Category: Reviews

Sophie de Saint Phalle (Perpetua1010) has recently opened two exhibitions of her work, each of which is also set to words offering both insight and description.

The first, which opened on February 13th at Sophie’s own Subcutan Art Gallery, where it occupies an atmospheric skybox exhibition space. It is entitled Infernal Symbiosis, and perhaps the best way to describe it is a celebration of the meeting of self and nature, and the ability of the latter to remove the noise, the insistent pressure the demons of modern life, and to remind us of our heritage and our being a part of Nature and the world around use.

The watercolours were created at the edge of flow— in the forest, beside a narrow creek. Water becomes body; body becomes landscape. Nature and human dissolve their borders and remember their shared origin.

– Sophie de Saint Phalle, Internal Symbiosis

In the darkness of the gallery space, the vibrancy of the 14 abstract paintings is perfectly brought to life, the fluid lines and flowing colours giving a sense of both motion to what are essentially still life images, together with a sense of water-like fluidity. Together  they give us a beautiful sense of harmonious intermingling of our humanity and Nature.

In this, it is – to me at least – vital to take in the ambience of the gallery space as a whole; within Subcutan, Sophie always takes care to offer her art in terms of an immersive environment, where setting, art and EEP all combine to form an experience to be explored and appreciated. This is very much the case here, the outer lobby of the main hall and the scenes visible through the windows adding creative depth and feeling to the exhibition as a whole.

Sophie’s second current – at the time of writing – exhibition opened on February 19th at ArtCare Gallery, curated and operated by Carelyna. Again occupying a sky-base exhibition space is Yellow Impressions.

It offers some 13 nude images presented as marble etchings, all of which carry a similar theme of symbiosis and joining – or perhaps understanding might be a better term, as Sophie notes in the text accompanying the exhibition.

As myself became intertwined with the soul structures of others, surface turned into tangible life. In this transition — between inner perception and outward appearance —an image-skin emerges that does not depict, but carries.

– Sophie de Saint Phalle, Yellow Impressions

That the nudes are what might be termed partial studies – and indeed possibly familiar to followers of Sophie’s work – matters not. Again, as Sophie notes, reduction of the body, the absence of features (e.g. head, or facial features) and focus on specific elements of the human body (e.g. the torso),becomes a method of approach, a means to express the idea of both self and our perception of others becoming intertwined; an energy flow if you will, of a subconscious yet perceptual openness – or perhaps offering – of one to another.

Taken together or individually, Infernal Symbiosis and Yellow Expressions are both shirking and visually engaging, whilst the words accompanying them (touch the exhibition title boards in each case to receive these), allow us to thread the path of the deeper expression and meaning within both.

Highly recommended.

SLurl Details

• Infernal Symbiosis, (Subcutan Art Gallery, rated Adult)
• Yellow Expressions (ArtCare Gallery, Emotion, rated Moderate)

Currently open at the Akimori, a part of the Akipelago complex operated by Akiko Kinoshi (A Kiko), is an exhibition by the talented Mareea Farresco. It is entitled Tapestry, with the subtitle Medieval Fantasy.

Presenting nineteen images, this is a narrative exhibition, unfolding a story of a maiden and her encounter with a travelling troubadour in medieval times. Mixing images of landscapes with images of avatars, the images are designed to be viewed in a specific order, starting with the image of cathedral, located on the far left of the information board listing the names of all 19 pieces. From here, the story progresses past the introductory board and on around the worlds of the exhibition space.

Thus, the pictures progress from the cathedral and through the streets of a medieval town, their ordering suggestive of a walk taken by the maiden, out of the town and past the tall towers and strong walls of a Norman-style castle standing proud on a hill. As they continue around the walls, the pictures introduce us to the maiden with a subtle hit of her love of music, before moving on to her encounter with the troubadour and the blossoming of an apparent relationship – one which we instinctively know will not last.

The images themselves are beautifully processed to give the appearance of paintings produced if not within the period of the story, then possibly by one of the great masters of the renaissance period, the start of which overlapped the end of the medieval. This is particularly true of the images of the unnamed town and its guardian castle, all of which are rich in detail, capturing moments in time. The images of the maiden and her troubadour are equally engaging avatar studies, vividly telling the tale of love and loss (or is that perhaps abandonment?)  and the inevitable hurt and loss.

In this, Tapestry appears to offer a story within a story: just how genuine is the troubadour in his feelings for the maiden? Is it a genuine love, or the opportunity for a dalliance as he goes about his travels, singing his songs to whomever will pay him, staying only so long in any one place as meets his needs before his inevitable wanderlust causes him to move on? From the perspective of the maiden, their relationship is real, and she is clearly heartbroken following his adieu and departure. From this, our imagination might build a number of possible tales within the tale, adding a personal depth to the images.

With the exhibition space decorated to match the tone of the images, Tapestry is an engaging and expression exhibition, ideal for art lovers and storytellers.

SLurl Details

• Tapestry (Akimori, rated Moderate)