In the Realm of Other was a collaboration between Project Art Works and De La Warr Pavilion intended to question perceptions about the process of making art. Over forty-five large and small-scale paintings, drawings and sculptures – produced by fourteen makers with profound intellectual impairment – were presented in a living, evolving installation that offers a rare glimpse into unknowable, creative states of being.
In the Realm of Others was a choreographed navigation through the hidden worlds of Paul Colley, Stanley Ellis, Albert Geere, Neville Jermyn, David Marriott, Louise Newham, Sharif Persaud, Michelle Roberts, Jonathan Rogers, Carl Sexton, Brian Simpkin, George Smith, Sam Smith and Darryl Spencer, revealed through a changing exhibition of recent works selected from the 4,000 held in Project Art Works’ collection. Periodically the makers themselves are in the gallery, producing work in the gallery within a specially created studio environment together with the artist practitioners who support them.
Modus Operandi is a new film focusing on the makers of the Parachute Club, which is one of several in house programmes run from the Project Art Works studio base. It shows the makers in their familiar setting within the studio along with the artists who support them. The film reveals some of the processes behind the work they create and provides an insight into the dynamic within the studio.
Kate Adams MBE, director of Project Art Works, said, “By presenting these works in a gallery space we are not locating them within the artistic canon or attributing value through traditional historical, critical or aesthetic means. Each work was selected for its visceral dynamism, or because it has a unique ‘trace’ of the maker’s presence, or is just a pure engagement with colour and the material qualities of paint or surface.”
Established over fifteen years ago, Project Art Works is a pioneering organisation using contemporary visual art to facilitate the making of paintings, drawings, sculpture and photography, artistic happenings and actions in the studio and at site-specific locations by adults and children with severe intellectual impairment.
About the artists and makers
Albert Geere is a quiet maker of paintings and drawings, ranging from vibrant abstracts characterised by symmetrical or geometric shapes to works with the recurring motifs of imagined sanctuaries, or the care homes he has inhabited for nearly eighty years. A selection of his work for In the Realm of Others is presented in a dedicated space within the installation. Geere has exhibited work at Towner Gallery and was included in the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2012-13 national tour.
Other makers include Sam Smith who creates large-scale paintings by pouring and squeezing paint directly onto the canvas; Paul Colley who makes quick decisive marks in response to interactions with artists and live film projections; Louise Newham whose practice uses screen-printing, clay modeling, photography, drawing and painting to develop large-scale projects; and Michelle Roberts, an award-winning artist, whose intricately detailed, complex and colourful paintings led to a solo exhibition at Pallant House Gallery.