I unfortunately found it quite hard to concentrate on Shani as she was talking, as I discovered that I personally did not like her work, as I found it quite creepy and wasn’t the type of art I was into, however I know some peoples perception of art can differ from one another. Though I was not intrigued by her work I still tried to listen to her as she spoke, instead of missing out on the other information she was giving out.
Shani Rhys James was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1953 to a Welsh father and an Australian mother. Shani studied at St martins School of Painting, and graduated in 1976, she said St Martins a school of abstract painting and was a place to experiment.
Shani paintings are about her experiences, memory, childhood and the significant things that happen, she also continued by saying she “Painted whatever was going on in her head”. Shani described her work as “abstract with field of colour, as well as figurative, simplified down..” You must be open and receptive to what happens around you, painting was a way of expressing this and her moto is “Painting is part of life- life is art, art is life.”
“As an artist you have to be a hard worker and that as an artist you tune into a collective consciousness” she also said that you need to give yourself time to paint and create.
Shani won The Jerwood painting prize in 2003 and her first exhibition was at the Oriel 31, she has also had exhibition in Aberystwyth, and Caught in the Mirror – exhibition at Connaught gallery. Andrew Motion also wrote a poem about one of her paintings which is exhibited in the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art.
During her talk Shani also mentioned some other artists –
- Cassandras Rant – “Cassandra is a visionary but no one listens to her.”
- Louise Bourgeois – who she looks to for inspiration
- Mona Hatoum – her work can be gruelling, harsh difficult.
To two things that I got most out of the talk was when Shani said that “London is the best place to network and get your name out there – wales gives me the time and space to paint.” which I understood, due to London being a big part of any industry, and Wales (Home) is where you can relax and create on your own terms. The second was how important it is to enter competitions, as this is another form of getting your work out.
Elise Davies 