Celebrated artists to go on show at Guildford Cathedral

May 2011 marks the Golden Jubilee of Guildford Cathedral. To commemorate its 50th anniversary there will be a series of ongoing events, including an exhibition of artworks from local artists and contributors. The beautiful and spacious environment of the building provides the perfect setting for art exhibitions and this exhibition will bring together the work of renowned sculptor Elisabeth Frink, who studied at the Guildford School of Art, with a piece by local artist Jonathan Parsons, commissioned especially for the Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Elisabeth Frink

Elisabeth Frink (1930-1993) was an English sculptor and printmaker who studied at Guildford School of Art (1946-1949). There will be several sculptures on show by Frink, including Small Crucifixes, Crucifix and two items from The Ingram Collection; Walking Madonna and Eagle.  Also on display will be a simple ink and wash watercolour which was created as preparatory work for the Walking Madonna sculpture.

 

 Walking Madonna, 1981

Frink's preoccupation with the male form was such that there is only one female image in Frink's entire oeuvre, the engaging 'Walking Madonna'. The figure was not intended as a self-portrait but as is so often the case when an artist is confronted with a commission for a figure of their own gender, Frink involuntarily sculpted her own face. The work has on occasion been interpreted as a metaphor for the artist’s life. The Walking Madonna to be displayed at Guildford Cathedral is one of three, one of which stands in the Cathedral Close at Salisbury.

 

Eagle (Lectern), 1962

For Frink, religious imagery and iconography held a great visual interest. Frink was brought up as a Catholic and saw art and religious practice as both solitary and vocational occupations. This piece, originally commissioned as a lectern for Coventry Cathedral, which was being rebuilt after the war, shows an eagle spreading its wings before takeoff.

 

The Ingram Collection of Modern British Art

The Ingram Collection of Modern British Art is on loan to The Lightbox gallery and museum from Chris Ingram, a media entrepreneur and owner of Woking Football Club. The collection consists of over 350 pieces and has been assembled over the course of the last decade, with 65 additions in the last 18 months. It represents an exemplary showcase of some of the finest examples of works by British artists, with particular reference to the post-war period.

 

This significant collection includes many pieces by Frink. Two Frink sculptures from The Ingram Collection; the Walking Madonna and Eagle (Lectern), both have connections with Cathedral settings and will be coming to Guildford Cathedral for the celebrations.

 

Jonathan Parsons and the Cruciform Vision

Artist, writer and lecturer, Jonathan Parsons, is a Guildford resident who has worked as a professional artist since 1990 and has been exhibiting internationally since 1997.

Parsons has created the Cruciform Vision specifically for Guildford Cathedral’s Golden Jubilee, where it will be housed on a permanent basis. It continues Parsons’ long-established practice of making ‘grid paintings’ and presents a grid of purple, crimson, orange and brown brushstrokes, out of which emerge the horizontal and vertical golden bars of a cross, framed in the proportions of the Christian symbol.

Cruciform Vision displays what appear to be continuous brushstrokes of pure colour drawn across one another, which continue unaltered even when a pale colour crosses a much darker one. This creates the illusion of many layers of pictorial depth. The coloured brushstrokes are, in fact, transparent and thinly painted, so the illusion is of something that is physically impossible. The process of making this kind of painting requires highly focused concentration, almost meditation. It is certainly intended to be an object of contemplation.

 

 

Contacts

For all press enquiries and high resolution images please contact Emma Hanson, email: emma.hanson@thelightbox.org.uk, telephone: 01483 737819 or Becky Bristow, email: becky.bristow@thelightbox.org.uk, telephone: 01483 737810

 

Notes to Editor:

The art exhibition will be on display at Guildford Cathedral from 12 May 2011

 

The Ingram Collection can be seen on display at The Lightbox gallery and museum in Woking, Surrey, the pieces are rotated on a regular basis so there is always something new to see.  For more information or to book yourself on a FREE guided tour of the collection please visit www.thelightbox.org.uk

For more details of the ongoing celebrations at Guildford Cathedral please visit www.guildford-cathedral.org

For more information about Jonathan Parsons and his art please visit www.jonathanparsons.com