June 25 2004, Friday, 10am-6pm (continues until June 26 2004, Saturday, 10am-3pm)

CAREY BURROWS' CORK STREET EXHIBITION OF MIXED MEDIA ABSTRACTS, "THE MEANING OF LIFE" REFLECTS ON CHILDHOOD & MOTHERHOOD AS WELL AS HOMING IN ON CREATIVITY, GAMES, HOUSES, INNOCENCE, ETC.

A few days ago we went to see artist, Carey Burrows' exhibition, "The Meaning of Life" which is currently on in Cork Street. The Arndean Gallery, where over 40 of Burrows' brightly-coloured canvases of all sizes are hanging, is one of our favoured venues as well as a favoured exhibiting venue for exhibition organiser, Catriona MacLean of MacLean Fine Art (see May 15 2004, for recent review about artist, Oona Campbell, at the same venue). A home from home, you could say! Which is why it is an ideal setting for the current exhibition. When we went along to Tuesday's three-hour opening to meet the artist, we were pleasantly surprised that the event seemed to be like a reunion of family and friends, mothers/au-pair with children and those without children. What a lot of them had in common was some knowledge, and interest in, the three-and-a-half years of artwork on show. Burrows' seems to have put her heart and soul, and virtual life - as well as the feelings of those close to her including her husband, Rupert and four children - into every piece. One of her young children, Grace, pointed out for us her own text, numerical and drawn contributions to mother's work. What one of our favourite artists, Jim Dine, would have thought of the pieces of script, is anybody's guess and is open for debate. But Grace, in her contributions, seemed determined that English, numbers, games of tic-tac-toe, houses, etc., - whether innocently drawn/written the right way up or not, is where art is at! At which point, it would be an idea to look at an extract from the press release we received from MacLean Fine Art, which aptly covers the artist and mother's current exhibition, background and art education, 'A tribute to life is how best to describe Carey Burrows latest collection. Drawing on her experience as a mother she has delicately threaded together luminous, peaceful, abstract paintings, which have universal appeal. All of the works in this exhibition have a quality of spontaneity. The intuitive character of their process of creation is exposed and they also declare Carey's love of mixed media. She applies silver leaf and paint with her hands and uses a variety of pens and mark markers to create certain immediacy. All her children have added their individual markings, letters, numbers and drawings to enhance their involvement in the creative process. The freedom that is expressed in their young hands compliments the work of their mother. Sometimes stark, sometimes almost camouflaged, letters and dates, times and text appear in all of Carey's paintings. Indeed, she finds it difficult to complete a canvas without inscribing them. It may allude to a theme or a subject or a situation particular to the painting in which it appears. These pictures are indeed like a continuous narrative, an unplanned, inner chronicle of Carey's life. Therefore, like a spider, she slowly weaves a magical web of intricate detail that has an overall simplicity and splendour, as she travels over the complex map of life. Carey grew up immersed in the work of the Camden Town Group, in which her Great Uncle, Edward Le Bas, was a prolific painter and collector, along with Sickert, Ginner, Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell. Her grandmother, Molly Le Bas, was also a very talented sculptress, and it was time spent in her house (Augustus John's former studio in Glebe Place, Chelsea) that she was exposed to many different painters and sculptors' work. Having trained at Chelsea Arts School, The Slade, City and Guilds of London Art School and the London College of Printing, Carey started off as a sculptor but soon found that she preferred the immediacy of painting, in which medium she has been developing an immediate and fluid language in which to tell her stories. Several (notable) art establishment figures including Sir Roger de Grey, past President of the RA, have personally endorsed her work "Burrows has allowed the beauty of a palette of primary colours from Chagall and Kandinsky to spill over and flood the surface of her paintings. It indicates her understanding of the essence of 20th Century Art. Isolating the forms as they emerge from the space gives each work the simplicity and splendour of structures from our built environment and allows them to float majestically above the pots and pans of every day living." Her work is held by several well known collectors. Ronan Keating recently bought her work for his own private collection in Dublin.'

And talking of collectors and buyers, many of her larger pieces would look good in family restaurants, hospitals for children or even the boardrooms of children's charities. As for smaller pieces (like several of our favourites, located downstairs in the Arndean Gallery), they would bring a smile to any child, on seeing one or two of them in his or her bedroom. Go along and discover more for yourself, and maybe - on this occasion - it would be an idea to bring the children with you, to help you choose!
^MENU A: Free
B: 8, 9, 14, 19, 22 or 38
E: (see website)
L: Arndean Gallery, 23 Cork Street, London, W1
N: 020 7589 4384
T: Green Park (Jubilee, Piccadilly and Victoria lines).
W: http://www.macleanfineart.com/

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