Selecting work

Yesterday Margaret Mytton, joined by Edward Lucie-Smith and Julian Williams, spent the day choosing paintings for the forthcoming exhibition in London.

Above Margaret, Chris Pearson and Edward look through photographs of paintings from the two enormous 'Byzantium' series to select paintings for the Bermondsey show. 6 pieces were selected - although these would each be in the form of large diptychs or triptychs - one is made up of 5 large canvas panels. 

These paintings will make up the core of the exhibition, but decisions were also made to include a group of self-portraits, some of the work Dave made during the period of his hospitalisation and treatment for cancer, and other examples of his wide-ranging and prolific work, including some playful assemblages and constructions Dave made for the Globe Arts Studio Christmas exhibitions.

Preparations

Screen grab from 'To Byzantium' - moving work from Globe Arts Studios

1,000 clear wrapped copies of the DVD 'To Byzantium' have arrived from the duplication plant. They are piled up in the See Gallery, waiting for distribution - which will start immediately after the launch at the Cornerhouse in two weeks time. They look great.

Invites have been sent out and people are beginning to call in to reserve their seats. Margaret Mytton is helping Julian in chasing people up for their RSVPs. Further, Derek Smith, the director of the film, has shown it to Alex Kann, at the Community Channel, and he has said that they are keen to show it as part of an upcoming arts season.

Mental Note: The Trust urgently needs to prepare itself for these events. We need to decide how we'll respond to all sorts of possible enquiries once the film has been released, and as it begins to be seen more widely. 

More photographs from Globe Art Studios

A few more photographs (courtesy of Margaret Mytton) of the studio at Globe Arts, before it was broken up and therefore just as it was left by Dave Pearson. Eventually he was unable to use it any more due to the progress of his illness. It really was a special space, almost an installation piece, filled with these red, white and black constructions. 

Underneath, once we cleared things away, were hundreds of other paintings, mainly from the 1990s. These have been moved to the studio in Haslingden, while the string and nail pieces have either been given to friends and colleagues, or skipped, with just a score or so put into storage. 

A new exhibition in Rossendale

Last night was the opening of the third exhibition of work by Dave Pearson at the See Gallery in Crawshawbooth. Beautifully hung, and with an emotional coherence that wasn't so apparent in the earlier shows. This because, with the work all coming from the cache found at Dave's Globe Arts studio, the work came from a relatively concentrated period of time - mainly from the 1990s. 

Despite this there is nevertheless a wide range of approaches and techniques on display. These include 10 self-portraits (most extremely dark in mood), a large number of oil paintings of different sizes from the Bestiary series, and a few of the very distinctive constructions that Dave made during this period (such as the one on the wall in the photograph above).

The constructions are fascinating. The photographs above and below record how the studio at Globe Arts was left at Dave's death. A stash of wild, almost violent, work created from white-painted boards, nails, red and black wool, and with various attached items, including some found objects collected from the various stays in hospital he was experiencing at this time in his life. 

These pieces have now been cleared away; some kept by the Dave Pearson Trust; some given to friends including the other artists at Globe Arts; and the rest sadly had to be tipped (most of these were damaged). The example at the See was an early construction, and rather than being inspired by the experience of hospitalisation, was Dave's response to the  outbreak of the Gulf War. This and a few other pieces on the same subject seem to have sown the seeds for the later hospital works. An example of the political merging with the (highly) personal.

Selection

Spent a lot of yesterday at the See gallery looking at the work that Julian and Jackie had selected from the 500 or so pieces of work that we removed from Globe Arts studios a few days ago. With Jackie and Margaret Mytton I helped title, price and place the pieces of work. 

Particularly notable are the series of Bestiary paintings, influenced by the strange and mythic creatures found in medieval bestiaries, and also the series of dark, mask-like self-portraits that Dave painted during this period in the 1990s.  

The exhibition, which opens next weekend (private view Friday 22nd) has a special intensity and integrity probably because, unlike earlier exhibitions at the See, the work in it covers only a decade or so of Dave's output. There is nevertheless a wide range of work - from harrowing wood, nail and string constructions, through the series of small (almost miniature) oil paintings, to the comic and strange 'Christmas Fair' creations made for the Globe Christmas exhibitions. 

The move out of Globe

Yesterday we finally moved everything out of Dave Pearson's old studio space at Globe Arts. His studio had sat there, untouched, since his death - in fact it is probably three years since Dave had been there himself. It is one of the larger spaces at the studios, and inevitably the time had come when other artists needed to move in and take over the area, which sits at the top floor of a Victorian cotton-mill complex and is reached via an antiquated (clapped out) Victorian lift . 

There were 8 of us - Ruth and John from Globe Arts, Margaret and her friend Paul, Dave Chadwick and myself, Chris Pearson plus Julian from the See gallery. Then there was Derek Smith, who spent the day filming the proceedings. Organisation was slightly chaotic, but things got done. By things I mean - photographing every artwork as it left the building (Margaret and Paul); filling two skips with rubbish and any damaged work; carefully removing 600 paintings (Ruth, John, Julian, Chris), and loading and driving these to the old studio in Haslingden, then unloading them and finding storage in the, ever-shrinking, available space (Dave and I). We worked from 9.30 in the morning; by 6.30pm everything had been done, leaving just a little tidying needed round the edges.

People approached the work in different ways; Margaret was, as usual, methodical as she needed to be in order to record the work, her attention alighting on pieces she specially wanted keeping. It was hard not to be affected by having to tip old paint brushes, coffee mugs and other personal items into a skip. Not to mention the pieces of work that were either damaged or simply unable to be stored in the space we have. There is a tension between wanting to keep every last item that Dave produced, and the need to retain the refurbished studio in Haslingden as a reasonable place to view his work and to some extent that tension is reflected in Margaret and my own slightly differing sense of priorities. But in the event a sensible compromise has been reached, and there's a corresponding relief that (almost) all of Dave's work is now gathered safely in one place.    

A date is agreed

The 8th October has been chosen as the day to move the work from Globe Artists Studios in Stacksteads; to move the work and tidy the space that had been Dave's studio when he worked at Globe. We've assembled a group of 6 or more helpers so feel confident that we'll manage the job comfortably within the day. Thank you to everybody involved.

Margaret has plans to record each piece of work as it leaves the studio - a production line photographic session. I'm particularly concerned with what happens at the other end, in Dave's old Haslingden studio. Room has to be made here to receive the incoming work and although the scale is nothing like the major move of work that we undertook in the Spring, there's still a significant amount of work to make space for. The unknown is how much, if any, can go directly to the See gallery in readiness for an exhibition at the end of October.  Note: I must ring Julian today and fix a date for this.

Another move

At last there's a plan to move Dave's things from Globe Arts Studio, where they've been since his death over 2 years ago. Dave was an important member of the studio group, although he was unable to visit or work there for the last few years of his life. Nevertheless there's a sizeable collection of his work there - especially from the Bestiary series, as well as a variety of work done for Globe exhibitions. 

Most notable of all are the huge string, nail, and wool pieces that Dave created as a response to his hospitalisation and early operations. These are raw, angry pieces that suggest wounds and cuts, and often integrate surgical material within the collages. We'll keep some of these but many - probably the vast majority - are beyond rescue and we'll probably have to destroy them. 

Once this has been done nearly all of Dave's work will be either at our studio collection in Haslingden, or in Chris Pearson's nearby house. Making room for it is another headache, but there's a plan to show highlights of the Globe work at the See gallery next month.

More work discovered....

I went to Globe Arts today, courtesy of Ruth and John, and visited the studio space that Dave used there - as one of the artists that make this such an interesting artists studio. 

Because of his illness Dave hadn't really worked much in the studio for several years, although he paid rent on the space until his death. The studio, kindly, has waived rent since then, but I've been aware that the Trust needed to deal with these pieces of work. 

What first hits you approaching Dave's old space are the string and nail assemblages that are gathered together to create a kind of installation (see above). They hark back to Dave's illness, and several of the pieces contain medical items. The overall effect is powerful, almost violent. I fear most of this will have to be discarded - the pieces are going to be very hard to store and stack; and there simply won't be enough space in the studio. Any ideas out there?

There was also about a hundred canvases, including many of the Bestiary series, painted between 1988 and 2000. These I'll collect together and take back to the studio once the big paintings have been moved out of the store. Finally there's the detritus of Dave's presence - his old jacket, coffee pot and cups - none of this has been moved, out of a kind of respect. I said to Ruth and John to use any of the materials they find useful, and to throw away the other everyday items.