Abstract

TITLE: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: An Exhibition of 50 years of Alumni work 1960 -2010
An Exhibition of fine art by selected alumni. This exhibition formed part of Hull City of Culture 2017. The Brodrick Gallery, Hull School of Art & Design, Queens Gardens, Hull, HU1 3DG
DATES: 23/10/17 – 15/12/17

ABSTRACT:
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: An Exhibition of 50 years of Alumni work 1960 -2010. An Exhibition curated by Jackie Goodman, as part of a series of exhibitions to celebrate Hull City of Culture 2017. Throughout 2017, exhibitions in the Brodrick Gallery have showcased the work of specially selected artists and designers of national and international repute working in a variety of media. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future included prints, paintings, sculptures, photographs and drawings by 30 former staff and students of Hull School of Art and Design, who went on to become distinguished artists and educators, carrying with them the philosophy of the great British art school.

The varied approaches employed by the artists invited to submit work for selection provided an opportunity to explore the impact of changing approaches to arts education and fine art practice between 1960 and 2010. The Hull School of Art and Design was founded in 1861 and is regarded nationally and internationally for its excellence as a specialist creative centre for higher education in the Arts. During the 1980s and 90s the school was one of a small number of higher educational institutions that pioneered experimental studies in time based fine art practice, working closely with the international arts commissioning body Hull Time Based Arts.

City of Culture 2017 activities, such as the A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future exhibition, provided a timely opportunity for HSAD to reassess its place within the evolving creative landscape of C21st Britain.

Exhibition Contributors:
The exhibition featured work by other notable HSAD alumni including: Martyn Chalk,
Brian Cooke, Jeff Dellow, Phil Eastwood, Rob Gawthrop, Clyde Hopkins, Simon Lewis, Michael Lyons, Mali Morris, John Pettenuzzo, Lewis Robinson, Stuart Ross, Tom Scott, Brian Sweet, Adrian Swells, Brian Tozer, Chloe Twells, Robert Welch.

External Reviews
“Combining paintings, print, sound installation and sculpture, the exhibition strives to present the distinctive essence of the school, whilst acknowledging some of its most acclaimed alumni.” (1)

“To celebrate Hull’s status as 2017 UK City of Culture, Hull School of Art and Design has dug into its archives to reveal some of the artists who have passed through its doors. In this exhibition of work by more than 20 alumni the influence of HSAD is evident in elements of the work itself or the artists’ accounts of their time spent in Hull. After leaving, many of these artists went on to make significant contributions to UK and international cultural life, as head of art schools and university art departments or as successful and respected artists. Whatever their fields of practice, they carried with them some essence of the philosophy, awareness and training developed in Hull and the ethos of a great British art school which has been producing artists for 156 years.” (2)

“Hull School of Art and Design has delved into its archives to pick out work from some of the most talented artists to ever grace its halls. In celebration of Hull UK City of Culture 2017, HSAD has curated a diverse exhibition featuring over twenty alumni.  Some of them have made magnificent contributions to the country’s culture and the wider art world. Many of them have become respected artists and a few have even returned to the classroom to share their knowledge, becoming heads of art schools and university departments.” (3)

“By showing the impressive work of past students and staff this exhibition demonstrates the creativity that has been nurtured in Hull and offers a glimpse into the great possibilities for students of the future.” (4)

The work of Phil Eastwood
Phil Eastwood’s contribution to A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future consisted of three mixed media paintings. These were selected for the exhibition because they are considered to be representative of the central core of Eastwood’s fine art practice. Eastwood is a multidisciplinary artist, designer and illustrator. His paintings, collages, photographs, prints, and handmade publications have been exhibited in the USA, Holland, Germany, Spain, Cyprus, and throughout the UK. Phil Eastwood’s abstract paintings explore juxtapositions of colour, form and shape - similar to the avant-garde British modernist fine art painters; Ben Nicholson, John Piper, Jessica Dismorr, Patrick Heron, etc.

Artist: Phil Eastwood
Title: Landscape at Dusk.
Date: 2017
Dimensions: 33.5cm x 25.5cm
Medium: Oil and acrylic paint on canvas.
Description: An expressive abstract interpretation of an imagined, flat, expansive landscape at dusk. The viewer is presented with a dramatic dark blue and light blue painted canvas, intersected by a narrow gold acrylic stripe. The combined use of colour, tone, space within the composition creates the impression of a haunting natural vista. The central focus being the flat, wide, open horizon line that divides the dramatic abstract sky from the flattened earth. Detail is intentionally limited to encourage the viewer to focus upon the expressive brush work and intensity of colour dividing the pictorial space. The painting is an evocation of a landscape rather than a literal representation. However, the central feature of the composition is the suggestion of an illuminated horizon line intersecting an imagined space.

Artist: Phil Eastwood
Title: Orange Pink Square with Stripes.
Date: 2017
Dimensions: 23.5cm x 23.5cm
Medium: Impasto paint with collaged paper on canvas.
Description: A two-dimensional abstract mixed media painting that includes collaged paper elements combined within a coloured stripe and square blocked composition. The piece explores colour, scale and spatial relationships. Various neutral and low chroma impasto painted stripes intersect with larger blocks of low chroma colour juxtaposed against a single higher chroma orange and purple paper collage square. Consideration to the selection of colours and the combinations of chroma and hue within the composition are designed to promote a questioning of depth and scale.

Artist: Phil Eastwood
Title: Orange Green Yellow Squares.
Date: 2017
Dimensions: 23cm x 28cm
Medium: Oil and acrylic paint with collaged fabric and paper on board.
Description: A two-dimensional abstract mixed media painting that includes collaged fabric and paper elements in various low chroma coloured blocks contrasted against high chroma orange and yellow fabric squares. The composition also includes a series of horizontal and vertical stripes creating an interleaving of coloured planes across the surface of the painting. The composition is constructed to encourage consideration of colour, hue, scale and spatial relationships.

The work of Chloe Twells
Chloe Twells contribution to A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future consisted of two paintings. These were selected for the exhibition because they explore two significant architectural landmarks located in Hull city centre. Twells states that “In being asked to submit work to the Alumni show the focus of Hull being the European City of Culture in 2017 gave an added impetus to produce new work about the city. As such, the work created for the exhibition takes the specific location of Hull, and significant examples of the city’s architecture, as its starting point and subject matter.”

Artist: Chloe Twells
Title: Holy Trinity
Date: 2017
Dimensions: 88.5cm x 106cm
Medium: Pen, ink, pencil, wine on paper
Description: This study on paper is of the Holy Trinity Church, Hull; An important ecclesiastical, historical and social landmark of Hull with the first mention of a chapel on or near the present site in 1285. Founded by Edward the 1st and finally consecrated in 1425 it is of a somewhat low and squat stature with a square tower, described by Pevsner as “coming close to English late Medieval ideal of the glass-house.”(5) This pen and ink study aims to portray the architecture in an essentially reverent cast, with a recognizable and traditional aesthetic, as seen in the work of Frederick William Booty and 18th and 19th century ecclesiastical prints, which reflect society’s cultural and moral values from a particular period in history. Although essentially a pen and ink study ‘Holy Trinity 2017’ importantly utilizes red wine as a medium to add colour, tone and texture. The use of this particular foodstuff, a commercial trade-able commodity that during the “second quarter of the 14th Century… Hull’s wine trade was often second or third largest in the kingdom sometimes exceeding 2,000 tuns.”(6) was a purposeful reference to Hull’s commercial history. Wine, in fact was a vital element of the import/export trade of the port and remained so for a number of centuries. Wine coming in from Gascony and the Aquitaine region of France was distributed across the region/nation via the waterways system. Even in the “first half of the 15th Century Hull’s wine imports were often around 1,000 tuns a year, a figure exceeded only by London and sometimes Bristol and Southampton.”(7)

Red wine was used in the study for its ability to mark/stain the paper and compete favourably with the tone of the more traditional media of ink. The wine was applied in exactly the same, expected technique of brush and ink studies but was purposely allowed to allowed to run and splash to exaggerate its fluid properties, spillage and response to gravity (naturally occurring phenomena in the transportation, movement and consumption of beverages) as opposed to the ritualistic control of ink and/or paint in art. The size and framing of this knowingly referential piece concludes the homage to Victorian Architectural Reverence Art, most notably, ecclesiastical studies. There are references in this and other recent works by Chloe Twells to John Piper’s (1903-1992) architectural studies.

Artist: Chloe Twells
Title: Untitled (previously titled Black Bill)
Date: 2017
Dimensions: 38cm x 40cm
Medium: paint on board
Description: This small study on board takes “The most impressive equestrian statue in Britain,”(8) as its subject matter. A larger than life public piece of commemorative statuary it stands on a pedestal at an intersection of contemporary town planning in the old city of Hull where bear baiting had once taken place. Erected in 1734 to commemorate William lll’s reign (1689-1702) it was subsequently gilded in 1768. The male figure astride the powerful steed is not only a product of its own time but is reminiscent of classical Empire; King William is in the garb of Emperor and the style and aura are that of a patriarchal monarch overseeing an optimistic, confident and increasingly powerful British Empire. The classical reference was purposely emulated in the execution of the study with black pigment and simple line sitting on a terra cotta-coloured base that speaks of Etruscan ware and statuary. Initially the study had intended to be in gold leaf to mirror the gilding of the original statue, but as the work progressed (both the practicalities of media and the thinking), it was clear that golden King William was not appropriate.

William was supported by the powerful merchant class and politically liberal of Hull, Hull being the first city to formally recognize William as rightful heir to the throne, bolstered by a brisk trading relationship and relative geographic proximity with the Netherlands. The statue remains a warmly thought of landmark in the City of Hull, affectionately referred to as ‘King Billy’.

The size of the study was purposely small, with an idea of an emblematic icon, especially when originally intended to be golden; the size retained its currency but an earlier title of King William Icon was discarded. With a knowing reference to Wilberforce and the Slave trade the black opacity of the figure nearly precipitated a title of ‘Black Bill’. The almost cartoon brevity and pirate-like name was a knowing juxtaposition, counterpoint to the classical content previously mentioned. This was finally rejected for an untitled submission to exhibition, but was purposefully framed in black and hopefully retained an element of grandeur, pathos, incongruity and redolence in its very representational and seemingly conventional format that clothed a subversive message.

NOTES:
1. Rich Sutherland, http://www.heytoday.co.uk/local-news/hull-school-of-art-and-design-showcases-alumni/
2. https://www.hull2017.co.uk/whatson/events/funny-thing-happened-way-future/
3. Rich Sutherland, http://www.heytoday.co.uk/local-news/hull-school-of-art-and-design-showcases-alumni/
4. Jen Raynor, https://originsculture.com/2017/11/16/the-art-of-hull-six-exhibitions-to-see-right-now/
5. Pevsner, Niklolaus, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: and the East Riding, 1972 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2PZNAAAAMAAJ
6. Medieval Hull Pages 11-85
A History of the County of York East Riding: Volume 1, the City of Kingston Upon Hull. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1969
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/east/vol1/pp11-85#p175
7. op cit
8. 150 Facts about Hull
http://factsabouthull.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/fact-28-most-impressive-equestrian.html150