‘Banalakhsmi’ (the Sylvan Deity) bring out an instinctive response to the physical world and to their qualities of scale, texture, mass and echo them in sculptures of timeless theme.

https://abundantartgallery.com/artist/pradip-sur/

https://www.saatchiart.com/abundantartgallery

 

Somnath Chakraborty – Somnath Chakraborty’s favourite sculpture material is bronze. His simple human forms, seemingly short headed, wide shouldered along with peculiarly long lower portions signify happy hearts who are always full of positive energy. The artist tries to capture glimpses of his surroundings through his imaginative forms. These forms possess their unique other-worldly countenance but connect to the pure emotions of our existential lives.

Our collections contains some of his noteworthy works. His ‘Pride’ essays the reassurance of the new environment of women empowerment in rural India. The village folk woman on cycle, her elegantly dignified body language rather her nonchalant gesture acquaint us with her self confidence and the artist’s mastery in this field. ‘She’ articulates the same theme of ‘Pride’, established in urban culture through fashion parade. ‘Kolkata’ portrays the social imparity that the viewer recognizes by the juxtaposing body shape of the rider and the puller of rickshaw.

Romance emerges from the situation of ‘Under the Umbrella’ where in a rainy evening the young lovers get the chance to come close and feel the magic of sensual desire. Each work of Chakraborty successfully tells such stories or ideas behind it.

Chakraborty’s influences include Sculptor Debabrata Chakraborty and Auguste Rodin remain his favourite. He had his Solo Exhibitions at Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata and at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai. Apart from this, he participated in many Group Shows all over India and his artwork has been a part of many prestigious collections.

 

Sunil K Dutt – In its 330 years of existence, Kolkata has been known for its rich colonial history and architecture, its laid-back culture and the resilience and easy optimism of its people. The City of Joy with all its faded charm and lazy elegance has always been a fascinating subject for lovers of history and tradition. For decades, many people have tried to capture in frames this city’s old-world charm, with its decadence, tradition, splendour and glory. Ace photographer Sunil K Dutt stands as an exception among all of them. Best-known for chronicling Mother Teresa’s life and death, 78-year-old Dutt has captured the whims and fancies of Kolkata like no one else and is acclaimed for his vignettes of life in the city. His particular focus on its vibrant street life, his sense of humour and search for deeply meaningful metaphors sets him out among his peers.

In a career spanning more than five decades Sunil K. Dutt has produced thousands of iconic photographs on Kolkata, Shantiniketan, and on mother Teresa’s life.

His works have been displayed and exhibited across the world including the following venues:

  • Kodak’s INTERNATIONAL office at Rochester, USA
    • British National Museum of Photography and Television
    • ACCU (a part of UNESCO) in Tokyo
    • Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata
    • Gaganendra Pradarshanalay in Kolkata
    • The Birla Academy of Art and Culture

Some of his notable awards and testimonials include

  • Christopher Award from New York.
    • Photography Society of America adjudged Dutt as one of the(10) best photojournalists of the world in 1997

https://abundantartgallery.com/artist/sunil-k-dutta/

https://www.saatchiart.com/abundantartgallery

 

CONTEMPORARY PAINTING EXHIBITION

6th February – 17th February 2020

Preview: Wednesday 5th February 18:00 – 20:30

The Brick Lane Gallery, 216 Brick Lane, E1 6SA

 

LYDIA CECIL | DADE

 

 Lydia Cecil – She is an oil painter based in London. After three years of study she graduated from LARA (London Atelier of Representational Art) in the summer of 2019. She paints exclusively from life using traditional oil painting methods, observing the world around her through portraiture, figurative and plein air painting.

For three months towards the end of 2019 she was a resident artist at the Tiapapata Art Centre in Samoa. These are some selected works from her time there. Setting up her easel up all over the islands of Upolu, Savai’i and Manono, She found inspiration in the everyday ordinary-yet-extraordinary beauty of Samoan scenes. This collection combines various typical landscapes; scenes of domestic animals; and personal depictions of the people she met.

www.lydiacecil.co.uk

www.instagram.com/lydiacecil

 

DADE – DADE graduated in 1981 with 5 academic awards. He spent a greater part of his working life joggling art practice and a successful Advertising career in Lagos and briefly in Madrid and London. Since retired as Creative Director, he has been working in London for the last 23 years. Dade’s first show in the UK was a solo organized at Ipswich Town Hall, quite a while ago. While selling several works through auctions, he has collaborated with fellow artists to organize yearly exhibitions and salons every year in the last five years.

His body of work is dominated by mixed-media collages in Dade’s unique relief technique, exploring the use of wood and cardboard with acrylic as the main painting medium whilst complimenting the works in semi- monochromic colours. Intriguing is the way Dade deliberately hides images within the structure of colours and motifs. The work titled ‘REACTIVATION’; an interlocking and overlapping arrangement of wooden sticks, finished with a harmony of acrylic colours. The idea is to depict bursts of energy after a period of downturn or fatigue, incorporating impression of two sprinters in take-off posture. ‘INTIMACY’ is a semi-abstract piece with an illusion of a sitting couple in romantic embrace. See if you can identify the hidden couple in this piece. Other works namely, PARAPHERNALIA, SPANISH HARLEM and NIGHTSCAPE are with similar unique mixed-media relief approach.

www.dadefineart.com

www.instagram.com/lilymilesphotographic