John Black | Éric Derochette |Robert Fischer | Sher-ron Freeman | Joe Goldman | Nnena Kalu | Judy Lopez | John Maull
EVOLVING ECHOING ENTITIES
John Black, It's Birds. They are Flying, they are eating food, they are eating insects. They don't eat bread, 2018, Coloured pencil on paper, 52x64cm, £250
This online exhibition offers the viewer a chance to discover the inner voice of eight self-taught artists from around the world - from loud splashes of colour, to hummed repetitive strokes, to hushed delicate marks. As many of these artists have varying verbal abilities, their choice of marks and the process behind each and every detail made conveys a meaning, telling us a story. Their art highlights their differences in language and delivery, but essentially they all communicate hidden and unheard stories or ideas. This might see us studying the back to front symbols and repeated lettering covering bold shapes of colour seen in Robert Fischer’s drawings; the calming overlaid rhythmic swirls showing focused repetition and movement from Nnena Kalu or the colourful abstract floral imagery and treescapes blanketing John Maull’s drawings. The actual process of making itself and the layering of marks is integral and plays a central role in each artist’s composition. Their shared common aesthetic is their use of vivid colours and their non-conformist attitudes. Each artist becomes absorbed in the creative act, creating for their own needs: the fact we get to see their treasures is a real treat.
The eight artists are: John Black from Garvald in Edinburgh, Éric Derochette from La ‘S’ Grand Atelier in Belgium, Robert Fischer from Geyso20 in Germany, Sher-ron Freeman from Creative Growth in California, Joe Goldman from Project Art Works in Hastings, Nnena Kalu from ActionSpace in London, Judy Lopez from the ECF Art Centers in Los Angeles and John Maull from Tierra del Sol Studios in Los Angeles.
Introduction
JOHN BLACK
John Black (b.1968) is autistic and combines his innate understanding of colour with intuitive mark-making to create inherently beautiful, balanced works. He creates an exciting relationship between action and stillness in his work, building translucent layers into solid walls of colour and melding energetic marks into dense focal points. The intriguing titles of his pieces hint at the stories he sees unfolding in his works. Whilst working, John enjoys being close to the wall of colour in front of him. He works on canvas and paper in a range of scales.
Click the icon below to listen to an audio description of this image.
Éric Derochette
LA ‘S’ GRAND ATELIER
Éric Derochette (b.1967) arrived at la ‘S’ Grand Atelier, Belgium in 2005. Initially he painted abstractions, using circles as his principle motif. He then incorporated pencils and other tools, and his work became more expressive. He used the pencil until the lead was gone, sometime leaving furrows in the paper. He now uses bold colours in his latest works, freely mixing mediums, and filling the paper with bold, confident lines. His experience at the Atelier has been a revelation to him where he finds support as a human being and as an artist. Éric is represented by Cavin Morris Gallery, New York.
Click the icon below to listen to an audio description of this image.
“What inspires me about Derochette’s work so much is the span of his variations of expressions to show joy, with both line and color. Derochette does not sign his name. He has a favorite wood table where he makes his art that has a staple embedded in it. Many of his works have the trace of the stapler in them somewhere, and I like to think of this shape as his signature.”
Robert Fischer
GEYSO20
Robert Fischer (b.1976) has worked in the Geyso20 art studio in Germany since 2004, honing his self-taught practice over the years. He does not communicate about his art, leaving the viewer to make his or her own judgments. He often spends weeks or months completing one piece of work.
Robert works with pencil, crayon and felt pen, beginning with a graphic framework reminding audiences of houses, building plans or machines, and often depicting memories from his past. Robert covers his artworks with lines, letters, and symbols which then change, disappearing under opaque or heavy black layers. Bright colours and strong shapes appear in the final artworks.
Click the icon below to listen to an audio description of this image.
Sher-ron Freeman
Creative Growth
Sher-ron Freeman (b.1966) is a talented multi-media artist and painter, attending Creative Growth since 1988. Her use of vibrant hues and layered compositions are a common theme in her work and she often refers to wildlife, whether that is animals, flowers, or foliage, as inspiration for her brightly coloured pieces. Her drawings and paintings have a dynamic energy found in abstract expressionism and action painting, though Sher-ron is steady and careful when executing her work.
Click the icon below to listen to an audio description of this image.
Joe Goldman
Project Art Works
Joe Goldman (born 1995) explores a variety of drawing and painting materials to create dynamic pieces distinguished by his assertive mark-making, which reflects the focussed energy he puts into his work and brings to the studio. Joe has developed a defined process of layering marks simultaneously on different pieces. He has also continued to develop his printmaking through an exploration of ink and different tools.
Click the icon below to listen to an audio description of this image.
Nnena Kalu
Actionspace
Nnena Kalu (b.1966) is a prolific, professional artist working from ActionSpace’s supported studio in Studio Voltaire since 1999. Over two decades Nnena has created a vast body of sculptural and 2D artworks and developed a live, performative element to her art practice, creating site-specific sculptural works for live installations.
Nnena is driven by an instinctive urge to build repeated marks and forms, creating intensely layered, visually impactful artworks with dense colours and compacted, flowing lines. For these large vortex style drawings Nnena worked systematically across two drawings a day. Over a two-year period Nnena created a significant number of drawing pairs. The drawings, developed in unison are an echo - caught in an echo loop of pure form and physical action. The whole process becomes immersive as Nnena responds to the rhythm, noise and physical experience of creating, which determines the shape, style and nature of each piece.
Click the icon below to listen to an audio description of this image.
“Nnena Kalu works with a strong idea of completion, the point at which all has been achieved. Her drawing carries levels of repetition, yet she has a keen sense of the possibility of the image as a whole and knows when to stop.”
Judy Lopez
ECF ART CENTERS
Judy Lopez’s (b.1973) visual arts practice spans two decades, throughout which she has created a robust body of work that resonates with the aesthetic sensibilities of abstract expressionism. Her work is almost exclusively two-dimensional, typically produced using acrylic paints, watercolours and various inks. Lopez’s artworks are characterised not only by dense, crosshatch style marks, but also for the stream of conscious-like approach that she employs in making every painting, print, and drawing. Judy Lopez is a professional artist with developmental disabilities who has been working out of ECF Art Centers’ Downtown L.A. studio for twenty years.
Click the icon below to listen to an audio description of this image.
John Maull
Tierra Del Sol studios
John Maull (b.1952), from Los Angeles County, has participated in the Tierra Del Sol studios since 2005. Maull’s expressive mixed media works are influenced by his personal and cultural histories as well as his dedicated perusal of books and magazines. Maull creates colourful treescapes from ballpoint pen, coloured pencil and paint. These ephemeral works comprise layers and redactions that add depth and movement, but also emphasise the experiences he had growing up in a Christian family. Maull also includes numbers and text in his paintings that allude to a greater significance of the landscape, whilst adding further dimensionality to his work.
Click the icon below to listen to an audio description of this image.
“John’s color dense works reflect his personal experiences with larger cultural references that exist in both the canon, for example, Warhol’s flowers, and on its periphery, with the modernist still life paintings by William H. Johnson, one of the most important Black American artists (who was coincidentally also self-taught). Both these artists abstract flora, affirming a tradition that includes Maull’s.”
