Cheryl Field @ Studio355.com

www.cherylfield.com

2009-09-17T06:57:00.000-07:00

I've moved my site - you can now find it at...

www.cherylfield.com

thanks

After Hume - Part II

2009-08-12T04:44:00.000-07:00

Work in Progress: After Hume, Parts II (2009) (materials: silicone, motors, repurposed-furniture, electrical components, oil pigment)

After Hume - Parts I & II

2009-08-12T04:24:00.000-07:00

Works in Progress: After Hume, Parts I & II (2009) (materials: silicone, motors, repurposed-furniture, electrical components, oil pigment)

work in progress...

2009-01-25T05:19:00.001-08:00

"That which can be believed without evidence can be dismissed without evidence" after "An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump" (Joseph Wright of Derby) (2009)

work in progress...

2009-01-25T05:04:00.001-08:00

"That which can be believed without evidence can be dismissed without evidence" after "An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump" (Joseph Wright of Derby) (2009)

ontology | a

2008-10-28T14:02:00.000-07:00

ontology | a

2008-10-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

ontology | a

2008-10-09T05:29:00.000-07:00

ontology | a
new work by Cheryl Field

“There was much of the beautiful, much of the wanton,
much of the bizarre, something of the terrible,
and not a little of that which might have excited disgust”

from “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe.

'It is this friction between the poetics of the abject and the direct visceral responses of our physiology that informs this new work by Cheryl Field. Exploring material properties that evoke the bodily to provide an encounter between the writhing forms and their audience, she invites us to question the potential for manipulation in the complex territory between object and viewer. Laden with connotations of the corporeal, the installation attempts to draw us into our own physical and psychological apparatus, mapping the disparities highlighted by the work between disgust and attraction, what is apparent and the intricate, veiled processes that lead us to form our response to what is presented.'

Preview: Saturday 18th October 7 - 9pm

19th October - 9th November 2008
open Saturdays and Sundays 11-7pm
or by appointment on 07932 607 706

The Fridge Gallery
Southside Studios
17 Westmoreland Street, Glasgow, G42 8LL

Phylum & Genus - Preview Fri 12th Sept - 7-9pm

2008-09-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

Press Release...

Every day, twice a day, a woman leaves food for the birds on Duke Street. This ritual of crumbs brings an apocalyptic cloud of pigeons wheeling and swarming to the pavement. Awe and disgust mingle together as the birds flock. Twitching and bobbing to in a knot of feeding feathers and providing an experience where disgust and awe at the spectacle manifest themselves in equal measure. It was observing this daily occurrence that provided the departure point for Cheryl Field’s show “Phylum & Genus”.

Phylum & Genus is the culmination of Cheryl Field’s month-long residency at Market Gallery, utilising new kinetic sculptures that create a complex alchemy of sublime and abject sensory experiences. Field’s work rises from a preoccupation with biology and perception; combining conceptual rigour with a playful, experimental process to produce kinetic installations that both set and confound expectations through the hypnotic poetry of motion. During this residency she has cannibalised the flotsam and jetsam of discarded objects, drawn from charity shops and the street to be subsumed into her deft and humorous work, drawing parallels between the work she creates and the strange transcendent moments observable in the urban space.

Although not intended as scientific experiments, she invokes the vernacular of science to build quasi-narratives that juxtapose the authoritative and absurd, inviting the viewers to triangulate their own position in relation to the multiple, indefinable truths that personal perception invites us to draw from the complexities manifest in the work.

Rose Ruane September 2008

video documentation from Such Tender Bodies in a Violent Embrace @ SWG3 Studios

2008-08-12T15:51:00.000-07:00

YCA at Eastwood Park Theatre - 10th July 7-9pm

2008-07-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

You are cordially invited to the formal opening of an exhibition of works by Young Contemporary Artists on Thursday 10th July at 7 pm – 9pm

Eastwood Park Theatre is delighted to present this inaugural exhibition of Young Contemporary Artists. The exhibition is tasked with showcasing the work of Scotland’s up and coming young artists, all at early stages of their careers. It is also an introduction to a selection of work by young graduates straight from their degree show at Glasgow School of Art including: Cheryl Field , Neville Rae, Rosalind Lawless, Natalie McIlroy, Paul Kennedy, Kelly McMeekin, Michael Mersinis, Ella, Clogstoun, Kirsten Williamson, Nim Wunnan.

This exhibition runs from 11th of July until September 4th
Please RSVP the Box Office on 0141 577 4970
Eastwood Park Theatre, Rouken Glen Road,
Giffnock, G46 6UG

Such Tender Bodies In A Violent Embrace @ SWG3 Studios cont...

2008-05-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

...when I get the time I will upload videos of each of these 4 kinetic sculpture, but I wouldn't hold your breath...

Taenia solium
Cheryl Field 2008
mirror, plastic polymer, chain, motor, gears, spot light, electrical components & power source
(named for the Human Tapeworm)

Taenia solium
Cheryl Field 2008
mirror, plastic polymer, chain, motor, gears, spot light, electrical components & power source
(named for the Human Tapeworm)

Anopheles stephensi
Cheryl Field 2008
broken umbrella, cable ties, motors, gears, springs, electrical components & power source
(named for the mosquito that carries the majority of malarial parasites in the India sub-continent)

Ixodida argasidae (Succubus)
Cheryl Field 2008
fur fabric, stuffing, motors, gears, electrical components & power source
(named for the Soft Tick and Succubus)

Ixodida argasidae (Succubus)
Cheryl Field 2008
fur fabric, stuffing, motors, gears, PIR motion transmitters and receiver, electrical components & power source
(named for the Soft Tick and Succubus)

Ixodida argasidae (Succubus)
Cheryl Field 2008
fur fabric, stuffing, motors, gears, PIR motion transmitters and receiver, electrical components & power source
(named for the Soft Tick and Succubus)

Schistosoma mansoni
Cheryl Field 2008
cast cement, feathers, springs, motor, gear, electrical components & power source
(named for the burrowing parasite Schistosoma)

Such Tender Bodies In A Violent Embrace @ SWG3 Studios

2008-05-28T13:52:00.001-07:00

...some images for your delight and delectation...

L to R: In the Fashion of Beasts (Andrew & Rose - looping video projection); MOULDMAKER (Rickie - foam sculpture); Anopheles stephensi (Cheryl - kinetic sculpture); Welcome to Bubbleghost (Andrew, Cheryl, Rickie & Rose - installation).

T to B: Welcome to Bubbleghost (Andrew, Cheryl, Rickie & Rose - installation); MOULDMAKER (Rickie - foam sculpture).

T to B: Anopheles stephensi (Cheryl - kinetic sculpture); MOULDMAKER (Rickie - foam sculpture); Schistosoma mansoni (Cheryl - kinetic sculpture).

T to B: In the Fashion of Beasts (Andrew & Rose - looping video projection); Taenia solium (Cheryl - kinetic sculpture)

Such Tender Bodies In A Violent Embrace

2008-05-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

SWG3 Studios
Such Tender Bodies In A Violent Embrace
Andrew Cattanach, Cheryl Field, Rickie McNeill and Rose Ruane

and

+44 141 Gallery
Autarchy
Pio Abad, Alex Dordoy, Holly McCulloch and Rachel Szmukler

Previews 23.05.08 7-9.30 pm
Exhibitions run 24.05.08 – 01.06.08
+44 141, SWG3, 100 Eastvale Place, Glasgow, G3 8QG

"The last weeks in May will see the Studio Warehouse play host to two simultaneous exhibitions, with the inauguration on a new project space on the second floor of the SWG3 complex."

"The new ‘SWG3 Studios’ space, which will accommodate a series of events over the summer months, opens with a group show exploring humour, revulsion and the uncanny through sculpture, collaborative performance and drawings, from the ‘spastic twitch’ of Field’s kinetic works, the grotesque humour of McNeill’s drawings, to the self-deprecating performances of Cattanach and Ruane."

"The ground floor +44 141 Gallery will act as the arena as four emerging Glasgow based artists allow their works to do battle for supremacy. As Abad’s degenerative sculptures, Dordoy’s composted paintings, Szmukler’s constructions and the totalitarian assemblages of McCulloch invade the other’s space, creating oscillations in meaning and the destabilisation of the status quo."

Hope you can join us then x

Anticipation @ The Alsager Arts Centre, April 2008

2008-05-08T08:06:00.001-07:00

Limousine Bull Members Show @ MUSA 12th Nov

2007-11-05T06:54:00.000-08:00

Limousine Bull Artist's Collective (www.limousinebull.org.uk) will be holding a members show at MUSA Gallery and restaurant (33 Exchange Street, Aberdeen AB11 6PH www.musaartcafe.com) from Monday 12th November 2007 through to 7th January 2008.

With work from Susie Lee, Lois Carson, Sheena Seago, Matthew Wickham, Debby Wickham, Ian and Jane Frazer, Sara Irvine, Val Lampkin, Rob Scott, Ken Farrow, Sue Arber, Moira Third, Keith Thomson, Anna Shirron, Fergus Connor and little old me, the opening is on Monday night from 6-8pm, hope you can make it along.

Publish! @ Gallery Glue until Oct 14th

2007-10-04T07:25:00.001-07:00

There's still time to catch my sculptural book works (from the ongoing series REVISED) in exhibition at Gallery Glue in Newcastle until the 14th Oct 2007

For more information about current & future exhibitions and events at Gallery Glue check http://www.gluegroup.org.uk/

"Gluegroup present PUBLISH! - a bookmaking-themed exhibition including a lively series of workshops and events open to all. Featuring book sculpture from Yvette Hawkins and Cheryl Field, comics and zines by Gary Bainbridge, and readings from a variety of local writers and poets; PUBLISH! promises to be another month of creative exploration and enjoyment at Gallery Glue. Come, make, read, get involved!"

BTW - the image featured in the poster is a detail shot from 'REVISED - The American' (2006) - an edition of 12 sculptural books. The work exhibited in the show is 'REVISED - Around The World In Eighty Days' (2007) - an edition of 3 sculptural books.

June 2007 - what the paper's said (Part I)

2007-10-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

I thought I should finally get around to copying the press that mentioned my recent degree show work - not just to feed my gargantuan ego, but also in case the weblinks to the articles are archived in the future. First up here's what Iain Gale wrote in Scotland on Sunday...

Scotland on Sunday - Sun 24 Jun 2007
Better by Degrees
by IAIN GALE

http://living.scotsman.com/visual.cfm?id=985662007

IT IS often said, not least in this column, that Scotland is experiencing an unprecedented renaissance in the visual arts, and with the strong showing currently at the Venice Biennale and Nathan Coley's recent shortlisting for this year's Turner Prize, the trend is clearly continuing. But the only way to gauge how long it will run is to look at the degree shows.

Glasgow and Edinburgh's art schools in particular make a revealing cross-section. While Edinburgh is renowned for producing painters and sculptors offering variations on traditional themes, Glasgow has long been the home of the conceptual and the high-profile hot ticket, notably with its environmental art course. But to what extent do tomorrow's rising stars bear this out?

Predicting greatness is a mug's game. Many artists peak too soon or fail to fulfil their potential. But of some 80 fine art students showing at the GSA, my eye and mind were taken by a good half-dozen who I suspect might go on to great things. It does not imply that those not mentioned below will never triumph. Merely that it seems to me on this evidence that these are the best of the bunch.

First, two general comments. With a few exceptions, the poor quality of draughtsmanship at Glasgow reflects recent comments about a nationwide lack of skill in drawing. The painting too, a few artists aside - notably Claire McGee and Alex Dordoy - leaves much to be desired. Glasgow's strength is in ideas, and thankfully there is no lack of these.

The show really takes off on the first floor, where Cheryl Field's kinetic sculpture reflects a Rebecca Horn-like interest in the contradiction between industrial material and intense beauty with a distinctly female agenda, reminiscent of Bourgeois.

Next door, Gregory Grant does a nice line in combining painted portraits with text, in particular using a wall of passport photos with mirror glass copy from a lonely hearts column. Environmental art is a strong suit, although here, as in Edinburgh, there seems to be a blurring of where 'painting, drawing and printmaking' end and 'environment' begins. Take, for instance, painting student Colin McKean's studio room-set, reminiscent of Mike Nelson, and the more convincing boudoir offered by Pio Abad, complete with faux-Baroque wallpaper and drawings and a veritable zoo of wigs.

As with most student shows, there is much that is derivative, with specific nods to Yves Klein, Gillian Waring and Donald Judd. When the work is powerful enough, though, such things don't matter. Of the sculpture the most outstanding work is surely Maria Hryniszak's moving, Whiteread-ean 'The Space Between Us', in which the artist has made a plaster cast of the void between any embracing couple. This apart, the best piece here is also the most shocking. Rose Ruane has set up two video screens side by side. On the left, a goldfish swims in a glass. On the right, we see the artist's head in profile. Suddenly she reaches out her hand and, apparently connecting with the glass on the left, raises it to her lips and takes a drink. She does this several times until the water is drained and the fish is dead. But that hardly describes the almost pornographic frisson of the act. When I was there the atmosphere became so tense, one member of the audience had to leave.

Over in Edinburgh, as predicted, the overall tone is less self-consciously esoteric, although there is certainly the feeling that many artists have been looking at recent success stories. Again that is not always a bad thing, and among the painters, Rosey Davey stands out with her seductive transformations of Edinburgh's modernist architecture, in the mould of Toby Paterson but with a slickness all their own. Equally accomplished is Ian Bruce, whose sensitive portraits from within a special needs school emphasise the sitters' isolation from normality.

Sometimes artistic debt can hover over the abyss of imitation, as is the case in one room here with two rather too obvious homages to Chris Ofili and Marc Quinn. With Kate Hughes, however, although the work exudes the unmistakable, retro flavour of St Ives and Tachiste Paris, it is, in its moving testimony to mankind's intercession with the landscape, wholly independent and deeply engaging. In fact, I have seldom seen such a resolved group of assemblages and paintings in a degree show and would be surprised if the artist is not soon snapped up by some keen-eyed gallerist.

In a similarly naturalistic temperament are the semi-abstract paintings of Carys Joyner and Melissa MacRobert's drawings of Icelandic rock formations. The latter are part of a much larger project in collaboration with Valerie Dempsey which, with a self-confidence now typical of Scottish graduates, the artists are attempting to take to DCA. This engagement with the land is perhaps the most obvious contrast with the stylishly intellectual urban hip of Glasgow. It is summed up in the developing, land-based art of Judith Gordon who, living in a tent at the cultural flashpoint of Skateraw beach near Dunbar, has taken sand and rock samples to create paintings, photographs and a hugely successful floor installation. In the same room, Laura Marshall pays similar homage to the Pentlands. The agricultural flavour is strengthened with Sara Sinclair's 'grow your own' garden, complete with potting shed.
One of the most refreshing aspects of both of these degree shows is that, while environment plays a key role in invention, there are no tired explorations of 'Scottish identity'. There is, however, a healthy slice of social satire, not least in Charlotte Jarvis and Clemency Cooke's convincing takes on the cult of the domestic goddess, complete with a hilarious parody of the glamour-girl pin-up calendar.

Of course, there is more, much more than this in the Edinburgh show, which also celebrates the College's centenary, and you would need a good hour to do it justice. Naturally, as at Glasgow, being student work, much of it is not wholly resolved and smacks of indecision. And similarly, the few examples I have taken are far from being a finite list. In particular, finish and presentation are more important than ever in today's fickle art world and instruction in this has become one of the key aspects of any art course. All of those artists across the two colleges whose work makes an immediate impact, fully understand this need. For nowhere is it as clear as in the cattle market of a degree show, that with so much eye candy, immediacy and impact are the key to stopping the passer-by.

In a single visit to each of these labyrinthine shows I might have missed someone who could have stopped me in my tracks. And that is my loss. As it is, I have emerged with a good dozen names to keep track of in coming years, a few of whom would, even at this early stage, not look out of place already at the major events of the international art world.

What was once famously dubbed the 'Glasgow miracle' is now more than ever a pan-Scottish affair. On the strength of these showings we have much to look forward to, and happily, the selectors for Scotland's entries to the 2009 and subsequent Venice Biennales certainly have their work cut out.

June 2007 - what the paper's said (Part II)

2007-10-04T07:12:00.000-07:00

...and here's what Jack Mottram wrote in The Herald.
The Herald - Fri 15th Jun 2007
Talent of the first degree
by JACK MOTTRAM

http://www.theherald.co.uk/misc/print.php?artid=1473709

With any degree show, there is always a worry that the hubbub of new artists making key last- minute adjustments to their exhibitions or the hurry of gallerists and collectors rushing to snap up the work of the most promising graduates will cloud the judgment, with the adrenalin-soaked atmosphere raising works above their status.

This year, though, there's no doubt that the overall standard at the Glasgow School of Art is high - higher than it has been in three, perhaps four, years - a fact reflected by the unusual number of first-class degrees awarded. Some graduates do, however, stand out thanks to a touch of showmanship. Mark Wylie's installation features a pressure pad that, when stepped on, prompts a wail of feedback. The blast of sound will certainly make you take notice, but closer inspection reveals that this is more than attention-grabbing bluster: the speaker vibrates a dust-topped platform, forming patterns on the surface, and making for a subtle sculpture defined by the viewer's actions. Christopher Dixon also relies on surprise. His large, pristine white cube assembled from boxes might be shrugged off as a half-decent chunk of minimalism, but when seen from above, the cube contains a complex, gentle and delicate tangle of sculptural forms made from thin wires and polystyrene packing materials.

The crafters of complete environments have an advantage, too, and the best of them can make you completely forget the clamour of their colleague's work, even if only for a moment. In Elizabeth West's installation, faint bands of yellow light on the wall of a constructed corridor act as a lure, leading to a cramped room with a thin slot in the wall that affords a view of a mirrored chamber filled with plastic detritus, reflection upon reflection creating the illusion of infinite space. Rachel Szmuckler, meanwhile, asks visitors to crawl, like Gulliver in Lilliput, into a claustrophobic L-shaped cubicle, plastered with eye-bending black and white check patterns and populated with female figures dancing through the space. Quieter artists flourish, too. Keep an eye out for the vibrant, movement-filled, remarkably fluent drawings of Florencia Guerberof, and Triona Ryan's self-portraits which match a keen understanding of colour with nods to old masters.

The artists who truly stand out do so because a glance at their work is enough to tell that they are not merely promising prospects, but fully-fledged, having forged a cohesive, coherent practice of the sort more usually seen in emerging artists than brand-new graduates. Nafeesa Umar's sculptural work in paper - a cascade of interlocking geometric forms - and architectural maquettes of ascending staircases provide a subtle counterpoint to the more explicit consideration of her Muslim faith seen in her video work. Pio Abad is already hotly tipped - his work graces the exhibition posters, as well as earning him a place in the finals of the Mercury Prize Art Competition. Abad's intricate drawings revel in and satirise excess, drawing on Baroque influences and the pomp of eighteenth-century fashion, while a sculpture crafted from powdered wigs sits in a room lined with obscenely opulent hand-printed wallpaper. Interestingly, the large-scale paintings of Clair McGee feature similar motifs and she, too, has papered the walls of her exhibition space. McGee, though, is chiefly concerned with architectural space and its influence on its inhabitants - tiny figures are dwarfed by the vaulted interiors of dilapidated palaces, with hints that each painting in the series can be found through the doors of another.

Cheryl Field also stands head and shoulders above her fellow graduates. Her work might briefly be described as "kinetic Op-Art", but that does the complexity and rigour of her practice a disservice. One piece consists of a circle described by vertical lines that seem to shimmer off the wall, an effect doubled by the vibrating chord that stretches from floor to ceiling before it. Another combines concentric circles with a pure white light, this time creating a wholly illusory sense of movement. These are, literally, mesmerising works, made all the more satisfying by their mixing of art-historical critique and a cool, experimental edge.

Lastly, Salome C Oggenfuss's unassuming and often humorous exhibit slowly reveals itself to be truly worthy of attention. Candid, revealing photographic portraits are set against whimsical text pieces, and Oggenfuss acknowledges the commercial realities of the art world by setting up shop - her luridly-coloured and foul-mouthed slogan T-shirts will doubtless become a familiar sight around town.

There is chaff to go with the wheat, of course - as in previous years, the crop of uninspired, insipid portraiture by photography students stands out for all the wrong reasons - but this is without doubt a good year, with genuine flashes of brilliance to be found in the warren of studio spaces and dim corridors of the Mackintosh Building.