See Andrew Marr in the Daily Mail Weekend 9 May 2020
The Corke Gallery was delighted to host the launch event for two fabulous books by Liverpool authors Dr Hayley Tait and Janet Corke who have been regular visitors and supporters of the Corke Gallery since it opened in 2010.
We were also also delighted to be exhibiting, for the first time in public, a collection of paintings by the artist Elfi who is better known as Andy Dunlop, the lead guitarist from the Scottish Band Travis.
Sadly until the lockdown ends we have had to close the gallery but we will be opening again as soon as we can.
by Elfi
First public showing of a collection of oil paintings by Elfi.
harlequinade
/ˌhɑːlɪkwɪˈneɪd/
noun
1. HISTORICAL
the section of a traditional pantomime in which Harlequin played a leading role.
2. DATED
a piece of foolish or ridiculous behaviour.
Artists Statement
It’s all become a circus, our politics, our cultural icons, our musicians all playing the clown as soon as the cameras are rolling.
I was always a fan of those old Chuck Oberstein clown paintings, those sad and ludicrous figures seemed the perfect template for a series of paintings of modern figures who dominate our screens and media formats.
Elfi aka Andy Dunlop has spent most of his adult life traversing the globe as one quarter of the group Travis. When not doing this he can be found at home painting.
He studied at The Glasgow School of Art in the early 90’s where he earned the nickname Elfi.
by Dr Hayley Tait
Health on the Hob - Easy Plant Based Recipes
Hot off the press this event is the official book launch for the new cookery book by Liverpool based GP, Dr Hayley Tait, whose passion for food and health is embodied in the quote "Let food be thy medicine".
Featuring a collection of delicious, plant based recipes that are quick and easy to prepare, need no fancy ingredients or equipment and fuel a willingness to try something new and exciting.
Coinciding with Hayley's own vegan journey, her belief that compassionate cooking is part of a preventative, lifestyle medicine as more and more evidence shows the healthy benefits of a plant based diet.
Hayley demonstrates how enriching your diet with these whole-food recipes is a great step towards preventing and reversing obesity, heart disease and diabetes and by writing the book she hopes you will become as passionate about home cooking as she is.
by Janet Corke
The Hidden Home of a Welsh Poet Revealed
Following the success of the first edition, The Artel Press has published the second edition of Janet Corke’s memoir “A Hidden Home in the Gwydyr Forest”.
Her tale of a six year restoration project was inspired by her husband and larger-than-life civil engineer Charlie Corke, whose hands on approach to all the challenges thrown at him is a fascinating and often poignant read.
Llanrwst born author, Janet Corke, uses the keen wit and insight acquired during her practice as a solicitor for fifty two years to provide an interesting and rare social history of this corner of North Wales half a century ago.
Only after its purchase in 1955 did the building’s past as the birthplace of the celebrated Welsh language poet Trebor Mai come to light as well as revealing to the author her previously unknown family links to the Gwydyr Forest.
The Artel Press publishes books by the writer and poet John Elcock
The Liverpool Academy of Arts
Tuesday 6th August - Wedneday 28th August 2019
The Liverpool Academy of Arts are having a third group exhibition at the Corke Gallery.
On display will be works by a number of artist some regular exhibitors with us from the past and others new. June and all the volunteers at the Liverpool Academy of Arts look forward to seeing you at the Corke Gallery
Works featured in the show include artists, new to the gallery, along with an artist also exhibiting in this year’s RA Summer Exhibition, the 2019 winners of the Hope University Fine Art Degree Exhibition Prize, winners of prizes in the 2018 John Moores Painting Prize in the UK and China, and Andrew Marr, who the Corke Gallery has represented since 2017, fresh from exhibiting in Venice and his sell out show in Edinburgh.
Given the number of artists and paintings in the show there is only one way to display them so you will be treated to an old-fashioned ‘salon hang’ of the sort that used to be de rigueur, in which each painting is placed not at eye level and in isolation but with paintings tightly crammed in uneven ranks up and down the walls.
To reflect the range of artists featured in the Summer Evenings exhibition the hang will be in a non-hierarchical, visually accessible and exciting format so that paintings by less well known and established artists can be discovered next to each other.
Artists included in Summer Evenings 2019 are: John Afflick, Abiana Bore, Brian Burgess, Stephanie Carr, Paul Collinson, George Drought, John Elcock, Louise Emily Stewart, Clare Flinn, Harry Garner, Paul Gent, Jason Jones, Mia Jones, Gareth Kemp, Andrew Marr, Clement McAleer (RUA, RHA), Eleanor McCusker, Paul Mellor, Nicholas Middleton, Ruth Morrissey, Zahara Parwez, Peter Philip, Jon Pontain, Louise Emily Stewart, Mel Sullivan, Aurel Tar, John Vesty, Jules Ward, Duan Xiaogang, Huo Xumin, Xueqing Zhong.
Also new for this exhibition, our Summer Opening Hours will be every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening from 6.30pm - 8.30pm until Friday 26 July 2019.
The Corke New Contemporaries 2019 exhibition featured work by three Fine Art Students who graduated in 2018 from Hope University in Liverpool who won the Corke Gallery's Exhibition Prize, awarded to the best student artists in their year, based on the work in the 2018 Hope University Degree Show.
Stephanie Carr, Eleanor McCusker and Louise Emily Stewart's work included paintings which focused on repetition and juxtaposition, abstract expressionism featuring fluid use paint and vibrant colours. Each artist we felt had their own distinct style and show confidence in their combination of colours and use of painting techniques.
Since they were awarded the Exhibirion Prize at the Corke Gallery in May 2018 all three have continued to develop their practice after graduating and plan to make a career painting. The Corke Gallery is delighted to support them at the start of what we hope will be three great careers in art.
My work is currently concerned with repetition and the juxtaposition of order and disorder associated with alcoholism. During my adolescence, I lived with a parent who was suffering from depression, as well as addiction. I witnessed the negative effects that alcoholism can have on an individual's relationships, as well as their mental and physical health.
Semiotics are very important in my work. I often use glasses, alcohol and other evocative materials, which may elicit a response or memory in the mind of the viewer. Repetition is a key aspect in my work because it makes the work cathartic to produce, whilst also mirroring the compulsive, addictive behaviors of an alcoholic.
I do not expect people viewing my work to immediately know that my paintings are about alcoholism or addiction. I simply aim to create an atmosphere or emotion, which mirrors that of someone suffering from the effects of alcoholism, or the experience of a person in close proximity to an addict.
Looking beyond the surface a deeper understanding can be found.
If you look at something once from a far, are you actually acknowledging the layers and characteristics it possesses or are you just choosing to notice the surface that every individual can see.
When we look further into an object or an image we let our creative individuality take control. we interpret colours, shapes and textures differently. Looking beyond the surface we notice qualities we initially would have been ignorant to.
Take a good look, be creative and don’t be blind to what the eyes can really see.
My current work has developed since attending the Fine Art Degree course at Liverpool Hope University. The paintings range in scale from very large to smaller, more intimate formats. I work in the realm of abstraction and colour.
More recent works have explored print where I have been creating similar loose gestural marks using other processes and mediums. During my current residency at Liverpool Hope I have used monochrome drawings as inspiration for lino prints, which have subsequently been transcribed into larger, more 'kaleidoscopic' and gestural drawings and screen prints.
Sensations within the body are the key focus for the current work. I am preoccupied with colour and ts effect on the viewer when standing in front of the work.
I attempt to channel this phenomenon by employing marks made whilst focusing on emotions and meditative states. The large abstract paintings are the result of an almost performative act of painting with large wounds of poured paint offered up against an often-joyful mix of spontaneous gestural tropes and angst-tinged interventions. The paintings are layered up over a long period of working with each successive layer evidencing the action of the artist and the painting event.
As an art educator with many years' experience, Peter Moore has always maintained his personal interest in his craft. Peter considers drawing to be the life-blood of any artist and as such has kept to this discipline throughout his professional life. Rather than "technical" drawing exercises done in isolation he has set about recording places visited which combined technique with expression within a visual diary. Occasionally he emphasises the expressive elements through free drawing and abstraction.
For ease of travel, Peter's main medium has been ink and wash. A normal fountain pen filled with ink is accompanied by a water-brush (whose handle holds water) to produce wash-like qualities. The ink in his pen often breaks into constituent shades when water is applied. It is deemed "black" but separates into various colours from which the "black" ink is made. The ink manufacturing process, the amount of wash applied and the watercolour paper used affect the results in subtle and surprising ways. Other times he uses resist processes combined with waterproof Indian Ink or fine-line pens.
Peter Moore was brought up in the Wirral and attended St. Anselm's College in Birkenhead. He was then accepted into the Laird School of Art, Birkenhead, followed by the Liverpool College of Art. His post-graduate certificate in education was done at Manchester College of Art. He had six years training in all.
His first teaching post was in a Warrington Secondary School followed by a Lectureship at Warrington College of Art. In 1968 he was offered a Senior Lectureship at Christ's College, now the Liverpool Hope University. Peter was on their payroll for fifty years. His last twenty years were the part-time post with "Teaching the Eye to See" art group which flourishes to this day.
Examining posts at various Universities were undertaken as well national courses for the UK Government. Teaching intervals followed in Nigeria and the State University of New York, USA. Peter was also President of the National Society for Education in Art and Design and holds two fellowships of the Society.
Internationally exhibited Liverpool based artist Jason Jones, former Gallery Manager of Liverpool Hope University's Cornerstone Gallery, has returned to his practice after an eight year break.
After graduating in 1998 Jason undertook a seven year period of romantic, gestural, atmospheric and introspective analysis of paint as a medium, producing a vigorous and rapid succession of themed portfolios of work, all underpinned by sub-contexts of the chaotic, harmony and contrast.
In 2004 Jason started using the knowledge and techniques he had developed for applying paint to the contemporary male figure. This culminated in him being included in the 2010 international publication "100 Artists of the Male Figure'.
Professional Work commitments, post-graduate educational investigations and family priorities contributed to Jason's focus elsewhere until his return to his painterly practice in August 2018.
Jason originally envisaged his return to painting as a slow process of re-education and recapturing techniques once developed before building a themed body of work. What quickly emerged was the start of a new collection reflecting his thoughts and aspirations developed during the last eight years.
What is evident within this small collection of new work on offer is that Jason has retained his trademark gestural and descriptive mark making skills as well as his documented innate use of colour. The approach of these new paintings draws upon inspiration of and compositional studies of the epic biblical paintings by John Martin, atmospheric sci-fi film noir cinematography, emotional responses to musical compositions and most importantly, the process of and response within the act of applying paint - paintings about painting.
The exhibited works presented offer a glimpse of what to expect as Jason's practice re-emerges.
Absence
Acrylic on canvas, 2018122cm x 90cm£1,650
Beneath
Acrylic on canvas, 201888cm x 67cm£1,450
Surge
Acrylic on canvas, 2018122cm x 90cm£1,650
Beneath II
Acrylic on canvas, 2018122cm x 90cm£1,650
Emerging
Acrylic on canvas, 2018122cm x 90cm£1,650
Rebirth
Acrylic on canvas, 2018122cm x 90cm£1,650
Landscape Study I
Acrylic on paper, 201820.7cm x 20.7cm£300
Landscape Study II
Acrylic on paper20.5cm x 14cm£250
Landscape Study III
Acrylic on paper12.6cm x 8.2cm£150
Landscape Study IV
Acrylic on paper20.9cm x 15.2cm£250
Genisis
Acrylic on canvas, 2018122cm x 90cm£1,650
Struggle
Acrylic on canvas, 2018170.5cm x 114.6cm£2,650Corke Gallery opened its final Independents Biennial Festival Show on Saturday 13 October 2018 with a collection of paintings by UK and Chinese Prize Winners from the John Moores Painting Prize (JMPP).
To mark the 60th year of the JMPP at the Walker Art Gallery the Corke Gallery was delighted to be one of its sponsors because it forms a key strand of the Liverpool Biennial. The exhibition at the Corke Gallery runs until Friday 30 November 2018 and is open 10am – 2pm from Thursday to Saturday.
This is the first time an exhibition featuring several paintings by five JMPP prize winners has taken place and provides a broader insight into the individual artists themes and practices.
Curated by Nic Corke, from the Corke Gallery, past winners from the UK and China include:
Martin Greenland the 2006 JMPP Winner
Nicholas Middleton, twice winner of the JMPP Visitor’s Choice Prize in 2006 and 2010
Xueqing Zhong, the JMPP China 2018 Winner
Duan Xiaogang, JMPP China 2018 Prize Winner
Huo Xumin, JMPP China 2018 Prize Winner
The show features a diverse range of oil painting, from small detailed black and white studies to huge canvasses that dominate the walls and the viewer.
Imaginary landscapes from the UK and China demand the viewer’s attention and continue to reveal more and more the longer you look.
Alternatively abstract and semi abstract works combining broad confident brushwork with architectonic constructions which challenge the laws of perspective and stimulate the senses with a striking cacophony of colour.
