EXHIBITION NEWS
PAUL KILSBY'S WORK WILL BE EXHIBITED AT HOOPERS GALLERY IN LONDON IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2010 (PRIVATE VIEW SEPTEMBER 9th)
HIS WORK WILL ALSO BE EXHIBITED IN TURIN, ITALY LATER THIS YEAR
These four new photographs are from the series Gazing Globes
A feature based on an interview with Paul Kilsby was in the October 2009 issue of the magazine BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY
Please use the CONTACT page to leave comments on the photographs or to get in touch
Paul Kilsby is represented by HOOPERS GALLERY, Clerkenwell, London
Paul Kilsby is working on two ongoing series, Trompe L'Oeil and Lux -
see the relevant pages to explore the ideas and inspiration for each series.
The Hoopers exhibition will include images from a new series, Spheres
A selection from these two series was exhibited at Lensky Gallery in October 2009
This is a series of photographs inspired by the genre of trompe l'oeil, again combining reproductions with his own interventions. These images make references to the iconography of seventeenth century still life, including the themes of the memento mori and vanitas. A further inspiration comes from the cabinets of curiosity assembled by aristocrats such as Rudolf II of Prague in the sixteenth century. Kilsby creates trompe l'oeil images in which real three dimensional objects seamlessly commingle with reproductions of paintings and fabricated niches.
Another new series is called Lux. The inspiration for this work again finds its source in French and Spanish seventeenth century still life painting and the objects are drawn from this genre. Each object is painted with luminous pigments and then exposed to light. Then, in total darkness, the objects are photographed using a long exposure, the image gradually forming from the dim glow of the fading luminous light emitted from the objects. This process in turn relates to the vanitas theme - Dutch painters often included images of hourglasses and candles as images of mortality and the passage of time.
GAZING GLOBES
Gazing globes are thought to date back to Venice in the
thirteenth century where they were made of glass. Later they became fashionable
in the gardens of aristocrats throughout Europe, a taste encouraged by Ludwig
II of Bavaria who decorated his Herrenchiemsee gardens with them. The
spheres, made not only of glass but also different metals including polished
copper, were primarily objects of meditation but were also believed by the
superstitious to have special powers, warding off evil forces. In this series of four photographs, another key reference is to
the Japanese passion for moongazing (tsukimi),
celebrated, for example, in the one hundred woodblock prints of Yoshitoshi. The
celebration of tsukimi reaches its
climax in the Japanese calendar
with the waxing of the harvest full moon in September. At Daikaku-ji
temple in Kyoto the moon is viewed by aficionados
reflected in the lake from ceremonial boats, doubling its beauty. Three of these globes are painted using faux techniques.
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PAUL KILSBY trained originally in Fine Art at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the University of Wales. About twenty years ago he shifted from making sculptures to begin specialising in the medium of photography. At the same time, he began to research overlooked European artists involved in making photographs but whose work had been marginalised within Modernist histories of photography. This research, undertaken in the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Russia and France, was brought together in a Ph D at the Royal College of Art in London. It also had a growing impact on his own imagery which turned more and more upon exploring the relationship between photography and the history of painting. He began to work with reproductions of paintings, manipulating them in many ways - sometimes by tearing, sometimes by burning, often by adding extra objects and imagery to create small scale tableaux which he then photographed. This body of work was gathered together as both an exhibition and a book, The Seer & The Seen.
Since that time Kilsby has continued to focus on the relationship between painting and photography. In 2006 he exhibited a new body of work, After Vermeer, at Hoopers Gallery, London, which explores the ways in which the Dutch painter's imagery reveals a 'photographic' look due to his use of a camera obscura. Kilsby uses a variety of techniques to revisit Vermeer's paintings. In some he reworks Vermeer's compositions, bringing characters from different paintings into fresh combinations. In others, he throws areas out of focus, emphasising the restricted depth of field Vermeer must have experienced as he peered into the ground glass screen of his camera obscura. Another technique involves folding, scoring and reworking reproductions to create 'optical' obsctructions. These photographs are conceived as explorations, meditations, homages.
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Other sourrces of information on Paul Kilsby's photography:
Paul was a guest speaker at PhotoStroud Festival of Photography in October 2007 and included in the group exhibition 31 Studio at the Subscription Rooms.
Paul's photographs were included as part of an exhibition called Oil & Silver at Hoopers Gallery in London from Friday 2nd February until March 2nd 2007. This was a group exhibition exploring dialogues between painting and photography in contemporary fine art practice. The exhibition also included work by Mark Bolland, Nicky Coutts, Nicholas Middleton and Jorma Puranen. Go to www.hoopersgallery.co.uk, archived exhibitions section for details. You can see prints by Paul by appointment at: Hoopers Gallery, 15 Clerkenwell Close, London EC1R 0AA, telephone 020 7490 3908 Go to: HOOPER'S GALLERY Paul Kilsby's photographs are held in public and private collections in France, USA, Czech Republic, Russia and the UK
Please visit 31 STUDIO for details of high quality studio platinum printing
Also visit NICKY AKEHURST CREATIVE MANAGEMENT for further details about exhibiting the After Vermeer series