John Sims and the art of ‘useless maps’

Maps are deadly serious things, the painstaking product of the cartographer’s scrutiny. Not so, for John Sims. He challenges their status as functional, documentary or even decorative artefacts. Why do so many people put them on their walls? Why, looking out to sea, does Sandgate seem more of a bay than the map suggests? What would a place look like if you fell on it from the sky? Well, John’s maps could provide the answers, or none at all. After all, they are ‘useless’.

As John says: ‘I love the way that at first glance they appear to be real maps, look closer and longer and you see that they are more or less abstract paintings… just marks, colours and lines…’

John’s inspiration for his map-making came from the time that he was Artist-in-Residence at the Cyprus College of Art. Working with archeologists, he would make oil-pastel reproductions of ancient finds from memory, adding to them until they took on new abstract forms.

‘Useless maps’ of Folkestone (featured above), Dover, Whitstable and Sandgate are currently on display at the Cristus Summer Exhibition, but if you would like a map of anywhere, John is ready to take commissions, at a fixed price of £150, framed. Please contact Deborah@cristus-gallery.com to place an order, or visit the exhibition.

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Cristus summer show our best ever!

A last look at the sea - gentle waves, turquiose and purple-grey, then back to the gallery for the final checks. Everyone expects everything to be right; and on this special evening it is. Then, it begins. Artists, clients, fellow business-owners, arts’ people, and dear friends - all relaxed and having fun. Deborah, the girl who makes it happen, the link that unites everyone. Perfect. And there are sales too! Red stickers that tell us that it’s all worthwhile, and the next show will be even better.
Thanks everyone.

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Cristus Summer Exhibition 2010

Cristus Gallery’s summer show begins with a private view on Saturday 21st August and runs until 18th September. On display will be new works from our established artists: Dee Taylor, Farid Aouni, Paul Bergin (featured above), John Sims, Tracey-Anne Pryke, Ian David Baker and Sarah Stokes.

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Farid Auoni’s Impressions of Folkestone

There is something special about the light that falls on this fair corner of England. Artist friends are inspired by the huge skies above the channel, which seem to intensify the shapes and colours of the foreshore; but so often the land and seascape art we see is purely representational and, to be honest, a little dull.

That’s why Farid Auoni’s paintings appeal to us, because they bring a new vitality to the familiar local scenes that have been rendered a million times before. So Farid’s Old High Street bustles with life and colour, and his Leas and Kingsnorth Gardens bloom and spangle as they do from time to time. When asked, Farid says that this is just how they look to him. And one thinks of Renoir’s way of seeing Algiers through impression and imagination fused, and Farid returning the complement to Folkestone.

Farid’s paintings will be exhibited at Cristus throughout the summer, with new works planned for a special exhibition to coincide with the Sandgate Festival in August.

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New artist ‘Bergy’ and the shadowy effects of light

Cristus welcomes Paul Bergin to its summer season. The style is unashamedly impressionistic, with Cezanne cited as Paul’s main influence, but with clear references to Monet and Sisley evident too. The paintings are vibrant and immediate, but the opaqueness of Paul’s style gives the sense of landscapes that are transient, obscured by glare or fading in the evening light. The effect is romantic and evocative, rather than documentary, oweing much to Paul’s love of Turner’s big skies.

Paul Bergin (’Bergy’) will be exhibiting at the gallery throughout the summer.

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A special weekend for lovers of contemporary art

Bank Holiday Weekend Specials at Cristus

To mark the final weekend of the summer exhibition Cristus are discounting prices by 20% this weekend (does not include ceramics) so that we can make way for our exciting new season of exhibitions.

In addition, we have some very special offers which are open only to our Newsletter readers. To take advantage, sign up for our newsletter here and we will send you a coupon code. Then drop into the Gallery on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday (28th - 31st August 2009) and simply tell us your coupon code to qualify for these offers…

1.Buy any painting, ceramics, prints or photographs with a retail value of £400 or more and choose from one of two free gifts

• EITHER a) any unframed print currently on display in the gallery, including signed limited editions!
• OR b) Two packs of high quality art reproduction greeting cards (5 cards to a pack). Normally the two packs would retail at £30.

PLUS

2. Receive a massive 20% discount on future opening night Private View purchases (as a Newsletter subscriber you will automatically be invited to all future Private Views)

PLUS

3. Collectors Special: we would like to keep our artist’s work together in single collections as far as possible. We want to encourage this with the following offer: buy two works by a single artist and receive a third at a 50% discount - this weekend only! This offer applies to the lowest priced work of the three pieces. Paintings, photographs and prints only - does not apply to ceramics.

More importantly… here is a selection of some of the beautiful art available this weekend…

 

Plus lots more art by many more artists… we look forward to seeing you at the weekend - have a great Bank Holiday.
Tel: 01303 223005
Mob: 0759 33 77 499

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Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2009

You sir! Pass my monacle.

To assert that the Royal Academy’s long standing tradition of open submission to its Summer Exhibition is a form of democracy, as the great and good would have us believe in the meeja this week, is to adopt an essentially self-contradictory position. There’s a paradox in operation.

I say so because the actual tradition of the Academy is one of conservatism, elitism, royal and aristocratic patronage, closed shops, and negative discrimination at every possible level. It has played its part in helping to build the reputation of English art as the poor man of Europe, dragging its pallid shape along in the wake of the adventurous and spunky Europeans (and Americans in the precociously recent 20th Century). Picasso, Miro, Pollock, Richter? What, when we have the St Ives school?

At this year’s exhibition, as in the past, the jury’s chosen water colourists and acrylicists rub shoulders with established artists. What’s different is that this time around, apparently it’s funky. Flirting dangerously with the 21st Century, the Academy has drafted in Emin and Hirst, like Royalty at a cup final. Britain has globally recognised stars of the art world, and here they are. We only sing when we’re winning.

This is a good mix. It is an excellent chance to compare the output of the great engine room of English artistic output, the reality of what art is for most artists (i.e. rendering approximations of observed phenomena with paint, charcoal etc), with the work of the great conceptualists of our time. Who will come off best? What will connect, emotionally or intellectually? And what will have lasting quality?

We find ourselves at a fascinating juncture in art history, entangled as never before in the reality of the market place. It’s an entertaining scramble for the Art Quid, but let’s not pretend that democracy has anything to do with it.

The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2009 continues until 16th August.

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Wish by Jessica Stride

A stunning portrait by Jessica Stride showing her typical mastery of colour. Acrylic on canvas, 20″(h) x 16″(w). Presentation is on a deep box canvas and is therefore unframed. Buy the original here. 

Buy an open edition print here.

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Summer Exhibition 2009

50 yards from the Sea: Contemporary Art Summer Exhibition To Launch in Sandgate, Kent

The Cristus Gallery summer exhibition of contemporary art will open to the public from Thursday June 4th 2009. Deborah O’Grady, the show’s curator emphasised the feelgood, optimistic nature of the artworks.

“The thinking behind the summer exhibition is very straightforward” said O’Grady. “It’s about the quality of summer light, the freshness of summer breezes, the hope and energy that a great summer can represent. It celebrates a certain lightness of being, and breaking free from whichever new global crisis we are in the middle of when people come to visit the gallery!”

Cristus Gallery, situated just 50 yards from the seaside promenade in Sandgate, is the ideal place for a Summer Exhibition.

“The quality of the light here in Sandgate is remarkable” said Dan McCarthy, one of the exhibiting artists. “On a clear day you can see France across the channel, the light sparkles on the water, and the sea is a Caribbean turquoise. On a stormy day, the sky and English Channel seem to threaten to burst the sea defences. I spend a lot of my time trying to capture these mood changes, and the ancient, troublesome relationship that man has with the sea in this place”.

We wanted artists who can match their seriousness of purpose with beautiful, colourful works that are optimistic and full of light. Featured artworks include paintings by Sarah Stokes, Jessica Stride and Tracey-anne Pryke; Ceramics by Shaun Hall; digital art by Dan McCarthy.

Summer exhibition opening times are now: Fri & Sat 11 - 7.30, plus the first Sunday of every month. These will be extended during the peak season and will be announced here.

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Jessica Stride on why colour is her inspiration

As far back as I can remember, I’ve had a love of colour and when I paint, this is always my first inspiration. The images are unplanned but evolve through balance and instinct and using colours that lift my spirit with their beauty. This series of paintings was influenced by my frequent visits to Devon and reflects the vibrant blues of the coastal area. My process is one of making continual decisions, some conscious, some intuitive which affect the final outcome. I aim to produce imagery that is ambiguous, with many layers, that reveals itself slowly and gradually to the viewer.
[Jessica Stride, May 2009]

See Jessica’s striking abstract and figurative paintings, including ‘Headland’ featured above, at the Cristus Gallery Summer Exhibition, from June 4th 2009.

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