Reading Museum, Blagrave Street, Reading, RG1 1QH Information and group bookings: 01189373400 Tuesday to Friday: 10 am to 4 pm
Saturday: 10 am to 5 pm
The museum is closed on Sundays, Mondays and Bank Holidays (including Good Friday and Easter Monday, and Christmas and New Year).
We are open on a Monday in February and October half term.
After many weeks of sculpting and selecting, I'm happy to say our new show at the Reading Museum is open to the public - contact me if you'd like to come to the Private View on Tuesay Sept 26th at 6.30.
It's on the 2nd floor of the lovely Victorian museum building in the Madejski Gallery, and explores themes of monstrousness, hybridity, lLassical myth and bodily difference across the ages. Contemporary art is served up by myself and painter Paul Reid, and you can also see ancient Greek painting on pottery, early 20th century academic drawing by Minnie Hardman, and Minotaur mythis sculpted and illustrated by the late Michael Ayrton from the Reading collections.
I'm exhibition a number of small and mid - sized bronze and wax sculptures, some mixed medial paintings on the Underworld theme and my sketchbooks and collages , some of which mine the subconscious realms. I've been working steadily on a body of work for this show and realised several in bronze with Sculpture Castings Foundry of Basingstoke - three Fates, my Nietzsche-cow and Sleep Brither of Death. All are patinated in my signature Aubergine shade, and glow with a brazen lustre in the gallery cases....
Here is the information from Reading University, who are co-partners in the exhibition -
I"n the Company of Monsters: New Visions, Ancient Myths will be an exhibition of the works of the contemporary artists Eleanor Crook and Paul Reid, alongside objects, texts, and artworks from the University of Reading and Reading Museum. Brought together for the first time, these detailed and striking works share an interest in retelling ancient myths of body difference, diversity, and hybridity. Inspired by the enduring dreams, or nightmares, of bodily ‘otherness’, the weird and wonderful creatures portrayed in this unique exhibition will ask vital questions about humanity’s place in nature, the biological and artistic meanings of diversity and difference, and the vital role that history plays in our understandings of the dynamic workings of natural history."
My co-exhibitor is Paul Reid ,
"Paul Reid was born in Scone, Perth, in 1975. Between 1994 and 1998, he studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, where he obtained First Class honours in drawing and painting. Since then his work has been part of a number of major exhibitions, in Scotland and northern England in particular, but also in Europe. He has accompanied the then Prince of Wales on visits to Italy, Turkey, Jordan and Canada, drawing and painting the landscapes and people encountered. He is firmly established as an artist who combines technical mastery with striking new visions of ancient myths. On the face of it, Reid’s work is traditional in medium (oil; charcoal), though he has more recently moved into the use of digital technology. Within the traditional aesthetic, however, lies a world of the unexpected: uncanny hybrids of human and animal; juxtapositions of ancient myths with modern landscapes, faces, buildings. "
I do hope you can visit and see our monsters in the flesh - here are the visiting details:
23 September '23 - 24 February '24 Venue: Sir John Madejski Art Gallery Reading Museum
In the Company of Monsters: New Visions, Ancient Myths Sir John Madejski Art Gallery Strikingly contemporary works by artists Eleanor Crook, Paul Reid and Michael Ayrton have been brought together for the first time. The works share an interest in retelling ancient myths of body difference, diversity, and hybridity. Inspired by the enduring dreams, or nightmares, of bodily ‘otherness’, the creatures portrayed ask vital questions about humanity’s place in nature, the biological and artistic meaning of diversity and difference, and the vital role that history plays in our understandings of the dynamic working of natural history. The images of Minotaurs and other mythical Ancient Greek hybrids are contextualised by objects, texts and artworks from the University of Reading and Reading Museum collections.
Look out for the In the Company of Monsters: Art in the Dark Months programme of related talks, workshops and residencies. On Saturday afternoons, chat to students including the University Myth Club who, amongst other things, imagine contemporary endings to the stories.
