Falmouth Fine Art Alumnus Ed Burkes selected for BEERS London Contemporary Visions

Ed Burkes, A headlight looks into the dark, but shimmers and tells you it’s cool, 127×127 cm oil on canvas

2016 BA(Hons) Fine Art graduate Ed Burkes, has been selected for BEERS London Contemporary Visions.

Burkes was on of eleven artists selected from an open call of over 4000 applicants, by a panel that included Philly Adams, Senior Director of the Saatchi Gallery, and Kurt Beers, Director of BEERS London and author of 100 Painters of Tomorrow.

This is the seventh year of BEERS London, a group exhibition that has sought to identify current trends in contemporary art. The artists selected for this year’s show are described as ‘posess[ing] a strong point of view as well as an artistic practice that shows distinct promise’. Burkes himself is described by the exhibition organisers as ‘one of the UK’s most sought-after young artists.

Burkes says, ‘My work is sparked from a commonplace drawing or situation: A friend drinking coffee, a buddy pulling up his socks, a pretty girl in the fruit and veg section of Tesco express. Through the process of painting these preliminary considerations begin to wobble out of sync to a point where their distinctiveness as a primary source slips away. This Introduces the opportunity for the work to embody its own honesty where identity stands as a framework to the painting, unfixed in its dwelling as the viewers’ considerations take hold’.

His work is also currently on display at Mall Galleries, London, as a part of FBA Futures 2017 (until 20 January) and was shown at The Other Art Fair, London, as a part of the Saatchi Invest in Art programme. Burkes was also shortlisted for the 2016 Bloomberg New Contemporaries, and was the recipient of the Falmouth School of Art Purchase Prize 2016.

Ed Burkes in his studio

BEERS Contemporary Visions previews on Thursday 19 January, open 20 January – 4 March, at 1 Baldwin Street, EC1V 9NU

Spotlight on Falmouth Fine Art Graduate Michael Cox

 

Somerset based artist and Falmouth BA(Hons) Fine Art graduate Michael Cox will soon be exhibiting ‘New Works‘ at Art Represent, London, E2 0JD.  Opening from 28 October until 1 November Michael will be collaborating with another graduate artist, James Briggs.

During Michael’s third year at Falmouth, he was selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2016.  As part of the touring exhibition Michael’s work has already been exhibited at the launch exhibition at Bluecoat, Liverpool, forming part of the Liverpool Biennial.

Following the success at Liverpool, Bloomberg New Contemporaries featuring Michael’s piece ‘De Beauvoir, 2015‘ will move on to London, exhibiting at the ICA from 23 November 2016 until 22 January 2017.

Michael has previously exhibited in London, most recently as part of a curated show selected by critic and curator Sacha Craddock and Falmouth Associate Lecturer Jesse Leroy Smith.  Selected artists were chosen from the BA(Hons) Fine Art final year student cohort and the exhibition took place at the Underdog Gallery, London in July 2016.

Falmouth Fine Art London 2016

Michael’s work has also been featured recently as part of a 2016 graduate piece for the ‘It’s Nice That‘ platform, which also featured him six months before he completed his studies at Falmouth (Here).  Michael discusses his Somerset countryside childhood and the influences this has had on his urban style of painting, the highlights of studying the BA(Hons) in Fine Art at Falmouth University and his future plans.

http://michael-cox.co.uk/

 

Fine Art student Michael Cox selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2016

Michael Cox, a third year BA(Hons) Fine Art student has been announced as one of the 46 artists chosen for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2016, an annual open submission exhibition.

Michael has submitted an oil on canvas painting titled De Beauvoir which can be viewed by following this link to the New Contemporaries website: Michael Cox

The panel of guest selectors this year comprised Anya Gallaccio, Alan Kane and Haroon Mirza.  Kirsty Ogg, Director, New Contemporaries says “The panel this year were impressed by the breadth of work and critical sense demonstrated, with the resulting exhibition set to profile a cross-section of the most dynamic work to come out of British art schools.”

The national touring exhibition will launch from 09 July to 16 October 2016 at Bluecoat, Liverpool.

Bloomberg New Contemporaries in Cornwall

Staff and students are enjoying Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2014 at Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange. The exhibition includes work by 55 of the most promising artists emerging from UK art schools, chosen from nearly 1400 submissions, and selected by Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, Enrico David and Goshka Macuga. The exhibition has already shown at the ICA in London and the World Museum Liverpool.

Among the artists exhibiting are Falmouth alumni Ed Hill, Stacey Guthrie, Melissa Kime and Frances Williams.

Ed Hill, Bee Night, 2013,

Stacey Guthrie, Disarmed and Ever So Slightly Dangerous, 2013. Still from video

Frances Williams, Ting and Tang: anachronisms (1), 2012. Still from video

Melissa Kime, Technicolour Joseph and the Amazing City Bankers, 2013, cropped

The exhibition runs until 30 May at The Exchange, and 13 June at Newlyn Art Gallery.

Also exhibiting until 18 April at The Engine Room at The Exchange is another Falmouth alumna, Lucy Apple. Lucy completed her Foundation at The Falmouth School of Art in 2002, and her BA(Hons) Fine Art in 2005, before studying her MFA Painting at The Slade in London.

Reflections on the Spike Island Residency

2014 BA(Hons) Fine Art graduate Ed Hill was awarded the Spike Island Residency, following his studies. Here he shares with current students of the course his reflections on the experience…

Working at Spike Island for three months allowed me to continue the momentum of working post graduation. In my case, this meant painting.

Ed Hill’s Spike Island studio space

The Residency studio was big and situated among other artists’ studios. After moving timber, paint, canvas and stretchers into my space, I shared the studio with three other recent graduates. With 24/7 access, you are free to come and go anytime, day or night. I enjoyed the access to a wood workshop – where I made stretchers, (there is also a metal workshop and plenty of room for larger scale projects).

The atmosphere was very professional, and it was a realistic and beneficial experience of a totally independent way of working outside of art school. I made paintings for a show, and without the studio, facilities and space it would have been much more challenging to do so.

‘At the beach (after Mr and Mrs Andrews)’ 100x100cm, oil on canvas

If you are hoping to carry on working on art projects after graduating, and if you are serious about being artist, the residency is something to aim for – it will provide space, facilities and an opportunity to continue momentum in an art environment at a time when it is increasingly hard to do so. I recommend applying for the residency.

Edward Hill, Standing on a Rock

Ed Hill was one of four Falmouth alumni selected for the 2014 Bloomberg New Contemporaries which, having toured to Liverpool and London, will be on display at Newlyn and the Exchange Galleries from 21 March – 30 May 2015. You can see Ed’s work as part of that exhibition. Ed was also the recipient of The Falmouth School of Art Purchase Prize 2014 for his Bloomberg-selected piece Standing on a Rock.

Falmouth graduates reviewed at Bloomberg New Contemporaries

Writing for the Edinburgh based magazine, The Skinny, Sacha Waldron discusses this year’s Bloomberg New Contemporaries exhibition at the World Museum, Liverpool, and highlights work by Falmouth Fine Art graduates Edward Hill and Frances Williams.

Waldron writes, “a stand-out painting comes from Falmouth’s Ed Hill. His trio shows a man standing on a mountain rock, in a bee suit at night and lying in bubbling rapids. The viewer is transported to a 1970s hike in Yosemite to the soundtrack of Simon and Garfunkel. It’s the most carefree summer in this moustachioed young man’s life, and I want to be in those paintings with him, wrapped in an unknown landscape of muddy greens, glowing whites and dusky pink skies”.

Ed Hill, Bee Night, 2013,

Waldron continues by picking out a work by Frances Williams…”Further into the exhibition, however, the video offering becomes really interesting. Ting & Tang: anachronisms by Falmouth’s Frances Williams is the most intriguing. Two men sit side-by-side as if on stage preparing for a performance, before rising into a ritualistic dance with each other. Twisty lines of disturbance sporadically distort the image. With a rather disturbing found-footage quality, the work is refreshingly hard to pin down”.

(Whole review)

Ed Hill graduated from BA(Hons) Fine Art at Falmouth in 2014, and also studied his Foundation at Falmouth. His work can be seen online at: www.edwardjhill.com 

Frances Williams graduated from BA(Hons) Fine Art in 2010. Her work can be seen online at: www.frances-williams.co.uk

Also included in the show is a video piece by 2013 Falmouth BA(Hons) Fine Art graduate Stacey Guthrie, Disarmed and Ever So Slightly Dangerous, 2013. Her work can be seen online at www.staceyguthrie.co.uk 

Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2014

Four BA(Hons) Fine Art alumni – Edward Hill, Stacey Guthrie, Melissa Kime and Frances Williams – are exhibiting in this year’s Bloomberg New Contemporaries which is currently open as part of the Liverpool Biennial 2014. Ed, Stacey and Frances, along with 51 other artists, join the roster of Bloomberg New Contemporaries, which includes previous exhibitors Jake & Dinos Chapman, Falmouth alumna Tacita Dean, Mona Hatoum, Damien Hirst and Mike Nelson as well as more recent emerging artists including Ed Atkins, Becky Beasley, Haroon Mirza and Laure Prouvost.

This year’s selectors are Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, Enrico David and Goshka Macuga and the resulting exhibition is an incisive snapshot of contemporary practice, spanning diverse media, processes, themes, influences and approaches—from moving image and performance to more traditional approaches to making work such as printmaking, painting and sculpture.

“At a time when creativity and innovation has never been so vital, this year’s selected artists demonstrate the relevance of contemporary art as analytical commentary in everyday life. Offering a unique nationwide insight into British art schools today, this year’s national touring exhibition offers a unique opportunity for selected works to be seen on an international platform at Liverpool Biennial and ICA, London.”
–Kirsty Ogg, Director, Bloomberg New Contemporaries

Ed Hill, Bee Night, 2013.

http://www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/artists/ed-hill

Stacey Guthrie has been chosen by Axisweb as one of five artists to watch in this years New Contemporaries. For more details see:http://www.axisweb.org/features/default/spotlight/five2watch-bloomberg-new-contemporaries/

/ http://www.staceyguthrie.co.uk

Stacey Guthrie, Disarmed and Ever So Slightly Dangerous, 2013. Still from video

http://www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/artists/stacey-guthrie

Frances Williams, Ting and Tang: anachronisms (1), 2012. Still from video

http://www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/artists/frances-williams; www.frances-williams.co.uk

A review of the exhibition, referencing Frances’ work can be found on e-flux. Frances also completed her MA in Fine Art at Falmouth in 2011 and is a current PhD candidate and Technician in time based media.

Melissa Kime, Technicolour Joseph and the Amazing City Bankers, 2013, cropped

Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2014, 20 September–26 October 2014, World Museum, William Brown Street, Liverpool L3 8EN. Hours: Monday–Sunday 10am–5pm, Free admission

www.newcontemporaries.org.uk

Brian Cheeswright and Ed Hill: Two Painters

Brian Cheeswright and Ed Hill: Two Painters

2 October – 9 November 2014
The Gallery at Idea Store Whitechapel invites you to a joint exhibition by two painters Brian Cheeswright and recent Falmouth Fine Art graduate Ed Hill.

Ed Hill aims to make atmospheric paintings, imbued with an elusive mystery and warmth. The subject matter used to inform his paintings can vary; sketches from life, personal photographs and memories and painting history can all inform an idea. Cultural phenomena such as film, music, literature and comic books also provide inspiration. A recurring theme in his work is the allusion to far-away places, perhaps a memory from childhood, a personal depiction of a place or ‘thing’ once visited or witnessed, an experience or sensation. It could be a semi-fictional invention or a borrowed story from a relative. He is drawn to images which contain strangeness, humour and a tragi-comic element.

Ed’s recent exhibitions include ‘Paint Like You Mean It’, Interview Room 11, Edinburgh and ‘Test Space Open’, Spike Island, Bristol. Upcoming Exhibitions Include ‘Bloomberg New Contemporaries’, World Museum Liverpool/ICA London (2014), and ‘Mr and Mrs Andrews’, Transition Gallery (2014). Ed was selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2014.

London born painter Brian Cheeswright is taking stock of his output and pondering the curious geography of lines and marks and wrong turns he has mapped out for himself – adventures carried out in the living room of his Edinburgh flat. Cheeswright’s modest-sized figurative paintings are concerned with vulnerability, anxiety, and the idea of each man or woman as stuck on an island, tentatively sending out a message in a bottle or clambering into ramshackle rafts to try and reach each other. His cast of characters often originate in books or dreams, though increasingly he is turning towards his own childhood and adolescent biography for inspiration. Cheeswright’s style has lurched, back-stepped and stumbled between the expressive, the gestural and the romantic, the cynical and the absurd.

Brian Cheeswright (b.1978) lives and works in Edinburgh. Studied at Brighton School of Art, graduating in 2004. Recent exhibitions include, ‘Draw In’, St Margaret’s House, Edinburgh (2014), ‘Artworks Open’, Barbican Arts group Trust, London (2014), ‘Paint Like You Mean It’, Interview Room 11, Edinburgh (2014) and ‘Marmite Painting Prize IV’, various venues (2013). Cheeswright was the winner of ‘Marmite Painting Prize IV’ in 2013.

 

Falmouth Fine Artist selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries

Huge congratulations to Edward Hill, final year BA(Hons) Fine Art student, who has been selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2014.  This is a fantastic achievement for Edward, and will no doubt put him in an excellent position to continue his practice after graduation from Falmouth.

Edward Hill, Standing On A Rock

Edward, who also completed his Foundation in Art and Design at Falmouth, says, “I aim to make atmospheric paintings, imbued with an elusive mystery and warmth. Sketches from life, personal photographs, found photographs, references to painting history and memory can all inform an idea. An ongoing theme references faraway places, be it in memories of childhood pursuits or from travels. I am drawn to subjects which contain strangeness or a humour/tragic-comic element.”

Three of Edward’s paintings have been chosen for New Contemporaries. These, together with his new work, will be on display at the BA(Hons) Fine Art Degree Show in Falmouth in June. Edward’s work will also appear in an exhibition with Brian Cheeswright (winner of the Marmite Prize for Painting 2013) at Idea Store in London running from 9 October to 9 November, 2014.

Edward has also been selected to exhibit in a group show, Paint Like You Mean It, at Interview Room 11 (IR11) in Edinburgh during May 2014, and has been long-listed for a publication by the same gallery for his work Jumping Cholla (oil on linen, 2013).

Three other BA(Hons) Fine Art alumni from previous years – Stacey Guthrie, Melissa Kime and Frances Williams – have also been selected – congratulations to them all!

Falmouth graduate shortlisted for Bloomberg New Contemporaries

(c) Stacey Guthrie

Chosen from 1,400 submissions via an anonymous selection process, 2013 BA(Hons) Fine Art graduate Stacey Guthrie will be informed of the outcome of Bloomberg New Contemporaries by mid-May.

Founded in 1949 as the ‘Young Contemporaries’, the Arts Council sponsored exhibition helps to launch promising artists. The annual selection is made by artists and writers who are often previous winners themselves.

Stacey said, ‘I am delighted to have been shortlisted for Bloomberg New Contemporaries. Since graduating it’s been a whirlwind of activity and it feels great to be representing Cornwall and being part of showcasing the great wealth of creativity and talent we have down here.’

Stacey, who lives in West Cornwall, is also involved in a current exhibition with Millennium Gallery, St. Ives, and Spectrum, the autism charity. The exhibition, ‘I’ (Passing Through the Veil of Solitude) runs until 20 April at Telegraph House in Truro.