3riptych

3riptych

Ben Oakley Gallery presents ‘3riptych’, an exhibition by John Pedder and Patrick Colhoun.

This exciting exhibition pairs two artists who use traditional method and craft in the most contemporary and innovative way. The connections between what appear to be two highly disparate practices are remarkably strong. The use of contemporary imagery and material is ever present, as is the strong sense of humour and pathos running through the work.

An obvious connection for the artists is the joint use of strong, vibrant colours in a repetitive way. For Pedder, the aging process and ongoing miniscule degradation of a woodcut block allows individuality in repetition and similarly for Colhoun, the repetition of individual hand built ceramic sculpture from the starting point of identical ACAD generated templates creates completely unique pieces within a defined set.

These connections and challenges have shaped the title, theme and content of the exhibition, ‘3riptych’, with the presentation of work in terms of sets of three brightly coloured pieces.

John Pedder’s practice is woodcut printmaking. As the artist states, it slows him down, and allows him to put great industry into the simplest mark. It also offers the magic of happenstance and unpredictability which allows no end of inspiration and frustration, but mainly inspiration. By making the decision to fully embrace two dimensions so the work is right on the surface of the paper the artist creates restriction to search for creativity.

Patrick Colhoun’s practice is primarily hand built ceramic sculpture using slab building as the predominant technique. The addition of unconventional materials such as hosiery, Meccano, latex and piercings, and also the subject matter and form take this practice as far away from traditional craft as is possible to go. As borne out in previous exhibitions in the Ben Oakley Gallery the artist uses his practice as a means of personal stability within challenging times.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone in the Ben Oakley Gallery.

Cheers Ben