Extra-Ordinary
Co-curated with Rosalind Davis
Artists: Tom Butler, Alyson Helyer and Marion Michell
Interview with the artists for Core Gallery by Chantelle Purcell
Co-curated with Rosalind Davis
Artists: Tom Butler, Alyson Helyer and Marion Michell
Interview with the artists for Core Gallery by Chantelle Purcell
Left to Right: Aly Helyer, Remonstrant Minister (2009), Oil on linen, 56 x 41 cm; Tom Butler, Miss C Smith (2011), Gouache on Victorian cabinet card, 16.5 cm x 11 cm; Tom Butler, Call (2011), Gouache on Victorian cabinet card, 16.5 cm x 11 cm; Tom Butler, Chandler (2011), Gouache on Victorian cabinet card, 16.5 cm x 11 cm; Marion Michell, Gym turtle (2010), Crocheted cotton, wool/synthetic blend, fur, 23 cm x 38 cm; Tom Butler, Clark (2011), Gouache on Victorian cabinet card, 18 cm x 12 cm; Tom Butler, The Lesson (2011), Gouache on antique postcard, 10 cm x 15 cm. All images courtesy of the artists and Core Gallery. Photo credit: Jane Boyer
Clockwise: Tom Butler, Atwood (2011), Gouache on Victorian cabinet card, 16.5 cm x 11 cm; Tom Butler, Finch (2011), Gouache on antique postcard, 14.5 cm x 10.25 cm; Tom Butler, In the beautiful garden (2011), Gouache on antique postcard, 13.5 cm x 9 cm; Marion Michell, We were wicked we were wild (2011), Crocheted viscose and wool fiber,
Right: 19 cm (folded) x 18 cm Left: 18 cm (folded) x 18 cm; Aly Helyer, The bird catcher (2011), Oil on linen on board
65 cm x 55 cm. All images courtesy the artists and Core Gallery. Photo credit: Jane Boyer
Right: 19 cm (folded) x 18 cm Left: 18 cm (folded) x 18 cm; Aly Helyer, The bird catcher (2011), Oil on linen on board
65 cm x 55 cm. All images courtesy the artists and Core Gallery. Photo credit: Jane Boyer
From top to bottom: Marion Michell, My mother has golden hair (2004), Edition of 2, Debristled brush, artificial hair, 21 cm x 4 cm brush, 65 cm hair; Tom Butler, Dexie (2011), Gouache on Victorian cabinet card, 16.5 cm x 11 cm; Marion Michell, Shoes for three-legged girl (2001), Tissue paper, 27 cm x 21 cm x 9 cm.
All images courtesy of the artists and Core Gallery. Photo credit: Jane Boyer
All images courtesy of the artists and Core Gallery. Photo credit: Jane Boyer
From left to right: Marion Michell, from Five perfect maidens (2010/11), Crocheted artificial hair, double-pointed knitting needles,twigs, wire, Approximately 28 cm x 23 cm each; Tom Butler, Moore (2011), Gouache on Victorian carte de visite, 10.5 cm x 2.25 cm. All images courtesy of the artists and Core Gallery. Photo credit: Jane Boyer
Top to bottom: Tom Butler, C. G. Charleton (2011), Gouache on Victorian carte de visite, 10.5 cm x 2.25 cm; Tom Butler, Bailey (2011), Gouache on Victorian cabinet card, 16.5 cm x 11 cm. All images courtesy of the artist and Core Gallery. Photo credit: Jane Boyer
Left to Right: Aly Helyer, Hot lady (2010),Oil on linen on board, 56 cm x 42 cm; Tom Butler, Coffrin (2011), Gouache on Victorian cabinet card, 16.5 cm x 11 cm; Tom Butler, To the Unknown Master of Half Lengths (2011), Gouache on antique postcard, 15 cm x 10.5 cm; Marion Michell, Not filth, not hair (2008), Crocheted Jagger-Spun Zephyr wool-silk, mattress needle, 90 cm x 61 cm. All images courtesy the artists and Core Gallery. Photo credit: Jane Boyer
For Immediate Release: 23 Feb 2011
Extra-Ordinary
Alyson Helyer, Tom Butler and Marion Michell
Curated by Rosalind Davis and Jane Boyer
23 rd April to 8 th May 2011
Private View: 22nd April 2011, 6.30 – 9pm
The work of Tom Butler, Alyson Helyer and Marion Michell forms a strangesymbiosis, a disjointed world of macabre coexistence that holds humour,ambiguity, intensity and contradiction.
Each artist exploresidentity and the psyche, the real and the unreal, showing us places, where, ifwe look, we may feel discomfort, anxiety and self-consciousness. The anguish ofmemory resurfaces as a physical representation via paint, crochet, papersculptures, altered photographs and drawing.
The works inter-connectthrough the subversion of media, explorations of the potency of hair,domesticity, family and deformity creating a world of memento mori thatcontradictorily holds vitality; it is a vitality which draws strength and forcefrom ‘the other’. But there is a symbolic death in these works; the death ofmortification, the death of being other, the death of being bound, isolated andinvisible, the death of assimilation (at any cost).
The world these worksinhabit is only ostensibly our world. Theirs is a world on the other side of reality. These works are anti-real. It is this anti-realism which imbues themwith life. It also provides the portalthrough which we are allowed to pass, giving us clues as to how we may enterand engage.
To imagine the childrenthat would don the little outfits crocheted by Marion Michell is to think ofbodies that buckle under the strain of difference and draw theirlifeblood from it, deformed bodies which would render extreme isolation in ourworld. Or are they the result ofisolation? These are fairy tales goneterribly wrong yet there is great tenderness within them.
The ladies and gentlemenwho have posed patiently for their portraits by Tom Butler bear no shame attheir ill-fated attempts to assimilate or hide the wraps which hold theirsecrets. They are as they should be andas we see them. At the same time theyare trapped, suffocated, obliterated.
The monstersfrom Alyson Helyer’s imagination live in this world bearing no malice norholding any threat ‘…capturing fleeting impressions ofthese monsters and gods by making…a mixture of conscious and unconsciousdecisions, chance happenings and a stream of consciousness episodes…The worldthey inhabit is the other side of the hall of mirrors; I take chances withthem, ruin them, and then desperately try to claw their precious faces backfrom the mud.’
These three artists areexploring the un-real, perceiving the body in terms of the psyche; a psychewhich distorts and mortifies. Their explorations coexist in harmony, appearingas if they come from our world, until we realize we have been beguiled intoentering theirs.
Butler, Michell and Helyer were selected for a group exhibition fromover 250 artists worldwide as part of Core Gallery’s 2010 Open SubmissionCompetition by our prominent judges Graham Crowley, Kate Jones and MattRoberts.
About the Artists:
Tom Butler completed an MFA at the Slade School of Fine Art and and BAat Chelsea College of Art & Design and exhibits internationally, currentlyresiding in Maine, USA. In 2010 Butler was selected for the ArtSway Open, TheLudlow Summer Open and artWorks Open
Alyson Helyer is a graduate from Chelsea College of Art & Design andhas been selected in 2010 for the artworks Open and Crash Open Salon.Previously Helyer has been selected for the Celeste Art Prize, The Jerwood Drawing Prize andthe Whitechapel Open.
Marion Michell graduated from Central St Martins School of Art andDesign in critical fine art and has worked in mixed media and video exhibitinginternationally. Michell has recentlyhad a solo show at the Arthouse in Wakefield.
Core Galleryis open Fridays- Sundays, 12-6pm and by appointment, please contact: info@coregallery.co.uk
www.coregallery.co.uk
C101 Faircharm TradingEstate 8 – 12 Creekside, Deptford, London SE8 3DX Tel: 020 8692 2783
Extra-Ordinary
Alyson Helyer, Tom Butler and Marion Michell
Curated by Rosalind Davis and Jane Boyer
23 rd April to 8 th May 2011
Private View: 22nd April 2011, 6.30 – 9pm
The work of Tom Butler, Alyson Helyer and Marion Michell forms a strangesymbiosis, a disjointed world of macabre coexistence that holds humour,ambiguity, intensity and contradiction.
Each artist exploresidentity and the psyche, the real and the unreal, showing us places, where, ifwe look, we may feel discomfort, anxiety and self-consciousness. The anguish ofmemory resurfaces as a physical representation via paint, crochet, papersculptures, altered photographs and drawing.
The works inter-connectthrough the subversion of media, explorations of the potency of hair,domesticity, family and deformity creating a world of memento mori thatcontradictorily holds vitality; it is a vitality which draws strength and forcefrom ‘the other’. But there is a symbolic death in these works; the death ofmortification, the death of being other, the death of being bound, isolated andinvisible, the death of assimilation (at any cost).
The world these worksinhabit is only ostensibly our world. Theirs is a world on the other side of reality. These works are anti-real. It is this anti-realism which imbues themwith life. It also provides the portalthrough which we are allowed to pass, giving us clues as to how we may enterand engage.
To imagine the childrenthat would don the little outfits crocheted by Marion Michell is to think ofbodies that buckle under the strain of difference and draw theirlifeblood from it, deformed bodies which would render extreme isolation in ourworld. Or are they the result ofisolation? These are fairy tales goneterribly wrong yet there is great tenderness within them.
The ladies and gentlemenwho have posed patiently for their portraits by Tom Butler bear no shame attheir ill-fated attempts to assimilate or hide the wraps which hold theirsecrets. They are as they should be andas we see them. At the same time theyare trapped, suffocated, obliterated.
The monstersfrom Alyson Helyer’s imagination live in this world bearing no malice norholding any threat ‘…capturing fleeting impressions ofthese monsters and gods by making…a mixture of conscious and unconsciousdecisions, chance happenings and a stream of consciousness episodes…The worldthey inhabit is the other side of the hall of mirrors; I take chances withthem, ruin them, and then desperately try to claw their precious faces backfrom the mud.’
These three artists areexploring the un-real, perceiving the body in terms of the psyche; a psychewhich distorts and mortifies. Their explorations coexist in harmony, appearingas if they come from our world, until we realize we have been beguiled intoentering theirs.
Butler, Michell and Helyer were selected for a group exhibition fromover 250 artists worldwide as part of Core Gallery’s 2010 Open SubmissionCompetition by our prominent judges Graham Crowley, Kate Jones and MattRoberts.
About the Artists:
Tom Butler completed an MFA at the Slade School of Fine Art and and BAat Chelsea College of Art & Design and exhibits internationally, currentlyresiding in Maine, USA. In 2010 Butler was selected for the ArtSway Open, TheLudlow Summer Open and artWorks Open
Alyson Helyer is a graduate from Chelsea College of Art & Design andhas been selected in 2010 for the artworks Open and Crash Open Salon.Previously Helyer has been selected for the Celeste Art Prize, The Jerwood Drawing Prize andthe Whitechapel Open.
Marion Michell graduated from Central St Martins School of Art andDesign in critical fine art and has worked in mixed media and video exhibitinginternationally. Michell has recentlyhad a solo show at the Arthouse in Wakefield.
Core Galleryis open Fridays- Sundays, 12-6pm and by appointment, please contact: info@coregallery.co.uk
www.coregallery.co.uk
C101 Faircharm TradingEstate 8 – 12 Creekside, Deptford, London SE8 3DX Tel: 020 8692 2783
Core Gallery Interview by Chantell Purcell, 2011.
NOTE: Artworks are for sale, subject to availability.
For information contact: Jane Boyer at Jane@janeboyer.com
Tom Butler
email: tombutler79@mac.com
web: www.tombutlerstudio.com
Alyson Helyer
email: alysonhelyer@yahoo.co.uk
web: www.alyhelyer.com
Marion Michell
email: marjojo2004@yahoo.co.uk
web: www.marionmichell.com
Chantell Purcell
email: chantelle_may@hotmail.co.uk
Rosalind Davis
email: rosalind.davis@network.rca.ac.uk
For information contact: Jane Boyer at Jane@janeboyer.com
Tom Butler
email: tombutler79@mac.com
web: www.tombutlerstudio.com
Alyson Helyer
email: alysonhelyer@yahoo.co.uk
web: www.alyhelyer.com
Marion Michell
email: marjojo2004@yahoo.co.uk
web: www.marionmichell.com
Chantell Purcell
email: chantelle_may@hotmail.co.uk
Rosalind Davis
email: rosalind.davis@network.rca.ac.uk
