242. VIEW SUBTERRANEA 3 by REBECCA COLEMAN

CORK STREET OPEN ART EXHIBITION until August 16th, which aims to : 

   * give emerging and established artists worldwide a chance to show in central London

   * raise money for charity,  this year a project led by Crisis, a charity for homeless people

Subterranea 3, Lino cut  21 x 28cm

As I wandered round this large exhibition what drew me back to this work was the consummate skill  with which Rebecca Coleman had transformed a place which I've used several times a week for years. This work manages to be still, precise, sharp, elegant - and yet at the same time it has the beauty of geometry, the thrill of journeying, of being whisked away at speed, of enjoying a liminal space, twixt and between. It does this without colour or fuss or sentiment.

 Subterranea 1, Lino cut  100 x150 mm

  I love the Underground - it's safe, regular, speedy, and for young and old free. Of course things can go wrong but like the good friend it is, you forgive it.

At first I didn't even see the animal in the bottom left hand corner. The artist has a passion for the natural world, rooted in her childhood in the countryside,. She writes 'I recently had a family of rats living in my garden in Walthamstow - one of whom I named Stumpy on account of his injured tail, and who served as my model for this series. I was rather sad when they disappeared a few weeks ago - possibly (I suspect) at the paws of one of the neighbourhood cats, who kindly left me one of their skulls. I am planning to use this in a future work!'

We have a rat's perspective too in Subterranea 1. This work was awarded the Printmaker Prize at the Cork Street Winter Exhibition in 2013 and the  Derwent Award at the Patchings Exhibition in Nottingham 2013

 

Enemy no 1 Lino cut 21 x 16 cm

Lastly, the artist is interested in entymology. Here we have a ladybird poised on the edge of a web. The outlook is not very hopeful.

www.corkstreetopenexhibition.com
www.rebeccacoleman.co.uk
http://www.rebeccacoleman.co.uk/view.php?pic=75)