Earlier this autumn I put on another show at Deda in Derby. My contributions are shown above. I donated Cape Poem to the organisation as part of a fundraiser and contributed a short video piece that can be viewed here. I’ve a great fondness for Deda and been a long time supporter as well as putting on shows there. I’d appreciate any support that others might give them!
Nowadays it seems to be one thing after another…with activity that follows hard on activity. Of course it’s nothing of the sort really, just the onset of age gives the appearance of time rushing by. And things that I used to have to do ‘on the hoof’ I can now take time over… So it is with the painting, I give even more time over to sitting and pondering than I did when younger, though I could lose hours to cogitation even back then. Following on from the completion of Rock Of Ages, the third and final grouping of the Landscape & Memory project, I’m still drawn to one aspect of that endeavour, viz. the inclusion, or rather the wraparound, of text on paintings.
In other news the show I’m curating at Deda this autumn is rapidly approaching, much of the work for it is waiting patiently in my studio for delivery this coming weekend. The view is on Wednesday 11th September because before then we’re off to Venice for a few days to take in the Biennale though I’m imagining spending quite a bit of time in the Gorky, Frankenthaler, Scully shows about town too.
And finally I have a small painting, Cape Poem 3, in the upcoming East Midlands auction that is on show at the Djanogly Gallery, Lakeside Arts Centre from the 6th September.
![Auction PV e-vite[25]](https://davidmanley.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/auction-pv-e-vite25.png?w=1200)
The shows are over…it’s good that there’s something on the horizon now that the two recent shows I have been involved in have come to an end. I imagine I’m not the only artist who has that slightly empty feeling when these projects come to their conclusion. I’d like to use this post to thank Andrew Bracey, Louisa Chambers, Lucy Cox, Terry Greene, Sarah R Key, Andrew Parkinson, Richard Perry and Marion Piper for joining me in Geometry: Wonky or Otherwise. And to thank everyone at Deda in Derby. As for my show at Repton I owe a debt of thanks to the team there…and especially Louisa Chambers. It was a pleasure working with you all.
I’ve been suffering for over a week with yet another bad cold…and nowadays I find it pretty shattering. Even though I’m (hopefully) the right side of it getting on with work (certainly in the manner I’m accustomed to) is hard going. I find myself shattered and have to take a rest for forty minutes or so during the day. This is something I never used to do at all and whether its simply because I can or whether it is just a fact of my advancing years I don’t know…but it’s debilitating and frustrating.
Not least because I want to finish my Winter Cycle and move onto other pieces, to get started on the detailed plan for the show I’m planning for the autumn at Deda in Derby. The painting above is one of those I’m hoping to show – its by the marvellous sculptor Richard Perry. Richard is an artist I’ve known since the very early 1980’s and I’m excited to be able to exhibit these terrific paintings he’s been making recently alongside his exquisite carved stone sculptures (for which he is justly highly regarded). The show is titled Geometry: Wonky & Otherwise and takes as its loose premise the idea of a certain regard for geometric forms in contemporary painting, be they situated within a strong conceptual and systemic framework or more openly and loosely articulated within open and fluid painterly framework. I got excited about a show of this kind a year or so back when I realised that I knew half a dozen or so painters, ranging in ages over three or four decades were playing with these ideas again. Anyway today I’ve been feeling a little more energised and have started detailed planning for the show having settled on the participating cast in the last few weeks. I’ve had to reign in my ambitions a little but am still confident it will hang together coherently and, its good to be back curating after a self imposed seven or eight month layoff!
We are into the last week of ‘Happy Little Fat Man’ – the exhibition of Kevin Coyne’s extraordinary paintings and drawings. If you haven’t seen them…now’s the time as it closes at Deda at the end of the coming weekend. If you can’t make it here’s an idea of how it look(s)(ed).
I’m sitting in on Carnival of Monsters today (18 Oct.) from Noon till 3pm and tomorrow from 4:30 till 6:30pm. if you’ve time to pop along and have a chat about the Conversation series (showing alongside HMS colleagues). When I’m not there I’ll be working on the catalogue for Happy Little Fat Man – Art by Kevin Coyne on at various locations around Derby in November, December & January – more details to follow shortly!
can sometimes overtake the best laid plans. The initial Crowdfunder pitch for our upcoming Kevin Coyne exhibition in Derby, ‘Happy Little Fat Man’ didn’t make its target so we are having to go again. Instead of being in the studio my day is being devoted to online activities to try and raise the £1250 that was pledged last time around…and maybe find a little more!
This is my first time in fund raising through social networking and its proving quite tough! The initial target was a little ambitious so we’ve scaled it back and are going again…if you pledged first time can you ‘go again’ and if you are coming to it new then please consider doing so. There’s a new link and we have ten days to raise the figure…or we get nothing!
The project details are all here:
http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/happy-little-fat-man-an-art-show-by-kevin-coyne/
If you are coming to this new here’s the basic info from the Deda brochure for the autumn.
Our Crowdfunding pitch goes ‘live’ at 12noon GMT tomorrow – Tuesday 1st July Get on board and help me, Doug and Paul achieve our ambitions to make this exhibition (and the associated events and material) a reality!
Go to:
I am busy working on our Crowdfunding pitch for ‘Happy Little Fat Man – The Art of Kevin Coyne’. The idea is to generate pledges of cash in return for rewards so we can achieve all our ambitions for this project. we have (just) about enough to get the work here to Derby from Nurnberg in Germany but to do the project justice we need to raise a tidy sum.
I got involved in this a few months back when my friend (and until recently, fellow studio holder) Paul Warren, a long time friend of Kevin’s asked me if I’d help out as the idea of the show, to mark the 10th anniversary of Kevin’s death in 2004, had run into difficulties. We now have it back on track and with help from Kevin’s supporters we may yet do him the justice of proper recognition in the city of his birth this November. Below is the detail on the project…and if you want to help…seek out ‘Happy Little Fat Man’ on Crowdfunder from tomorrow!
HAPPY LITTLE FAT MAN – Art from Kevin Coyne
In Nov 2014 we are opening an exhibition of Kevin Coyne’s art in Derby. Be part of this project and help make the show a massive success!
An exhibition of over 50 paintings and drawings by Kevin Coyne will open from 21st November 2014 and run until 7th February 2015 at Déda, the Dance and Arts Centre in Kevin’s home city of Derby. And an accompanying exhibition of further work by, and associated with, Kevin will run at the University of Derby’s Markeaton Campus in the city from 21st November until 19th December.
Kevin Coyne (1944 – 2004) was an important player in the contemporary music scene in the late 1960’s and 70’s and became a cult figure thereafter. Alongside his prodigious musical output (over 40 albums in his lifetime) he continued to paint, draw and write throughout his life and the exhibition will cover all facets of an amazingly fertile creative force. Alongside the display at Déda the University of Derby’s College of Arts will host more work including rarely seen and unseen footage of Kevin in performance and discussing his work. This is the first ever exhibition of Kevin’s artwork covering his whole career and we want to make it a really positive experience.
This celebration of one of the city’s most creative and widely recognized forces in the 20th century is the idea of a group of enthusiasts and supporters in the place of his birth. They came together with the idea of mounting this large display in recognition of his importance on the anniversary of his death at the age of 60 in 2004. We are three local to Derby arts people and passionate enthusiasts for Kevin Coyne, his music, his writing and his art. We have one of Kevin’s oldest friends on board, with the other two of us with years of experience of putting together arts events and the venues are fully committed. There is support from Kevin’s family, in the UK and in Germany where Kevin was based for the latter part of his life. We already have enough backing from our key venues for the show to go ahead but with your help we can make the project bigger and better. Amongst our ambitions that your support will allow us to achieve is a catalogue to accompany the show, we plan a weekend celebration with the exhibition opening, films, readings and live music over two days.
Our passion has been recognized and supported by Déda’s Director, Stephen Munn and Professor Huw Davies, Dean of the College of Arts at the University of Derby who have offered the venues for the event. Professor Davies says “it is fitting that Kevin should be celebrated here, as he was a student at the Derby School of Art for four years in the 1960’s”. And Stephen Munn commented “it is a fitting exhibition to show off the newly expanded and renovated Centre that will be sure to attract national and international attention”.
In return for your support you will receive ahead of the event a priority VIP invitation to the exhibition launch with drinks and delicious nibbles. Further pledges of support include a limited edition of post cards of some of Kevin’s paintings, a tee shirt, catalogue, free admission to our celebration weekend of performances, a limited edition framed print and for our top level pledgers a special Kevin ‘Teddy bears ‘pack (teddy bear, tee shirt, limited edition print) all to be ready for you at the exhibition launch and the special celebration weekend event.
