A new exhibition at Rye Art Gallery, entitled Finding Form features the work of two artists who find expression in black and white images. Yana Rits-Cairns is a young visual artist and cinematographer originally from Russia, now based in London.
Her 25 photographs on display here celebrate in her words “the beauty, harmony and fragility of the human body, male or female … which makes it an incomparable tool for the embodiment of those creative and philosophical themes present in my work.” Certainly, the black/white medium combines austerity with sensuousness, drawing the viewer into creative flights of imagination. The practised eye of the artist is revealed in the harmonious balance of her compositions.
Complementing the photographic display, Bernard McGuigan’s sculptures here use predominantly white materials: limestone, alabaster, and marble. Bernard McGuigan is a former associate of the British Society of Sculptors and has exhibited widely including The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition.
His pieces exude a deceptive simplicity, forms gracefully at rest, reassuringly solid and grounded, yet holding explosive images of latent energy.
Perhaps through the artist’s working method of carving direct into the stone without the use of maquettes or models, they achieve a spontaneity and immediacy which engages our attention. They confirm what we instinctively know to be true, rather than seeking to impose a modernistic novelty.
For the opening members’ preview, there was again a musical entertainment, provided this time by Miller Hutch, a talented duo on piano and trumpet/flute. Vladimir Miller is a pianist and principal composer and music director of the Moscow Composers Orchestra and Hutch Demouilpied is a composer for film. They are appearing at the Grapevine, Conduit Hill on Sunday, March 8.
The exhibition is a delight to visit, thanks to Gallery Director, Jane Fenn, for artist selection and to Matt Hardman for hanging and display. The exhibition is on now till March 22.
Image Credits: Kenneth Bird .