Jason + Becky | Philip Cheater | Mandy Lane | Abby Poulson | Tomos Sparnon | Daniel Trivedy
Preview: Saturday 24th September, 7pm
Exhibition continues until 5th November
Gallery open Wednesday – Saturday, 11am-9pm
Dynevor-Never-Land brings together past students of UWTSD, each having embarked upon their own adventures since graduating, presented here together to be explored and interpreted through one’s own imagination, in one’s own way.
This exhibition is part of Swansea College of Art’s 200-year anniversary celebrations.
Jason and Becky
Jason & Becky are collaborative artists based in Swansea, South Wales. Their practice responds to current socio-political conditions using a range of media and experiential formats to immerse participants in ambiguous, individually interpretable spaces.
www.jasonandbecky.co.uk
Philip Cheater
Philip’s work explores the semiotics of everyday life and how they can be altered to skew our perception of the world we live in.
His new series of work looks further into the world of architecture, and industry. Developing ideas around structures of power and systems of control – of power being taken away and seemingly indestructible structures breaking down.
The drawings and installations that Philip is still developing explore objects found in everyday occurrences, sometimes in mundane locations, then reintegrating the subject into an unfamiliar landscape, developing immersive installations and objects that appear to hold a function through the use of industrial materials and processes.
Philip studied visual communication and graphic design at Bournemouth University before moving to Swansea to study Fine Art in 2008. Since graduating in 2011 he has had a studio with Elysium Gallery. He was awarded the Brian Ross Memorial award in 2011, and most recently was commissioned by the Arts Council of Wales to make new work as part of their Celf ar y Cyd programme.
https://www.philipcheater.com/
Mandy Lane
Mandy Lane’s artistic practice is rooted in her identity and personal history as a woman living and working in one of the more deprived areas of Llanelli.
“It is a practice that has had to be knitted into my survival as a single mother with four children. I am a participant and to some extent an activist in that community. My work has allowed me to access and communicate with a range of social groups through projects that engage artists as active participants. I am particularly interested in the historical and contemporary voices of working-class mothers and children in Wales. I have thought in depth about what it means to be a woman in poverty. This interest being an outgrowth of my own problematic experiences as a child. My work is driven by my experience with the world. Complexities of the domestic and displaced. My practice draws from my understanding of the family, family ritual and relationships within the lone family unit, the mother, mam, mammy and child. My own work could be seen as a collection of stories published in a variety of forms: sculptures, drawings, text and interventions. Although there is much evidence that things are changing and that gender is becoming more fluid and equality is evident, many institutional prejudices and barriers to equality also remain as strong as ever.”
Mandy’s work seeks to challenge this.
Abby Poulson (image)
My practice investigates the lands that surround me. I use photography in a multi-disciplinary sense to explore our relationship with y tir (the land), the environment, identity and memory. These works are new site-responsive responses to the places I found myself regularly exploring during a recent six months of living in Corris, an ex-slate mining community just below the mountain of Cader Idris – one of the gateways to North Wales from the South.
Abby studied Photography in the Arts at Swansea College of Art, since graduating in 2020 she has continued to grow her practice as an artist, photographer and curator in Wales. Her recent projects include The Gathering Ground, a photographic document that explores Wales’ historical and contemporary relationship to water, and Where’s my Space? a collaborative digital project produced by PAWA254 and Ffotogallery Wales, to create a virtual gathering space for young creatives.
Website: www.abbypoulson.co.uk
Instagram: @abpoulson
Tomos Sparnon
Tomos’s practice is an exploration of what it is to be human. Through different media including painting, drawing and sculpture, he explores man’s relationship with his fellow man, with the world, with objects, with himself and with God. His aim is to capture the conflict between the visible and the invisible, between reality and what is not real.
For this exhibition, Tomos will exhibit a new sculptural work made in response to recent political, geographical and everyday tensions and conflicts. In the sculpture, Tomos has used a passage from the Bible as reference to question ideas of progress, authority and motive.
Tomos Sparnon is 25 years old and was born in Neath, where he lives and works. In 2018, Tomos graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Fine Art from Swansea College of Art. He won the Art, Design and Technology Scholarship at the Urdd National Eisteddfod in Flint in 2017, the first prize in the Open Art Competition at Y Galeri Caerffili, Caerphilly in 2017, the Art, Design and Technology Medal at the Urdd National Eisteddfod in Caerphilly in 2015, and most recently the Silver Jubilee Development Award from The Worshipful Livery Company of Wales in 2022. His work has been exhibited across Wales, including at Y Lle Celf at the National Eisteddfod of Wales; MOMA Machynlleth; The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth; Y Galeri Caerffili, Caerphilly; GS Artists, Swansea; Mission Gallery, Swansea and the National Assembly of Wales, Cardiff. In 2020, Tomos won the competition to create a sculpture for the National Eisteddfod of Wales as part of the S4C television programme ‘Y Stiwdio Grefftau’. The sculpture was exhibited on the site of the Tregaron National Eisteddfod in August 2022. Following exhibiting at MOMA Machynlleth in 2021, one of Tomos’ paintings was purchased by The National Library of Wales for its collections.
@Celf_Tomos_Art
Daniel Trivedy
Daniel uses art as a method of enquiry and investigation. His working method involves a process of research, reflection and material play that rarely produces a definitive end or outcome. Instead he likes to think of his work as small manifestations; something akin to hiatuses on a long journey.
His influences are varied, and he is currently exploring the relationship between his personal identity and the legacies of colonialism. Over time, a number of converging strands of conversation have manifested themselves in his work that skirt themes of connection, belonging and cosmopolitanism.
He is interested in our psychological relationship to each other, and the tension created by polarising views perpetuated by the media. He holds the hope that a wider understanding of our collective history can bring us closer together – although that too is often contested. Fundamentally, he is interested in the glue that holds us together but also that which keeps us apart.
The language of materials, and the ability for them to shift and change, either over time or within a new setting, is of increasing interest. He is constantly seeking to find a balance between materials, ideas and processes.
Daniel Trivedy is a multi-disciplinary of Indian and Indo Guyanese origin. He studied Fine Art at Swansea College of Art and continues to be based in South Wales.
To support his practice, Daniel works as a contextual studies lecturer on the Art and Design Foundation course at Coleg Sir Gar. He is also part of the Creative learning team at the Arts Council of Wales.
Daniel has exhibited as an individual and as part of groups shows in the UK, China, France and the US.
In 2019, Daniel was awarded the gold medal for Fine Art at the National Eisteddfod for Wales. His work is held in private collections and by the National Museum of Wales.
Website: www.danieltrivedy.com
Insta: dtrivedy