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Discourse by Peter Blegvad, December 2024
Writing on Palindromes
Image: ‘Michaelangelo’s God with Geese’ by Stephen Williams
‘Do geese see god?’ is a palindrome, a symmetrical word-object which reads the same backwards as forwards. Early examples of the form date back to the 1st-century CE (e.g. the Sator Square). Palindromic words (e.g. kayak, radar, deified) and phrases (e.g. Marge let a moody baby doom a telegram, or stiff O dairyman in a myriad of fits) seem to be invested with a kind of magic even when deficient in obvious or ordinary sense. Of course, a lack of obvious sense is not necessarily a deficiency. Playfully considered, ’Do geese see god?’ Is a question about what, how and who we see, what the limits to our seeing and imagining might be.
New exhibition, Do Geese See God?
25 March – 11 May 2025
Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith, London W6 9BN
For more information please contact: Felicity Swan: Tel 07736 101503 felicity@felicityswan.com
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Exhibition listings
RAG artists 2025
January: Natalia Bobrova Nature, Hogarth Club, Airedale Avenue, London / Shona Elrick Under Ice with the Week 45 Collective, 54 the Gallery, Mayfair, London / February: Natalia Bobrova, Parallax Art Fair, Chelsea Old Town Hall, London / Sarah Granville, NEAC, Chris Beetles Gallery, London / March: Stephen Williams Th(is), The Quartz, Feldspar & Mica Gallery in Association with BoxRoom arts, Sennen, Penzance, Cornwall / April: Susan Bazin New Constructivists 2025, Chelsea Library Gallery, London / May: Mike Abrahams Vitrine, Exeter, Devon / June: Natalia Bobrova Artists at Home, Open Studio / Sarah Granville New English Art Club Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London / Felicity Swan Ten Perspectives, One Space, White Noise Projects, The Crypt, London / Felicity Swan KAOS (Kingston Artists Open Studios), Teddington / July: Mike Abrahams Art in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, London / August: Natalia Bobrova Creative Mile – Brentford Art Trail / September: Felicity Swan Be(a)sties Friends Forever, KAOS at the Penny School Gallery, Kingston College, Kingston
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Discourse by Janey Hagger, January 2025
Notes on Landscape Painting
Image: Detail, Caspar David Freidrich, ‘Chalk Cliffs on Rügen’, c.1818 (Wikipedia)
For those artists who work with landscape, it comes with a legacy from which we continue to harvest ideas and technique. It is intimidating, inspiring and rich. And it has been a particularly male-dominated world, from the romantic landscapes of Constable and Gainsborough to the pleasure gardens of the Impressionists. From the intense gaze of Cezanne, to the art of the sublime of Turner and Casper David Friedrich. From English pastorals of Samuel Palmer and John Nash (alongside the WW1 devastation paintings) to the urban landscapes of Leon Kossoff and David Bomberg.
There was a time around the millennium when one had to justify working in paint from the landscape. Today, this attitude has shifted, maybe in response to the climate crises which has brought the natural environment into sharp focus. The work of artists such as Ilse d’Hollander, Lubaina Hamid, Michael Armitage, Mohammed Sami, Anselm Keifer and Peter Doig bring a cinematic freshness to landscape painting. They push the boundaries of the past, embracing what is sometimes a troubled cultural history.
What seems to emerge from the work of these painters is the concept of a human presence, or absence, that brings a hint of an interaction, impact or story. The liminal space between the natural world and the urban or peopled landscape, feels akin to the narrative and framing you may find within film-making. It is not so much around what the eye is literally seeing (although this plays a part), but the interplay between the psychological and the physical. At the same time, it feels as if we are touching base with the first principals of drawing and observation, allowing the final pieces to evolve into an exploration of poetic and painterly skill.
Janey Hagger, Shona Elrick and Felicity Swan showed Painting the Walk at Laudadale House, 4-23 December 2024
Lauderdale House
Image: ‘Painting the Walk’ at Lauderdale House, Highgate, December 2024
Photo: Shona Elrick
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Discourse by Saadeh-Byreet George, December 2024
Letter from Lebanon
Image: The Green Line that separated west and east Beirut, 1982 (Wikipedia)
Once upon a time, two little girls made their dolls’ tiny dresses from the seamistress’ sewing remnants. They roamed the forests noting birds’ claw marks on the fresh new snows in winter, and the the first poppies of March, going back home only when famished and exhausted. That was mount Lebanon, always haunted by the Rahbani music and our sacred diva Fairuz.
With time, they became more adventurous, going to beach parties, learning new Beatles songs, occasionally watching Maurice Bejart and his ballet troup rehearse on Baalbek’s Jupiter temple steps, attending Joan Baez concerts, reading Sartre, de Beauvoir, Darwish and Adonis, and protesting against the Vietnam war.
Suddenly, monsters rocked their existence along its fault lines, disasters were followed by catastrophes and quakes… Childhood friends were separated…not even my mum’s favourite song “Che Sara Sara…” could help me accept the new realities,,,we had lost our secure paradise.
Recently, Lebanon has been bestowed with the cursed gift of oil and gas. All the Cruellas entered the stage to further shred and balkanise our little nest. And yet, pine forests and the turquoise sea shall always be there and the people of Lebanon shall keep their solar powered “joie de vivre”, hoping for better times?
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Services and supplies
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Profile
Mark Lemaistre (1960-2024)
Image: Mark Lemaistre running Ubu Books, Brighton Market, c.2024
My Old Friend Mark
It was with great sadness that I learnt of the death of Mark Lemaistre, just before Christmas. Although I hadn’t seen him for 20 years we shared a history on our personal and artistic journeys. In the 1980’s we spent a lot of time together and were there at the inception of the Riverside Artists Group. I am writing here a very personal recollection of the man I knew.
For me Mark was a force of nature. He ploughed his own course through life. He seemed to live on the fringes of society, a bit of a chancer, a lovable rogue! He once told me that when he left school his art teacher advised him not to bother with art college because he’d just waste his time. He advised him if he was to be an artist he’d have to live a bit first and find his own direction.
I first met Mark in Italy in October 1981. I was visiting an artist friend who’d set up a studio in an old farmhouse just outside Siena. Philip ran an open house in the summer. Mark arrived with other guests and just stayed on. He set up an easel in one of the rooms and just wanted to learn what he could from Philip. He paid his way by helping out and foraging for food in the local woods. I recall him looking through books and developing an expertise on local fungi. One day we went on a wild boar hunt with the local farmers. We were ‘beaters’ supposed to keep the line for the hunters, we didn’t see any live beasts that day but came back with a big bag of mushrooms for supper.
The following year when Mark had to return to the UK he eventually moved in with me and a group of friends in Lewisham. Mark was great company and soon endeared himself with the others in the house. There were many long nights debating art, social issues and our joint passion for modern Jazz music. Mark may not have fitted in to any formal education system but he researched widely on the subjects that interested him. He was an intelligent, self-educated man who thrived off the interaction with others. We painted alongside each other. He painted my portrait and we held our first London show together in Greenwich in 1983.
When I moved to West London it was only natural for us to explore the art scene around Hammersmith and Fulham together. I remember the heady days in the mid 1980’s, meeting other artists at the Riverside Studios and establishing RAG. It felt like we were at the start of something bigger, especially going on the exchange programme with the Moscow Union of Artists. Those were the days of Perestroika and the wall coming down in Berlin.
Mark married Louisa in 1989. In the early 90’s they moved to Italy, a small town called San Constantino, south of Napoli. In 1995 I took another trip down south to see him. Together we planned one more artistic adventure. We drove north through Europe with the aim of exploring the German art scene and promoting our work to galleries along the way. In Berlin we secured solo shows in an artist-run Gallery in the east of the city. In 1997 we held our last joint show with the sculptor Lothar Oerthel, Our Country in Der Galerie Der Topfrei Grote, Berlin.
Mark moved back to the UK in the early years of the new millennium. He had had two children with Louisa, Irene and Enrico. The family settled in Brighton where I visited them with my family. It wasn’t long before he secured a place on the Fine Art Master’s Course at Brighton Art College. The last time I saw him was at his graduation show. His marriage to Louisa had ended, but he was looking to his future with a new direction in his work, making sculptural installations.
When I moved to Ireland in 2011 we lost contact. I understand from mutual friends that he married again but it was short-lived. He focused his final years on building a business selling books in Brighton Market. His health deteriorated and about six months ago he collapsed at his stall and was taken to hospital. Following this, I’m told, he struggled to look after his health. He died 28 November 2024. He is survived by his two children. I understand that his ashes will be taken to the house in Italy, the place he loved, in accordance with his wishes.
Mark died young. His story could seem tragic but whenever I ask mutual friends about him, we smile. Sure, he was a hedonist and prone to excess but he was a warm and friendly person. He took great interest in people, and could engage and entertain on a wide range of topics. This point is emphasised by complete strangers online who, on learning of his death, remember the bookseller fondly. He may have lived on the fringes, resisting conformity, but I admire his self-determination; he was both adventurous and courageous, he explored life on his terms. The enduring image for me is of Mark amongst his books, passionate about his learning, bringing humour and good conversation to those of us that knew him.
Richard Day, January 2025
My thanks to Myra Berg and Pete Richards who helped me learn about the passing of our mutual friend.
“The ground rules are loose, they are to follow whatever it is that’s happening and to concentrate on the picture’s unique potential. The picture as subject.”
Mark Lemaistre, RAG Russian catalogue, 1989. Photo: David Ash
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Exhibition listings
RAG 2024
Artists participated in two group shows, RAG Annual 24 at POSK in November and Summer Solstice online in June. Individually, artists featured in over 50 exhibitions nationally and internationally.
Image: John Potter at Artists’ Talk during the RAG Annual 24, November
Photo: Janey Hagger
December 2024: Grazyna Cydzik ‘Here and Now’, Oxmarket Contemporary, Chichester / Shona Elrick ‘Winter Exhibition 2024/ 2025’, AKA Fine Art, Cambridge / Shona Elrick, Janey Hagger, Felicity Swan ‘Painting The Walk’, Lauderdale House, Highgate, London / Chloe Fremantle ‘Works (RWS & RE)’, Bankside Gallery, London / Chloe Fremantle ‘Aka Contemporary Art Winter Show’, Cambridge / Chloe Fremantle ‘Winter Group Show’, Linden Hall Studio, Deal, Kent / Sarah Granville ‘Mini Picture Show’, Bankside Gallery, London / Sarah Granville ‘Winter Group Show’, Linden Hall Studio, Deal, Kent / Felicity Swan ‘Painting the Walk’, Lauderdale House, London
Image: The Deputy Mayor of Hammersmith and Fulham, Councillor Daryl Brown attending the POSK Private View, 16 Nov 2024. Photo: Shona Elrick
November: 2024 RAG’s annual exhibition RAG Annual 24, at POSK, Hammersmith included a Saturday Artists’ Talk. To read more about RAG Annual 24 and to view the catalogue of works click here / Natalia Bobrova ‘W4 Art & Design’, St Alban’s Church, London / Natalia Bobrova ‘Made in Hammersmith and Fulham’, Broadway Center, London / Shona Elrick ‘Beep Biennial Painting Prize’, Elysium Gallery, Swansea / Sarah Granville ‘Birds Over Sea’, 155a Gallery, London
October: Grazyna Cydzik ‘Unfinished Work’, online magazine issue 53, Gallery, Instagram Haus-a-rest / Grazyna Cydzik ‘Dwellings’, Frontier Gallery, Sheffield / Chloe Fremantle ‘Timeless language’, Bookartbookshop, Hoxton, London / Chloe Fremantle ‘220 years of the RWS’, Bankside Gallery, London / Saadeh-Byreet George ‘Artbox Project’, Agnes Nord, Paris, France / Felicity Swan ‘KAOS’ at the Rose Theatre, Kingston-upon-Thames / Stephen Williams ‘Pot au Feu’, La mairie de Miramont-de-Guyenne, Lot et Garonne, France
September: Máire Gartland, Jane Oldfield, Brian Deighton ‘Friends of the Earth’, Turners House, Twickenham / Saadeh-Byreet George ‘Emotions’, virtual exhibition, CISTA Art / Felicity Swan ‘Spectrum’, White Noise Projects at One Paved Court, Richmond
August: Lynne Beel ‘The Spirit’, J M Gallery, Portobello Road, London / Natalia Bobrova ‘The Drowned World’ by Week 45 Collective, 54 Gallery / Natalia Bobrova ‘Brentford Creative Mile’, Musical Museum / Grazyna Cydzik ‘Timeframe’, Cromford Mills Education Room, Derbyshire / Brian Deighton ‘Coastal Currents/Door Series’, Burton Gallery, St Leonards on Sea / Brian Deighton ‘Quaker Arts Network’, Greenbelt Festival, Kettering / Chloe Fremantle ‘Summer Exhibition (RWS & RE)’, Bankside Gallery, London / Máire Gartland ‘Brentford Creative Mile Open Studios’, Studio at London Museum of Water and Steam, Brentford / Felicity Swan, Kingston-upon-Hunte ‘KAOS’ with BBK, Oldenburg, Germany
July: Grazyna Cydzik ‘Summer Exhibition’ The Gallery Green & Stone, London / Saadeh-Byreet George ‘Hide me, Steal me, Be Nice to Me’, Arte.M, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal / Saadeh-Byreet George ‘Blue Planet’, virtual exhibition, Odyssey Global Media / Chloe Fremantle ‘RWS at Linden Hall Studio, Deal, Kent
Image: Detail, Summer Solstice on Instagram, 1-21 June
June: 21 RAG artists Summer Solstice on Instagram (@riversideartistsgroup). To read more and to view the works click here / Mike Abrahams ‘I want to quit my job but don’t know what to do with my life’, Observer Building, Hastings, Sussex / Natalia Bobrova, Hogarth Club, Airedale Avenue, London / Natalia Bobrova ‘A Celebration of Trees’, Commonworks Gallery, Wimbledon / Natalia Bobrova ‘Artists at Home, Open Studio’ / Grazyna Cydzik ‘ArtBoxExpo Basel’, EuroAirport, Basel, Switzerland / Brian Deighton with G. Calvert, Stephen Williams and Celia Toler ‘Riverside Reflections’, Riverside Studios, London / Máire Gartland ‘Stand by Me’, Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith, London / Sarah Granville ‘New English Art Club Annual Exhibition’, Mall Galleries, London / Sarah Granville ‘Chelsea Arts Society 75th Annual Open Exhibition’, Chelsea Old Town Hall, London / Felicity Swan ‘Richmond ArtHouse Open Studios’, Teddington
April: Brian Deighton ‘Dark Materials Tell Stories’, JM Gallery, Portobello Road, London / Saadeh-Byreet George ‘Artbox.Project Venezia2’, Cipriate Gallery, Venice, Italy
May: Chloe Fremantle ‘RWS Spring Show’, Bankside Gallery, London / Sarah Granville ‘RE Original Prints’, Bankside Gallery, London
March: Saadeh-Byreet George ‘Beyond Borders’, Take-Two Interactive, Fitzrovia, London / Saadeh-Byreet George ‘Cosmoscope Exhibition’, Torriano House, London / Sarah Granville ‘Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours 212th Exhibition’, Mall Galleries, London / Sarah Granville ‘London Original Print Fair’, Somerset House, London
February: Natalia Bobrova ‘Parallax Art Fair’, Chelsea Old Town Hall, Kings Road, London
January: Mike Abrahams ‘Exploring grief and loss’, Willesden Gallery, London / Grazyna Cydzik ‘Construction:Disclosure’, Espacio Gallery, London / Sarah Granville ‘Winter Group Show’, Linden Hall Studio, Deal, Kent