RAPPORT FRINGE ... MARGINAAL VERSLAG ... FRINGE BERICHT
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Anne Windsor - Scratch
Art Exhibition
Verdict: Powerful emotions revealed
London - The Muse - 27 May-30 June 04
Tues-Sun 11-5 - Admission Free - Anne Windsor
Scratch features new paintings by Anne Windsor.
The canvases are (with 2 exceptions) abstract, and suggest a graphic representation of inner emotions. Their power is enhanced in this exhibition by a purpose-written sound-track composed by Martin A Smith. If this sounds a bit wanky, it isn't.
Anne Windsor is a distinctly gorgeous woman in racy green frock (there's no other word, this is a dress with flagrant 50s styling, designed for jive and risqué rock 'n' roll - yes, you know, the somersaults), belted at the waist, mobile phone and pack of 10 Marlboro' Lights tucked sexily in the back. An artist with artful gray-green eyes, Anne Windsor's mission is to explore the passions that drive the human locomotive.
Anne Windsor describes her paintings as portraits. Conscience is the title of a pair of paintings realistically depicting a couple of Humphrey-Bogart-like men whom she regards as benign and fatherly, but with a sinister edge. They're alone in their realism. The rest, the bulk of the exhibition, divide into explosions of stain and colour; and suggestive ruptures (conjuring images and the specific body part featured in Natalie Imbruglia's poetic and sexually explicit Torn).
Scratch describes a subtle technique of scratching biro into acrylic gesso and waiting over time for the extraordinary chemical result. The colours that emerge are fascinating and clearly evocative of the emotions Anne Windsor's work sets out to explore.
The sienna tones of Between Chaos And Reason only too aptly conjure up the feeling of those distresses. The three panels of Sisters are worth a visit, their contrasts cheekily depicting the artist and her two sisters - as seen by the artist - by character and mood. They react directly with the subconcious, giving an instant characterisation of those three (must be) wild gals - strangers to the viewer on entering the gallery, but strangers no more after this delightful set of canvases.
Works include: Each To Their Own, Dreamland, Confrontation, Core, Split, Touch, 6 Degrees of Separation, Sisters, Inscrutable 1, Inscrutable 2, Porous, Turmoil, Centre Fold, Between Chaos & Reason, Learning To Forget, Conscience, Butterfly, Peep Show, Secret Life.
Martin A Smith designs a sound score from music, sounds scooped up from the hubbub of life and tampered-with artfully, and chatter. He's an impish lad, a skilled composer, sound engineer, musician and music producer.
Designing a sound score for an art exhibition exploring emotions must compel a musician towards swimming-with-whales immersion-tank sounds, but Martin A Smith avoids this with panache, and (FR asked him) swears that he'll never incorporate a lava lamp (unless it's an ironic one).
Anne Windsor and Martin Smith are two of the fabulous band of artists and artistes bound together for life from Alison Trower (FR Awards - Best Events Organiser)'s astonishing Mutiny At The Bargehouse. They're a group of 100 or so, inspiring and encouraging each other with friendship and creativity, and without the slightest hint of pretension - fabulous.
Launches to exhibitions can be exclusive and excluding events. The launch to this was friendly and inviting to the stranger, with a strong sense of the fun that should be at the centre of art, but is often left behind in the march to seriousness. It's an encouraging mood the gallery itself seeks to develop, with plans for food and a reasonably-priced arts club in the future.
People at the launch include: lyrically beautiful playwright Alison Trower (of, eg Many a Slipped, Twixt Cap and Dick); writer, pr, journalist (and gorgeous in classic little black dress) Alana Pryce (yes, our very own reviewer Alana); hunky and handsome artist Mark Bilton; ebullient artist Corinne Charton; James De Carteret - charming host of Resonance 104.4 FM's The Creative Review; and friendly artists too numerous to mention.
The exhibition itself can be enjoyed quietly on one's own - Anne Windsor's raunchy emotions letting rip with Martin A Smith's calming sounds - and not a lava lamp in sight.
Credits: Artist - Anne Windsor. Sound Design - Martin A Smith. Artist Consultant - Alana Pryce.
END
John Park
reviewed Wednesday 27 May 04 / The Muse
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
