RICHARD EDWARDS | SHIP/BALL ON A BLACK WATER VALLEY
I grew up in a small mining village in South Wales, originally a pastoral, scenic, sheep farming area, it was plundered for it's extensive coal reserves around the turn of the 20th century and a small village was created based around two large coalmines. The river that coursed through the valley ran clear above the mines, but below them, as it was used for washing the coal, it ran blue/black with pockets of sticky sludge.
This childhood memory combined with the close proximity of the sea, ports, ships, and the seaside holiday resorts, have together formed some of the ideas and imagery embedded in the painted constructions of ship sections in the glass case, which in it's cubed dimensions subverts the common place ship in a display case and provides a strong focus for the distillation of ideas about shared structures, ambiguous digital photo imagery, and altered perceptions of contradictory depictions of water, land, and heavy industry.
The ship as metaphor and repository of contrary ideas has occupied me for the past ten years in ways that I still cannot fully comprehend.
It has been a rich and rewarding experience.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
1974: "YOUNG CONTEMPORARIES" Juried Exhibition at the Alberta College of Art Gallery.
1977: " ALBERTAWORK" Juried Exhibition at the Alberta College of Art Gallery.
1978: "PAINTINGS and DRAWINGS at the University of Calgary Gallery.
1978: " FIRST CANADIAN BIENNALE of PRINTS and DRAWINGS" .
Juried by Luke Rombout, Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Awarded Opus Frames Purchase Award.
1979: "MOSTLY SMALLER WORKS…." Invitational Exhibition at the Clouds and Water Gallery.
1980: "SOME DRAWINGS BY SOME ALBERTANS" Alberta College of Art Gallery.
1981: "PAINTINGS" James Ulrich Gallery.
1982: "DRAWINGS" James Ulrich Gallery.
1983: "FIGURATIVE PAINTING in ALBERTA". James Ulrich Gallery.
1984: "1984 PAINTINGS" James Ulrich Gallery.
1985: " CALGARY ARTISTS AT NOVA" Nova Corporation Building.
1985: "THE FIRST TEN" Off Centre Centre Gallery.
1985 : "SWITCHING CHANNELS" Paul Kuhn Gallery.
1985: "URBANand RURAL LANDSCAPES of WESTERN CANADA.
The Prairie Art Gallery, Grand Prairie. Organised by the Alberta Art Foundation, The Edmonton Art Gallery, and the Vancouver Art Gallery.
1986: "LOOKING AT MYSELF" . Off Centre Centre Gallery.
1987: "ANGST" Muttart Gallery.
1989: "THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH" Stride Gallery.
1993: "RAW VIBES" Painting Faculty Exhibition , Alberta College of Art.
1994: "YUGOSLAVIA WAR ARTISTS" Museum of the Regiments, Calgary.
1997: "CZECH DIARIES" Deacon / Ulrich Gallery.
1997: "WORKS on PAPER" Chagall Centre Gallery, Ostrava, Czech Republic.
1998: "MEN 2" Centre Gallery, Calgary.
1998: "WORKS" Alberta Art Foundation Collection, Edmonton.
1998: "PASSAGE" Recent Acquisitions, Alberta Art Foundation.
2000: "MAIL ART" Ostrava ,Czech Republic.
2002: "MAIL ART" Ostrava, Czech Republic.
2003: "HOSPICE BENEFIT Exhibition." Paul Kuhn Gallery.
"632cm MAIL ART " Ostrava , Czech Republic.
2004 Mail art , Ostrava , Czech Republic.
2005 ….empty journeys rusted red…. One Person Exhibition at The Ruberto - Ostberg Gallery , Calgary. Paintings , drawings , and mixed media tableaux [cardboard ships ] on shelves.
2005 S371 PAINTING FACULTY EXHIBITION 4 - 11 October. [ 4 mixed media tableaux ].
2005 630 cm 2 Mail Art Ostrava [ 1 November- ] Czech Republic.
2005 ACAD Faculty Exhibition [ 27 October - ] Illingworth Kerr Gallery .
2005 "HOSPICE BENEFIT Exhibition." Paul Kuhn Gallery.
2006 " ABOUT TIME" Group Exhibition at The Nickle Museum Gallery, Calgary.
2006 Hi-Fi Club, Calgary Group Exhibition, ACAD Faculty and students..
2006 ….The Cardboard Shipyard….One Person Exhibition at The Ruberto - Ostberg Gallery, paintings and mixed media tableaux.
2006 S371 PAINTING FACULTY EXHIBITION 4-11 October [ 5 part polytych painting 2X10 ft. ]
2007 Ship/Ball on a River…..One Person Exhibition, Ruberto - Ostberg Gallery, mixed media constructions and paintings.
REVIEWS
" About Time "- Contemporary Painting in Calgary at the Nickle Arts Museum.
Celebrating paint, Jennifer McVeigh ,The Calgary Herald ,Feb 2006..
"MIXED MEDIA DRAWINGS HAVE THE LOOK OF POP ART"
Nancy Tousley, The Calgary Herald. 1981.
"ARTIST LOOKS TO CITY FOR NEW NIGHTMARES"
Nancy Tousley, The Calgary Herald. 1984.
"ARTIST TURNS TELEVISION INTO METAPHOR OF OUR TIMES"
Nancy Tousley. The Calgary Herald. 1985.
INTERVIEWS
HELLAX-9.37 RADIO. Ostrava, Czech Republic, On Canadian Art, May 1996.
RADIO ATTACK, OPAVA. Czech Republic, Art Content in Canada, May 1996.
LINKS