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So its just turn 2014 and I’ve realised that
I’ve not updated this blog in years. So my New Years resolution is to start
updating this space more regularly.
In other news I just graduated in December
from my Masters course in Museum Studies that I started in sebtember 2012. I
thought a good way to start the New Years resolution would be to put up some
photos from my last big art exhibition which I had just a month before moving
to Glasgow to start my Masters course.
The exhibition statement and accompanying
photos below are from me and Stephen Kavanagh's joint exhibition entitled ‘Memorial’
at Edinburgh’s London Road Art Complex on July 2012.
Memorial
An exhibition of work by Christy Yates
and Stephen Kavanagh
Two up and coming recent graduates from Gray’s School of Art are set to open a two week exhibition entitled “Memorial” at the Arts Complex Galleries on London Road, Edinburgh.
This exhibition will showcase works by Christy Yates and Stephen
Kavanagh. Two artists whose work thematically relates to concepts of memory and
nostalgia in unique ways. Both work in meticulous fashion, producing highly
detailed pieces reflecting their own experiences and ideas related to theses
themes.
Christy deals with bizarre and singular objects such as left over
scraps, newspapers, packaging bicker brack and rubbish whilst Stephen chooses
to depict old and often derelict buildings, for instance; air raid shelters,
linoleum factories and sunken theatre buildings. Both artists work deal heavily
with the nostalgic, sentiment and historical feelings that people tend to place
on inanimate objects. Buildings and items left in the wake of human inhabitancy
if properly observed often have there own character or story to tell. What in
some people’s eyes appears to be decrepit, broken and ruined junk to remain
forgotten and disused to other peoples can be fragile treasures, monuments to the
past, reminders acting as bookmarks to old stories. Both Stephen and Christy’s
work understand the importance of these often understated items/spaces and try
to celebrate them in a way that is fitting them but also to the artist’s own
unique way of expression and observation.
The artists:
Stephen Kavanagh
Stephen’s ideas are translated into a series of sculptures and
graphite drawings on paper. Working in a style that whilst remaining expressive
and figurative, it gleams with a near machine like and industrial steely
strength. The subject matter is brought together in a using drawing materials
normally reserved for architectural and design purposes. Stephen often works
tonally in shades of grey but uses his drawing implements in a way that brings
a playful yet solemn character to the subject matter. In his drawings he uses
rendering techniques that allows his depictions to be delicate but bold at the
same time. His fascination lies within the collective memory and the human
response to the built environment. “We are constantly in contact with the built
environment, it would be impossible for these structures not to hold a past or
a memory even if it is us who carry it for them.”
Stephen Kavanagh has been working in Edinburgh for the past two
years and has been involved in shows in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow and London
and was awarded the RSA John Kinross Scholarship in 2010.
Christy Yates
Christy’s work typically critiques the way in which modern art is
displayed studing found objects which are often of a ‘disposable’ or ‘useless’
nature. Bringing his forms to life using white highlights and slight tonal
variations bringing his subject matter to a solid conclusion. Christys’
paintings, often quiet and understated, with occasional flashes of bright colour
designed to draw in the viewers eye. Working in the traditional medium of oil
paint Christy creates a hard to achieve shading gradient that brings the
paintings to an unintended ‘Photo-realistic’ finish, a three dimensional
approach designed to show the sculptural qualities of the paintings subject
matter.
 |
| So Long Lonesome |
 |
| The Last Supper |
 |
| Monument to Obsolescence |
The three paintings below I did as a triptych.
 |
| Crowd Psychology |
 |
| The Last Tiffany |
 |
| Bernay's Torches of Freedom |
Here's some photos from the gallery space
My own personal
statement and list of paintings
Twelve
muses by: Christy Yates
In painting the Muses are usually presented as ethereal women with divine beauty, holding laurels and other items depending on their faculty.”
The
Ouroboros cycle
Miscellaneous
Object Pt. III
Designed
in California
Elegy
to Uncertainty (Schrödinger's cat)
……………………………………………….
Black
Man in the White House
………………………………………………..
Monument
to Obsolescence
More
than Meets the Eye
The
Last Super
……………………………………………….
Crowd
Psychology
Bernay’s
Torches of Freedom
The
Last Tiffany
……………………………………………….
So
Long Lonesome
“In my work I examine the value of
material objects and question the worth and Importance of what we choose to
treasure and uphold in today’s society. Thus seeking to question what we may or
may not perceive as a relic or object ‘worthy’ of sustained and serious
artistic study and preservation.
My artistic practice primarily revolves
around collecting objects of a mundane and ordinary nature. From a young age I
have always horded and collected even the most obscure Items of bicker brack in
a fashion that boarders on the obsessive compulsive.
Many of the Items I focus my attentions
upon have a personal significance or narrative attached to them witch is hinted
at, and reflected on in the painting titles. My objects and paintings often
work as metaphors alluding to problems faced In daily life, as well as
referencing elements of popular culture that have significantly Impacted upon
myself.”
