ART AT HOME

Section 4: FRIENDSHIP

Quite a few people responded to our call by choosing work made by artists who are their friends. They spoke warmly about the work, as if describing the friendship.

“Lygia Pape was a prominent Brazilian artist and a friend who was part of the Neo Concrete Movement in Brazil. She was a lecturer of mine in my Architecture course.  I was fascinated by her personality and energy – we became good friends. We did lots of observational work in favelas in Rio, photographing the  transformation of its fabric.

This piece is one of a series of etchings called Tecelares (which translates as Weavers) and it was done in the year I was born. Lygia gave it to me many years ago. It is my favourite art work.”
PC

Change by Julia Wilson 2007, 76x76cm oil & acrylic on canvas

“Long-term friend and collaborator, this is an unusually quiet JW whose paths and estuaries often have sharp yellow shapes overlaid with scratchy rust lines – I’m longing for some of this energy to shake meawake in these strange lethargic times, and missing our gallery visits/tea/talk.”
A.C.

“I adore this painting, by a dear friend of mine, Suzette Clough, which hangs on a wall of my therapy room.
She is Australian by birth , and the painting evokes desert and luminous light – but it also feels to me mysterious and numinous and speaks of the ancientness of the land and it’s indigenous people mapping it with symbol and storyline…..”
S.L.
“I fear mine are a bit crowded but space is limited in my apartment so this is the best I can offer:
The charcoal drawing on paper in the centre is by Yugoslavian artist, Predrag Pajdic whom I met at his exhibition in 1996 at Danielle Arnaud Contemporary Arts . It is a lovely reminder of Danielle, a wonderfully kind and intelligent woman who has done so much to enhance the art scene in London.
The four oils either side are by New York City Soho artist, John Adams Griefen, whom I met while living there in 1988 – our young daughters were friends at a Greenwich Village school. In 1999 these were exhibited in London’s Clink Wharf Gallery. They are lively paintings which seem to reflect the good times our families enjoyed together.”
L.R.
“This bronze figure was made by Cliff Cundy, who cast his own work in an illicit, or at least secret, foundry at the end of his garden near the park. There was a stage of my family’s life when we would visit his home regularly. It was full of his art and sculpture, along with artefacts from his wife’s native India, and felt such a magic haunt  – where we were also plied with their lethally potent home made ginger beer…..”
S.L.

“View of the ‘Perimetral’ flyover in Rio de Janeiro before demolition for urban regeneration, by Thereza Christina Carvalho
This picture is quite dramatic – Thereza took it from the middle of the road in traffic; the colours are so well coordinated, its as if the picture was actually a painting.
Thereza is one of my oldest friends, and she gave us this picture in one of our stays with her in Rio few years ago.”
P.C. 
“This is a very early painting by another friend of mine – Jenny Franklin, a painter born in South Africa who moved here decades ago… I bought it in monthly instalments
It is entitled Bird- creature with Odd Shoes  and that creature has something of a self-portrait in its face. I love it’s painterliness , the colour palette, and also the wit: her early line drawings were fabulously witty too and it brings a smile to my face.”
S.L.
These are two more paintings by Jenny Franklin, a small bold ominous dark oil and one of her light- filled watercolours, with a small print of another propped against it.
Jenny constantly sketches, wherever she is – the poached- egg yellow sun painting is one of a series made in or after visiting Australia, which became her family’s home after they fled apartheid S. Africa – and the delicately drawn traceries of the natural world inhabit and inspire so many of her paintings, be it rock, tree, fungi or seed-pod.

Click to see the other selections: Travel | Artists | Mood 

If this post has inspired you to think about adding to your collection, have a look at our website for ideas: Past Exhibitions, and Upcoming Shows and get in touch!