A review of my solo show: A Difference in Vision

As I frantically finsh paintings for my upcoming group show at Wilderness in Core Gallery , a lovely review for my current solo show has arrived! Hussah!

http://poptartlondon.com/2010/05/10/a-difference-in-vision/
Check it out on :
http://poptartlondon.com/2010/05/10/a-difference-in-vision/

Pop T'art London
I first noticed Rosalind Davis‘ mixed media paintings last year at the Deptford X art festival. I was drawn by the vibrant colours and clever use of fabric to create collage pieces which she then paints and embroiders over.
So it was a real pleasure to be shown round her new solo show A Difference in Vision by Rosalind herself at Bloww gallery off Regent Street recently.
The above piece, from which the show takes its title, is oil and embroidery on vintage print cotton sateen. It depicts the huge Robin Hood estate in Poplar, East London which was designed in the 1960s and condemned in the 2000s (much to the dismay of many leading architects campaigning to preserve it as a modernist masterpiece).
What I really like about Rosalind’s work is the surprising contrast between her subject matter of brutalist architecture with the materials she employs to depict them – florid fabric and delicate hand stitching – to create otherworldly, surreal pieces. “I enjoy mark making with embroidery,” says Rosalind. “It’s more controlled and emphasises the fragility of our buildings and of our own existence.”

Rosalind meticulously researches the buildings she paints by photographing them and talking to their residents where possible (many of the buildings are derelict).

This one above called 26 Remain refers to the 26 remaining families in the Ferriers estate in Kidbrooke, Greenwich.

While you may recognise Elephant and Castle’s famously dilapidated, and soon to be demolished, shopping centre in this piece, Belong Nowhere.
It can take Rosalind between one to four months to execute a piece. Often sourcing the fabric becomes a mission in itself as she likes to incorporate material which reference the period of the buildings’ construction.

Her work highlights the breakdown of social housing, community and the overall failings of modernity. And it certainly lives up to this show’s title. I really like Rosalind’s unusual, thorough and intricate approach which gives layers of meaning to each picture. Go see!
A Difference in Vision runs until 9pm, this Saturday 15th May. After that you can see new and existing work from Rosalind Davis (and two other artists) at a new exhibition Wilderness which runs at Core Gallery in Deptford from Saturday 22nd May.