Author: Stuart Fleet

Marjorie Bulos – Poster Art (1970-1990) Please ring to view 020 8464 5816
25th May to 1st July 2016
Open eve 26th May 7-9pm

This exhibition celebrates the work of the artists who formed the ‘Polish School’ of poster art. These artists were famous for the allegoric and enigmatic nature of their work. For us however their appeal lies in the vibrant colours and evocative images. A sensual feast, a mental challenge

The end of World War 2 marked the beginning of a new period in the development of Polish poster art. Building sites throughout Poland were enclosed with wooden fences which were quickly covered with posters. These fences became the substitute for the absent museums and galleries and posters became the art of the street. During this time at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts poster design flourished. A new branch of art emerged -the Polish School of Poster Art.

From the 1950s through the1980s the Polish School of Posters successfully married the experiences and ambitions of painting with the succinctness and easily grasped metaphor of the poster. The distinction of designer and artist disappeared. The Polish poster became a national tradition and became recognised as the best in contemporary poster art comparable to France’s la Belle Epoque of the 1890’s.

Polish posters are more than aloof graphic images – they also reveal the emotional involvement with the subject as well as his or her commentary on society. ‘

This extract above forms an introduction to a full account of the history, artists and their work. A full version can be found at: www.contemporaryposters.com/story/story-psp.php

George Harding – MIRROR viewing weekdays and Saturday morning
12th April to 21st May 2016
Open eve 13th April 7-9pm

The central theme in my work focuses on perception; what we define as real or unreal. From detailed portraits of others to abstracted self-portraits, my work explores what it is to be human, how we relate to others, and how we understand ourselves.

This collection of mirror paintings forms a large series of self-portraits using a mirror to distort the image. When we look into a mirror it reflects our physical appearance; however the paintings delve deeper than that; they attempt to reflect back more than the physical reality that presents itself to an individual, manifesting a universal feeling that we can all relate to.

Mirrors as a symbol have been used in art to mean many different things. They suggest the inner world of self-knowledge, discovery and consciousness. They have been seen as a reflection of god, true knowledge or a way of seeing into one’s own soul.

Rendered in reflections of misted or rippled glass, the self-portraits distort and fragment the figure behind. The mirror is a metaphor for there being more to reality than what appears, aspiring to show our temporal nature and the thoughts we have about our origins, our human limits and our future beyond the reality that presents itself to us. The use of water is also significant as a symbol of purification, rebirth and cleansing. The use of gold with in some of the images has connotations of the sun, illumination, light and transcendence. In my paintings the glass acts to abstract the figure and break down to something that is between the physical and abstract, reality and beyond reality. It probes at what we are and questions who we are, as in Einstein’s quote: “Reality is an illusion, albeit a very persistent one”. I want to speculate at what is beyond this illusion and reveal who we truly are.