Private View at the Mid-Wales Arts Centre - Sunday 23rd March

Invitation time!

As I start gearing up for the next project, "New Artifices", some of the work from the 2012/13 project "Synthesis" is going to be part of a 3-artist exhibition at the Mid-Wales Arts Centre near Caersws, Powys.

The show runs from sun 23rd March to Sun 27th April, and after the gallery's winter closure, they are reopening with a private view of all 3 exhibitions on Sunday 23rd March at 3PM.

You can read all about "Synthesis" (and have a look at some work in progress) on the website at martinherbert.com. The other artists showing work:

Julie Jones responds through painting to her relationship to landscape in all its forms, from the strange urban hinterlands to weather-beaten derelicts. Her studio work aims to develop approaches to painting alluding to both a feeling specific to a moment along with references to memory of an experience over time.

Daniel Roberson paints everyday in his studio located on a sheep farm perched at the top of a hill overlooking the beautiful Dyfi Valley in Machynlleth. A lifelong painter, he returned to education as a mature student in 2006, Daniel obtained a first class degree in Fine Art from Aberystwyth University, and a Masters degree with distinction. Since completing his education, as well as exhibiting widely throughout the UK, he has been teaching life drawing and oil painting at MOMA Wales. In 2011 Daniel was shortlisted for the Welsh Artist of the Year. He would describe himself as a painter who finds inspiration equally in both the people and places that surround him and the seemingly endless possibilities of colour and mark making.

Check it out! I have seen the new show and It Is Good -

General view of the show at MoMA Wales

We went by MOMA at the Tabernacle Arts Centre in Machynlleth the other day to deliver a new DVD (now up and running - hooray!) and a piece I had to re-glaze after a mishap on the way last week (now taking up residence in the gallery window), and found that gallery technician Peter has done a great job of hanging. Amazingly he managed to get all 15 pieces into the space available and it's all looking very splendid.

 

The exhibition continues until June 6th, and there will be a private view on Saturday 18th May at midday.

Photos by Vivi-Mari Carpelan.

Not my pic behind the desk - that's a Kyffin Williams from the permanent collection.  What illustrious company I keep!

Last minute preparations ... phew !!

The last drawing for the exhibition in Llandrindod Wells rolled off the drawing board this morning and into a frame ready for hanging ...

"Crocodiles, Hens, Beetles, Armadillos & Fish (do not evince any remarkable partiality for man)" : 90cm x 70 cm :
Ink, pencil, gouache & transfer print on Khadi handmade paper : Copyright © 2012 by Martin Herbert

Last few prints just wrapped and ready for delivery.  The curator at the Radnorshire Museum, Will Adams, has been busy hanging things for the last 2 days, and (fingers crossed), everything is ready for tomorrow night's opening ... after which I will be taking a very well deserved week off before starting up the new business! (Of which more later, etc. etc. etc..... :-)

So remember - private view of the Project Synthesis exhibition at the Radnorshire Museum, Temple Street, Llandrindod Wells, Wales, LD1 5DL at 6:30PM tomorrow, Thursday 1st November!  Fourteen new large-scale works on paper, plus some of the older work which formed the original starting point for the project, and a video installation ....  All work is for sale.

If you can't make the opening, the exhibition continues until Sat. 12th Jan.  For a map and opening hours, especially over the holiday period, please check out the Radnorshire Museum website.

More information about the project, and link to a preview of the video, here:
http://artedstates.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/project-synthesis-exhibition-starts.html

"The Heart is the Fountain of Wisdom" : 90 cm x 70 cm : Ink, pencil, gouache & transfer print on handmade Khadi paper.
Copyright © 2012 by Martin Herbert

With the assistance of the Arts Council for Wales, and all these lovely people:

Project Synthesis: Exhibition starts November 2nd

Private View:

Thursday 1^st November 6:30 – 8:00 - all welcome.

The project I've been working on all summer is entitled “Synthesis”. I received a grant earlier in the year from the Arts Council of Wales to support the development of a new body of work, which is now going on show in a one-man exhibition at the Radnorshire Museum in Llandrindod Wells.

Exhibition details:

“Synthesis: New works on paper by Martin Herbert”

at the Radnorshire Museum, Temple Street, Llandrindod Wells, Powys, LD1 5DL

Friday 2^nd November 2012 – Saturday 12^th January 2013

Open Tues-Fri 10:00 – 4:00, Sat 10:00 – 1:00

For more information, mail me, or call the museum on 01597 824 513

Private View:

Thurs. 1st Nov. 2012 - 6:30 - 8:00 - all welcome

About the Project:

The “Synthesis” project has two distinct strands with one theme in common – they both concern the relationship between digital 'new media' and traditional drawing and painting techniques. My goal is to explore ways in which computers and the internet can be used to source material which inspires illustrations and innovative new work to be carried out using traditional materials and techniques.

The first strand concerns the production of new organisms, machines and organic constructs using 3D computer modelling technology, which I then use as inspiration for new drawings done using the earthiest and most organic of materials – sepia ink, clay pencils, earth pigments etc.

“Design for a Flying Machine to Escape the Bank Manager” (Detail)  : Ink, pencil, gouache & transfer print on Khadi handmade paper : Copyright © 2012 by Martin Herbert

The second strand involves sourcing written material from the internet - I am using these texts as the basis for new illustrated editions of neglected or beloved books which have now passed into the public domain through expiry of copyright and are now available to anyone who cares to download them from web archives. The illustrated editions will then be uploaded back to the internet as e-books, completing the cycle. The first book to receive this treatment is Irish author James Stephen's 'fairy tale for grownups', The Crock of Gold (Reviews here). The illustrations are a work in progress, leading up to publication of a new illustrated edition in 2013.

“Pan in Ireland” : Ink, pencil, gouache & pigment on Khadi handmade paper
Copyright © 2012 by Martin Herbert

Video installation:

A selection of work from the “unlikely realms” series of digital organic abstract prints, which were part of the original inspiration for the Synthesis project “organic construct” strand.

Project Synthesis has been made possible with the support of: