Two Fine Painters at the Royal Cambrian Academy

...well worth a look...

The current exhibition at Conwy's Royal Cambrian Gallery is a 'two-header' of very different and very accomplished painters who are using painted pigments to emulate the transient beauty of light and life. 

In the ground floor gallery space you have an opportunity to see stunning landscapes by Harry Robertson, including one of the best paintings of a moody Welsh waterfall I have seen. Robertson certainly manages to capture the movement of light across the land and the way the pattern of sunshine and cloud-shadow alters the texture and detail. 'Detail' is a word that comes to mind again and again when looking at his meticulously executed work - his selection of what details to include and which to leave out lends a photographic realism that also manages to hint at a much deeper poetic response.  If you like landscape painting, you would be 'hard-pushed' to find better than these... (Though fellow Royal Cambrian Academy artist Gerald Dewsbury could be a contender.)

John Baum's large colourful canvasses can be viewed in the upstairs gallery - another painter that loves the play of light - and loves to play with light... mainly naturalistic portraits against an artificial setting, these works are then built up with daubs of bright sunny colours that push the photo/graphic representation towards abstract composition, whilst remaining realist and keenly observed. The clean lines and use of spaces in these scenes brings to mind the work of a happy Edward Hopper. It appears that Baum has found a style of work that suits his artist's eye - a departure from much of his earlier portrait works that were simply fiercely lit figures against flattened photo-real backgrounds - and I find the paintings currently on show much more engaging and uplifting (not only because there are also a few nicely observed dogs).

...Harry Robertson and John Baum exhibition until 6 July...

After that, your best bet for top-notch landscape painting (and other work) would be the Rob Piercy Gallery in Porthmadog. The cosy, friendly gallery hosts a permanent exhibition of oils and watercolours by Piercy and a selection of work by other local artists who connect with the land, such as Bill Swann, who works mainly with glass...

A Pair of Beautiful Blogs

Silent Beauties – just fantastic, I don’t know how they manage to find so many rare, lost and abandoned little films, let alone how they then find time to upload them! Though the focus is on the more obscure films that are not represented elsewhere, this is one of the most active blogs on my blogroll, there’s always something new, well actually it’s usually something old, of course…

It is astonishing that this is a privately administrated site run by enthusiasts, it appears more like a ‘National Archive’ of some specialist museum or university, except that the content is of international interest and value. The majority of the content is, as the name suggests, silent movies and early documentary films and being without sound these easily bridge the language barriers. This is a huge resource and one of the most valuable media blogs on the www – really useful for teachers and cultural historians and just really interesting for personal perusal… check it out for some ‘quiet time’.

If you prefer your media with sound, why not try:

Cathode RayTube – another site that fills me with awe and admiration at the sheer volume and quality of the content that regularly uploads. This is the blog of the erudite Frank Collins, a long established ‘critic’ and general fount of knowledge for cult TV and genre cinema, particularly British SF and Horror, but he also casts his roving eye over comedy and classics.

This blog will evoke nostalgic pangs in many readers, of a certain age, but can snap them out of it with content that brings them bang up to date with what is happening in cult media today. The writing is intelligent and perceptive and will approach popular programmes, and overlooked classics, with the same sort of critical respect usually reserved for those high-brow ‘arty’ films… if you are studying media make sure you have a read of this before you tackle any of your essays. The main thing that makes this a most rewarding read is not its clear and flowing style (which is abundant), but that it enhances enjoyment – for example, try watching an episode of Doctor Who, then read the review and watch it again. You will see what I mean…