Sunday 22 April 2012

THE IMP OF SURREALISM


Last week we ventured out on one of our occasional forays into the world of Fine Art. In the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford we found Anthony Earnshaw 1924-2001, The Imp of Surrealism. I was already acquainted with this artist; '60s art students who were in the know were well aware of the  whimsical group of English Surrealists who flourished in Leeds and were friends of the Liverpool Poets.
Anthony had no formal training, but he was an original and witty thinker, able to translate his ideas into two and three dimensions. He invented secret alphabets and a cartoon character - a strutting, two wheeled mutant toy called WOKKER.
                                                             

Later in his career he made wooden boxes, containing whimsical groups of objects, all with surprising connections. One box contains a shoe with a caster for a heel and a heart-shaped mirror - a bit like this...


In an accompanying film he explains that the shoe is in love with the caster and the mirror is in love with them both...
                              

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The gallery is running several other exhibitions concurrently, all calculated to surprise the mind and delight the eye.


Paula Rego's unromantic and subversive take on Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre - see below.



It's always more fun to visit with friends...



                                                      
Cartwright Hall is also notable for a brief appearance in the 1983 Monty Python film "The Meaning of Life", during a very naughty song.

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5 comments:

  1. great post. Love the pic of you with your "friends". Lizzie

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  2. That looks like a great exhibit.
    I too always love your "cameos".

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  3. Just found you via Menopausalmusings - and haven't stopped reading yet. I wanted to comment on this one because it's lovely to see one of my favourite old haunts - Cartwright Hall. Being from Bradford, I know the Hall well and have seen some excellent exhibitions there over time - my favourite was the Gaudier-Brzeska about 30 years ago. You seem to visit many places I recognise and love and it's good to see them again. Off for a further roam. Axx

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  4. Thank you for looking - I've joined your blog too & have had fun looking at your posts from Spain. It certainly looks temptingly sunny at the moment.

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  5. hola señorita...tu trabajo muy bueno

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