Tag Archives: Abstract

Art, exhibition, Joy C Martindale, New Work, painting

Birds Are The Opposite of Time

Birds Are The Opposite of Time (2022) by Joy C Martindale, Acrylic on Paper, 28x38cm

This is the companion piece to the work I showed in Material Presence Part 1 at Fitzrovia Gallery last week.  

It is part of a larger body of work called Birds Are The Opposite of Time  – a project I developed whilst listening to Quatuor Pour La Fin Du Temps (Quartet for The End of Time) by Olivier Messiaen. The work was composed in a prisoner of war camp in 1940 and was inspired by the Apocalypse as it is described in the Book of Revelation. The title, Birds are the Opposite of Time, is taken from Messiaen’s notes on part III of the work – Abyss of the Birds: ‘The Abyss, which is Time, with its sadness and weariness. The birds are the opposite of Time: they represent our desire for light, for stars, for rainbows and for jubilant song.’ Messiaen was a passionate ornithologist and in the same way he saw music and birds as being the opposite of time as it marks out the finiteness of life, I see artmaking as being the opposite. Painting is an expression of my inner life, which feels infinite in its formless constancy to my sense of being. 
I am seeking to create a feeling of vitality  and performance when I make a painting and I am driven by a sense of compulsion and necessity. Aspiring to develop new language I work in an exploratory way, learning as much from failures and mistakes as discoveries. 

The Finissage of Material Presence Part 2 is today, 26th November, 12-5pm at Fitzrovia Gallery and the last day of the exhibition is tomorrow (10am-3pm)  

The exhibition features paintings and sculpture by talented artists from the Turps Correspondence Course of 2021-2022

Material Presence
Fitzrovia Gallery
139 Whitfield St, 
London 
W1T 5EN

Birds Are The Opposite of Time (2022) by Joy C Martindale, Acrylic on paper

DM me for sales and exhibition enquiries

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Art, contemporary use of textiles, exhibition, Joy C Martindale, New Work, Personal histories, Sculpture

Wells Art Contemporary 2018

I am thrilled that Don’t Stop, Keep Going has been shortlisted for Wells Art Contemporary. You can see the work on show from today at the Bishop’s Palace in Wells, Somerset. The exhibition runs until 21st October (Open daily 10am – 6pm).

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Don’t Stop, Keep Going (2016-18),  Side 1, by Joy C Martindale

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Art, contemporary use of textiles, fabric, Joy C Martindale, New Work, Personal histories, Textiles

Happy International Women’s Day 2018

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Untitled (2017) Joy C Martindale

I’m proud to support International Women’s Day and add my voice to the growing movement campaigning for an end to violence against women and children worldwide.

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Art, contemporary use of textiles, fabric, Joy C Martindale, New Work, Personal histories, Textiles, video, Writing

Something to Work Into. Something to Work Against.

I cut off a smallish piece from a section of fishing net I found on the beach. The diamond lattice is broken in places and the nylon threads are frayed and tired. I hold the piece in my hands and consider its flimsiness, then I take a long length of red cotton caulking and wrap it round and round the netting and keep going until the structure is covered and begins to plumpen. I select a couple of my children’s old t-shirts – they’re too worn to wear or pass on and I have held on to them wondering about how to extend their life. I cut them into strips and begin to bind them tightly around the caulking. It’s February and chilly in the studio and I sit hunched over at my desk. The cold makes my movements small and concentrated but I work quickly as I consider my next move. The colours of the fabrics clash with one another: All the better, I think – something to work against. I keep wrapping the strips of fabric until I have something of density to work into – something that enticingly feels as wrong as it does right.

 

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Art, contemporary use of textiles, Crit, Discussion, fabric, Joy C Martindale, New Work, Personal histories, Textiles

Sidney Cooper Gallery Artist Talks

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Untitled (2017) Joy C Martindale

On 21st February I presented a new work-in-progress at Sidney Cooper Gallery. The evening proved to be a great opportunity for peer networking. Thanks to everyone who also shared their work and provided such insightful feedback!

http://www.threadskent.com
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Art, contemporary use of textiles, fabric, Joy C Martindale, Mental Health, New Work, Personal histories, Textiles

New Work in Progress ‘Don’t Stop, Keep Going’

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Don’t Stop, Keep Going (2016-) work in progress, side 1, Joy C Martindale

 I can’t think straight – I’m losing it – My head is going to fall off – I can’t do this – I must do this – I’m a lousy mother – I’m tired – I feel dizzy – I need to be quiet – I can’t keep talking, talking, talking – I, I, I. Too many I’s – Not enough I. I have to stop – Just for a bit – Get it together – Let everything stop moving – whirling inside me. 

How do I help myself get through this?

Whilst making “Don’t Stop, Keep Going”, I have been reflecting on a serious and hard to admit to issue: the tightrope one can feel one is walking as a mother of young children; when exhaustion, sleep deprivation and the need for a break – however short – becomes overwhelming and abnormal notions begin to infiltrate – self doubts and idiotic thoughts that you wouldn’t be having if you could just get a bit more sleep and have a little time alone.

When my children first started school the exhaustion persisted and everything continued to feel like a crazy juggling act. I noticed that when I was very tired I could still work but that my approach was different – it was very much a case of head down and working obsessively on small singular tasks. At first I thought this might be a problem but then, with this piece, I decided to work with it and channel those sensations of the mind and body short-circuiting, which were countered by the self-will to persevere, into the work.

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Art, contemporary use of textiles, fabric, Joy C Martindale, Mental Health, Personal histories, Textiles, Writing

New Work ‘Before and After the Trial’

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Before and After the Trial (2017) Joy C Martindale

It begins light and flimsy – a small, broken piece of nylon fishing net – but becomes dense and weighty. With each stitch and mark, with each piece of cloth that I wrap around it I feel myself grow calmer. I stay with the work; I anchor myself to it and by doing so I resist the impulse to run. A cloud shape begins to suggest itself, perhaps only I can see it. My son likens the emerging form to a butterfly. But really the work is only itself. I think it is becoming strong enough to take all my feelings. Bits of it are flawed, frayed, damaged, dirty. I keep going, binding it up as one would a bandage and stitching, stitching, stitching. Catharsis comes through repetition until the moment arrives when it can hold itself together.

 And then, after the trial, I return to it again. I am a new person – stronger, more determined –there is more work to do. It is not finished yet.

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Art, Article, contemporary use of textiles, fabric, Joy C Martindale, Mental Health, Personal histories, Textiles, Writing

Made In Plymouth Magazine

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Portrait of the Artist, Joy C Martindale (2017) by Danny Burrows

I am pleased to announce that Made In Plymouth magazine have published my new article: The Burden of My Anxieties.

Read it here: http://madeinplymouth.co.uk/project/the-burden-of-my-anxieties/ 

The article proposes that the suffering women feel when in crisis is a commonly shared experience and it considers the role of GP care, in particular the work of the Beacon Medical Practice in Plymouth, in supporting women’s mental, physical and emotional wellbeing.

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Art, Crit, Discussion, fabric, Joy C Martindale, Mental Health, Personal histories, Textiles

CRIT 12

Joy with art

Portrait of Joy C Martindale, 15/06/2017, by Danny Burrows

On 15th June, I was delighted to be given the opportunity to present the first installment of a new work-in-progress ‘Before and After the Trial‘ to fellow artists Clare Blanca, Faye Golley, Marin Karakaya, Admire Ncube and Philippa Wall  at Crit 12 at Performance Space in Folkestone, Kent.

www.threadskent.com

 

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