Teresa Zerafa Byrne is ArtULTRA's Artist of the Month for September. Teresa is a London-based multi-disciplinary artist who explores embodied perception and memory. Over the last few months, we have lived more intensely than ever with our memories, as a way to bring happier times back or loved ones nearer; so it felt right to investigate the nature of our memories through Teresa's works. Read below and visit the ArtULTRA website to find out more.

Artist Feature: Teresa Zerafa Byrne

Memory Skeleton Imagined by Teresa Zerafa Byrne

For Teresa, it’s always “the idea that choses the medium” – which means that she is constantly experimenting with materials such as textiles, paint, and acrylic glass to find the appropriate medium for the subject matter she wishes to convey. Teresa dextrously layers her materials, creating evocative textures and luminous colours that offer the viewer glimpses into a past state of mind. Teresa’s artworks featured this month across ArtULTRA’s platforms are testament to her curiosity and experimentation. 

 

Recently, Teresa has been producing a series based on the essential details of certain individuals’ personal experiences. This ‘Memory Skeleton’ series aims to reduce and visually abstract a core set of elements which are consistent and prominent in a person’s retelling of the same memory. In doing so, Teresa aims “to make the experience open to interpretation by the viewer.” 

 

To view Teresa's thoughtful artworks, visit the ArtULTRA website and our Instagram @artultra_net. To explore further, visit Teresa’s Instagram or website. 

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FINALLY: The Central Saint Martins Fine Art Graduate Show

For emerging artists, one of the many disappointments caused by the pandemic was having physical degree shows cancelled. Many took place online, which at least gave artists some exposure. But nothing replaces a physical exhibition - so this September (2nd to 5th), the 2020 MA Fine Art graduates are putting on an exhibition at the Ugly Duck gallery. It's on for a few days, but if you're around London Bridge, go take a look - it's so important for artists to be seen and to meet their public. Details below. Reserve your space on eventbrite here. You will catch one of Teresa's pieces there!

A Potted, Bottled and Basketed History of the Still-life

Often viewed as the most boring type of European painting, still-life works can in fact be puzzling and thought-provoking. They had their hey-day in the seventeenth century during the Italian Baroque and the Dutch Golden Age, and then later in early twentieth-century France.  Still-lives are small(ish) paintings in oils depicting all kinds of inanimate objects, ranging from fruits and flowers, to silverware and mother-of-pearl goblets, to plaster-cast statues and guitars. Mostly, still-lives seem to be a kind of early food porn before you could post a snap of your delicious dining experience on Instagram: think juicy watermelons, dead partridges and gleaming oysters. 

 

But don’t be fooled by the genre’s deceptive simplicity. Take this early work by Caravaggio (b.1571) of a fruit basket: 

It seems to be nothing but a 5-a-day melange of grapes, figs, apples, peaches and pears rendered in meticulous detail. If you look a little closer, however, you might notice signs of decay: a wilted vine leaf, a shrunken grape, and a little rotten hole in the red apple made by a worm. Add to these details the fact that grapes often symbolised the Eucharist (a Christian sacrament re-enacting Christ’s sacrifice and the salvation of humanity) and it becomes obvious that Caravaggio’s fruit basket is a meditation on death, the decay of the flesh, and the possibility of resurrection in the life to come. The painting is also a display of Caravaggio's virtuoso skill, of course, showing his mastery at capturing real objects in the lifeless medium of oil-paints on a flat canvas: indeed, the Italian word for Still-life is natura morta, meaning ‘dead nature’. 

 

Resurrection, the fleetingness of life, may not be the first interpretations that come to mind while contemplating a still-life. Here is an incredible painting by the Dutch artist Maria van Oosterwyck (b. 1630) to convince you otherwise:

Still Life with Flowers seems to be, much like Caravaggio’s Fruit Basket above, a skilful albeit literal depiction of a bouquet of flowers. But what is perhaps not immediately obvious to the modern viewer, is that this particular flower arrangement is impossible: peonies, carnations, fox gloves, sunflowers, bellflowers and roses do not all bloom in the same month of the year. Which means that Oosterwych had to draw on an incredibly precise memory to compose this fictional flower arrangement. What’s more, she painted a still-life that symbolises both ephemerality (petals have fallen) but also the afterlife where there shall be no more death or temporality (flowers remain forever in bloom). Food for thought, right? 

Bea Santos

The Business of Being An Artist: First Release

The first in a series of talks for The Business of Being An Artist is dedicated to presenting yourself online. In a discussion aimed at those who don't have a lot of experience of social media, Alice Black, Founder of ArtULTRA, interviews PR specialist Rioco Green and gets a few tips on how to master the worlds of Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and more. You can download a free cheat sheet with practical tips to get you started below.

 

Social Media Cheat Sheet

London Design Festival: 18th-26th September

September is London Design Festival month and this year's festival (from18th  to 26th) is back stronger than ever, with amazing commissions and landmark projects, featuring talented designers and artists. This year, ArtULTRA is delighted to be Creative Producer for a project featuring artist Yinka Ilori, as part of the Mayor of London's Let's Do London campaign. More to be revealed soon! Check out their website for a full list of events. 

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