“You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul” Bernard Shaw.
What a privilege it was to be invited to my lovely friend, Curtis Holder’s Private Viewing for his first solo exhibition:SOMETHING UNSPOKEN at 45, Park Lane!
It’ was a stunning exhibition where the highly intelligent portraits seem to own the hotel space – so magical! It’s fascinating to see the diaphanous, multilayered coloured portraits, created in a language of their own. As the brochures states: “He aims to evoke an individual’s unspoken truth, which he compels the to search for, and in doing so, reflect on their own perceptions.”
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“Artists working for other artists is all about knowing, learning, unlearning, initiating long-term artistic dialogues, making connections, creating covens, and getting temporary shelter from the storm. “Jerry Saltz
I was fortunate enough to attend the opening of Charmaine Watkiss’s first solo show, “The Seed Keepers,” @tiwanicontemporary in South Kensington. Her show is truly outstanding.I cannot express enough the joy I had from her important work. She tells stories through drawing figures of herself, using “traditional African cosmologies, and modes of kinship with the natural world”. There was so much to unpick in Charmaine’s drawing that I could listen to her for hours.
I find people’s journey into art fascinating and Charmaine Watkiss’s is just that! She is such an inspiration. She worked as a shoe designer for several years, studied film and spent time helping artists to make video, then worked for two decades as a digital designer. Only in 2014 did she decide to formally train as an artist, graduating from the MA Drawing programme at Wimbledon College of Arts in 2018. Now she’s given up the day job to become a full time artist and is on the selection panel for the @derwentartprize 2022! What an achievement!
