Y Lle Celf

A couple of weeks ago, I visited the Eisteddfod festival for the second time. Amid all the wondrous cultural artefacts presented I was once again very impressed by the Visual Art Pavillion called Y Lle Celf, in Welsh. Among all the works selected, here are the few which caught my eye.


André Stitt's two large abstract paintings offer an exploration of architecture, of rather an empirical expression of architectural space. In other words, the artist provides an evocation of what it feels like to be standing in a building. What strikes me with Stitt’s works is how successful his pieces are in translating what is inherently a 3D experience into a 2D format. Yet, he chooses the medium of painting, and thus creates a interesting dialogue between architecture and painting, Cofeb I and II (Monument I and II) have a canny ability to play with my eyes and to convey a sense of illusion close to an holographic effect. The layering of brush strokes manages to communicate a sense of depth and renders visible the sensations of space from multiple points of view. I was particularly seduced by the density of his cream brush strokes. Each varies in transparency and diffuses light differently, like blocks of quartz piled on each other.

André Stitt, Monument I

André Stitt, Monument I

André Stitt, Monument II

André Stitt, Monument II

Another series of paintings which also captured my attention were by Lara Davies who exhibited works which, simultaneously, record and expand her experience of reading exhibition catalogues. The books she paints are represented as seen through her eyes, open on her lap. What I find noticible is the way the paintings not only witness the influence of artists - in this case such as Hockney and Doig - on Davies and other artists, but also how they borrow the codes of documentary photography to investigate this moment of contemplation which is part of the process of making work.

Laura Davies, Me Reading 'Peter Doig' In My Studio, 2017, oil on canvas, 40x30cm

Laura Davies, Me Reading 'Peter Doig' In My Studio, 2017, oil on canvas, 40x30cm

Artist Stephen West presented a set of four large charcoal drawings titled Ceffyl Jacques (Jacques' Horse). The piece was inspired by the view from his studio in France. Executed over several years, the large drawings reflect on the passing of time and invoke mutltiple scenes of his wife weeding. Ceffyl Jacques with its screen-like format also delicately echoes the tradition of Chinese landscapes.

Stephen West, Ceffyl Jacques, 2016, 300x150x40 cm - Drawing, Charcoal - Paper

Stephen West, Ceffyl Jacques, 2016, 300x150x40 cm - Drawing, Charcoal - Paper

A room of the pavilion was dedicated to the installations of Cecile Johnson Soliz, where the artist uses the medium of paper to create large sculptures which bear the traces of manipulations, such as twisting, tearing, creasing or wrinkling. Those gestures are then blown up to monumental size and become a way of magnifying the artist’s hand in her research process. I am responding to how focus the works are in their study of a single material. To ignite a conversation with the paper materiality of the sculptures exhibited, Soliz also employs papers which are drawn by a thick black line. This line, not only works as a visual guide to observe the details and composition of some of her sculptures, but it also introduces the idea of converting a 2D line into the 3D physical space of the gallery. All in all, the curators of the Y Lle Celf have yet again delivered a rich selection of artworks and the intrigue, stimulation and inspiration are still intact I as write these lines.

Cecile Johnson Soliz, Drawing

Cecile Johnson Soliz, Drawing

Cecile Johnson Soliz, Drawing (wound-round)

Cecile Johnson Soliz, Drawing (wound-round)