The Beard

A painting exhibition going on at Charlie Smith London contains a curious Brontë reference:

The Beard
Curated by Kiera Bennett & Alex Gene Morrison
Paul Becker,  Kiera Bennett, Dan Coombs and Alex Gene Morrison
Exhibition Dates:  Friday February 4th – Saturday February 26th 2011
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 11am – 6pm or by appointment
CHARLIE SMITH london, 2nd Floor, 336 Old St, London, EC1V 9DR

This show brings together four painters who make work that is highly individual yet is anchored to the familiar through the conscious referencing of similar archetypes. Each of these artists creates psychologically charged imagery that collectively reference personal experience, heightened states of consciousness, dreams and fiction. All four artists embrace the power of painting; its history; its materiality and its unflinching ability to effectively transform complex thought into form.
These artists’ paths have crossed at various points over the last twenty years or so, from Coombs and Bennett studying at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in the early nineties, to Bennett and Morrison studying together at the Royal College of Art. Bennett and Morrison then went on to meet Becker whilst being involved in running the Rockwell project space where all four artists showed work but never as a group.
The show takes its title from the accompanying short story written by Paul Becker. The content of the story is analogous to aspects of how all four artists approach making work. (Alex Gene Morrison)

The story can be read here and begins with a quote from Daphne du Maurier's biography of Branwell Brontë (which recalls an anecdoe told by Elizabeth Gaskell):

When the Reverend Patrick Brontë, wishing to know more about the minds of his six motherless children than he had hitherto discovered, placed each one behind a mask to make them speak with less timidity than before, he gave to the three sisters who survived the blessed thrill of anonymity. To speak aloud and yet remain, as it would seem, unknown, to hide identity behind a hollow face; criticism, mockery, reproof – these things could not touch the wearer of the mask.

The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë by Daphne du Maurier

Categories: Art-Exhibitions