‘When words no longer describe a colour, a tone, an emphasis, a contrast or a surface, a new and particular vocabulary emerges, one which is rooted in the object and a shared understanding.’ (1)
Stephen Chambers, The Art of the Rhetoric, screenprint, edition of 30
Over the past five years, Fen Ditton Gallery has explored the art of the printmaker, in many different contexts. Central to this has been a strong and developing relationship with Cambridge-born master printmaker, Kip Gresham, whose distinguished career spans nearly five decades, most recently at the Print Studio in Toft.
A Gathering of Friends celebrates this relationship through a newly selected collection of prints by just a few of the many artists, across three generations, who have, like us, found working with Kip both a revelation and a productive delight.
Hurvin Anderson (b.1965) ; Willard Boepple (b.1945); Stephen Chambers RA (b.1960) ; John Christie (b.1945); Alan Davie (1920-2014); Nigel Hall RA(b.1943); Ellen Lanyon (1926-2013); Richard Long CBE, RA (b.1945); John McLean (1939-2019); Mali Morris RA (b.1945); Humphrey Ocean RA (b.1951); Carol Robertson(b.1955); Soheila Sokhanvari (b.1964) ; Jo Taylor (b.1969).
We are also delighted to include ‘GRR’ a rare example of an early print by Kip himself.
There are many, distinct, artist voices on show – no defining house style or ‘ism… as Kip says, ‘each coupling is unique from the outset’. (2) His role, as somebody with a significant command of the print medium, and deep interest in visual language, is to enable each of the ‘artist magicians’ to conjure up their ideas, differently, in print. These are collaborative creations through which the artist’s voice, and ideas, are given new form.
Most of the works on show are screenprints. The exhibition reveals how this medium of layers, built up with painstaking care through time, with Kip’s skill and knowledge, can conjure very different visual experiences for the viewer. On show here are the magical symbolic worlds of Alan Davie and Ellen Lanyon; vivid abstractions by Willard Boepple, Nigel Hall, John McLean, Mali Morris and Carol Robertson; Stephen Chambers’ mesmerising graphic inventions; thought provoking meditations on politics and human identity by Soheila Sokhanvari and Hurvin Anderson; distinct experiences of the living world by Richard Long and Jo Taylor. And the nature of editioned prints means that many original works can be acquired for a fraction of the cost of a large painting or sculpture. It is, in some sense, a democratic as well as collaborative art.
John Christie, another great artist collaborator, included here, reflected recently on what was important, to him, in his own practice as book maker; broadcaster and filmmaker:
One favourite part is the time before the making, when everything is possible; visiting galleries and looking hard and seeing how things are put together, or coming across a passage in a book that sets me off on a new path. (3)
A Gathering of Friends celebrates and reveals the many new paths laid by Kip Gresham over the years as he begins the process of winding down the studio and preparing a major book. We thank him and the artists for the chance to show some of this here at Fen Ditton Gallery and to be, as artist Humphrey Ocean commented ‘in a room with kindred spirits. (4)
LOTTE ATTWOOD; AMANDA GAME; HANNAH MUNBY
Fen Ditton Gallery
Exhibition opening times: Saturday 13th April - Sunday 5th May
Weekends 10am - 5pm
Thursdays 11am - 4pm
Other times by appointment, contact info@fendittongallery.com to book
Notes:
1. P.26 The Art of Collaboration, Kip Gresham essay in catalogue Heong Gallery, Downing College, Cambridge 2019
2. P.27 ibid
3. https://www.artinnorwich.org.uk/east-anglian-art-fund-john-christie.html (accessed March 2024)
4. P. 33 ibid