John Stezaker at Whitechapel Gallery

Last week I visited the John Stezaker’s exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in east London. Stezaker’s work involves collages of photographs which create illusory, surreal and often humorous juxtapositions. Each wall in the gallery is devoted to particular themes - including the marrying of famous faces, film stills with missing characters and 1940s beauties with faces hidden behind natural scenes.





The simplicity of the work is its key appeal, and its strong graphic element is at balance with the surrealist humour. After viewing countless Stezaker collages, one does find them somewhat transmutable. Nonetheless, the strength of his visual statement is enough for me to research him further. I look forward to exploring his published work, including Tabula Rasa and Masks.



The exhibition is on at Whitechapel Gallery until March 18.

See whitechapelgallery.org for more details.

All pictures courtesy of Whitechapel Gallery

Owt exhibition: PHOTO UPDATE

On Saturday I revisited Cord bar to take some snaps of the Owt exhibition, and catch up with Sarah over some noodles.

With some brilliant lighting assistance from Sarah, I got some good shots of the show, hopefully capturing the very downtown creative feel of the space and the work.

Enjoy.

Owt @ Cord

I am lucky enough to be good friends with a up and coming creative group, Owt; who run a monthly publication which includes not only their own work but that of contributers all over the Northwest.Starting out last Autumn they are working on their 5th publication to date and have even found time to organise their first major exhibition.

Owt @ Cord previewed this Thursday night, celebrating selected work from their publications so far and launching Issue 4: 'Direction'. I was also fortunate to have my submission to Issue 2 included in the show which I especially grateful for!

Walking around the show, you could see the individual style of each designer in their work but the feeling of a collective was strongly evident; with each issue themed on a particular word the framed work sits confidently on the pale tiled walls of Cord's basement room. Good design aside, it also works very well from a curatorial aspect, the nearly all monochrome designs shine outward from their thin black wooden frames wonderfully.

The only let down of the preview was my phone refusing to allow me to document the night with my camera so I shall be updating again with pictures on my re-visit to the show, selecting my favourite work.

Owt @ Cord runs for 2 weeks on NOW till 24th February 2011 at Cord Bar, 8 Dorsey Street, Manchester.