'Having nice time. Just off to sit on sea front. Been and booked for two shows this morning. Weather very warm, see you I hope next Sunday...' Paul Greenleaf, Correspondence
Centred on the theme of the resort as an idealised place to get away to, this exhibition looks at ideas of escapism.
Resort questions the notion of holidays as both a suspended reality and a distraction from the everyday chores of life.
 
Nick Carrick
‘When I paint I escape the everyday monotony of life and enter a suspended reality, my own resort. These works are a metaphor for escapism. They are subjective as well objective. They represent and reflect a society that wants to try and block out reality, but you can never escape yourself.’
 
Paul Greenleaf
The British painter JMW Turner often visited the seaside town of Margate and described the skies as ‘the loveliest in all Europe.’ This inspired Greenleaf to use Margate as a starting point for Optimism Revisited, a series of new compositions derived from old postcards and new photographs depicting idealised skies. In each example the sky has been manipulated to appear almost uncannily blue and flawless as a relief to grey reality. These perfect skies act as a hope for the future whilst simultaneously implying themes of nostalgia and memory. A selection of Optimism Revisited skies feature in Arty 31: White.
 
Sharon Kivland
‘For some years now I have been following, the holidays taken by Sigmund Freud. I call my holidays that are not quite holidays “Freud on Holiday”. To undertake my holiday work efficiently I have read many rail and ferry timetables of Europe. I have produced two modest booklets that recount railway-related scenes and incidents in the works of Freud, under the title Reisen. This is also the title of three series of photographs, three very short films, and a set of screen-prints derived from guidebooks, which advertise the attractions of Swiss hotels, including the provision of a darkroom in which the keen amateur photographer may develop holiday pictures of alpine peaks, mountain lakes, and the steamy emissions of trains.’
Sharon Kivland appears courtesy of Galerie Bugdahn und Kaimer, Düsseldorf, and DOMOBAAL, London.
Sharon Kivland has produced a limited edition book - Reisen: der Rauch von Dampflokomotiven - to accompany the show it is available online and from the Transition Gallery shop.
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