the pictures on the walls

the art of QE2 Activity Centre

the pictures on the walls 

   

 Over the past two decades the walls of the QE2 Activity Centre's sports hall have been canvasses displaying some mighty fine artworks.  The majority of these have been painted by Centre staff, sometimes with more inspiration than technique, sometimes with more technique than inspiration, always without utility.  There have been works inspired by Mondrian, Warhol and Hockney.  There have been works painted from photos, from the imagination and from the hip.   Some of it has been to brighten, accentuate or hide the climbing walls.

The current crop of art on the walls is dominated by a commissioned piece from outstanding grafitti artist Eldon Griffiths.  It shows three of the Centre's regular users, portrayed in a bright, almost comic book manner.  

 

Alongside this is an old master by Old Master Pete Dunnings, a silhouetted climber against a Tuscan sun. This was painted in 1995 and has survived the purges that have occurred annually since then.  That's because we like it.

    

For 2013 we have gone for a different style, based on the palettes left behind by the Hacienda Club and Shakeaway cup design teams.   Simple bands of colour, like a breath of fresh air, wafting through the building.

Ars longa, vita brevis, so they say, but here at QE2 Activity Centre the ars is brevis too.  Pictured below are some of the paint jobs that have graced the walls and climbing walls at QE2 Activity Centre.  Painted mostly by Centre staff - what a clever bunch!  However all of these fine art works are gone.

not a Mondrian

 

       

Dum de dum de dumm de dumm, the Archer, Pete Dunnings

  

in the style of A. Warhola (although those that painted it didn't know it)

  

 a nod to the mod, Tetris, Lawrence Parker 

the hills are alive. an attempt to bring mountains to Hampshire

 

Mondrian a go go

 

24 hour party people

 

Snakes & Ladders, B&Q

   

Shakaway (Kerry Lees), QE2 (Great Oaks School), Aaron (Kerry Lees, Emily Weller, from a non original photo and idea)

     

Great oak (Lees), Aaron (ibid)

   

 Jigsaw, Phil & the Green Team

   

boats, thenewcornpoppy

read it in books

This work fuses chaos with order, with lines and shapes laid randomly - at first glance. Closer inspection gradually reveals that a set of rules governs the placement of shapes and the choice of colours. Thus, the artist challenges the viewer to explore the rules encoded in the subconscious that shape our aesthetics, to consider why we find beauty in the juxtaposition of chaos and order.

Rather than any implied meaning or message, the minimalist nature of these paintings encourages the viewer to consider the visual qualities of the work - the composition, surfaces, textures and the relationship of depicted space to line and form. In simplicity, art becomes more direct and incisive in its dissection of the human mind, a more lucent mirror of our collective subconscious.  Kent Wang

 

 Aaron by Aaron, Aaron by Lees, Weller

you can't keep a good blog down