Exhibitions

Art in Health

| Irma Irsara
Meravigliare il Rosso used on the cover of Psychoanalytic Theory for Social Work Practice: Thinking under Fire by Marion Bower (2005)

A recent proposal led me to think about art in health settings. I’m very aware of the importance of art in these types of surroundings both from my experience as a patient who has benefited from the presence of uplifting work and as an artist who has shown work in similar settings.

Joanna Wakefield, Art Director at Art St George’s, believes that abstract art is a particularly powerful medium to enable patients and staff to find their own narratives, noting that the nature of the art within their collection is purposefully without subject bias, whilst leaning away from dark colours and macabre scenes towards bold, textured abstract works with plenty of room for interpretation and reflection.

My own work takes its inspiration from specific themes and subject matter but the finished work is generally abstract. I have work in the permanent collections of the BMA building in Tavistock Place and the Tavistock Clinic where I’ve exhibited a number of times in the past. I’ve also displayed my art at the Wandsworth Medical Centre and it has been used in visualization sessions for relaxation and meditation at the NHS Trust’s Bristol Breast Care Centre.

Corridor gallery at the Tavistock Centre

I’m conscious of the power of artwork to calm and uplift; to alter and enhance an environment and change an individual’s mood through colour. I’m deeply interested in the relationship between colour and state of mind. I’m conscious of the calming influence of blues and the potential of colours such as carmine red and jaune d’or to interact in a stimulating way to reinforce feelings of positivity. Art has the capacity to effect a different state of mind and transport the viewer somewhere else albeit for a brief moment in time.

My practice encompasses a broad range of media and techniques with the ‘pulp work’ (examples shown) represent a large part of my recent output. The uneven edges of the final work is very important to me as it breaks down the border between the picture and what lies beyond. It enables the work to define a space and become part of the surroundings rather than being a series of contained images.

Rivelare (Reveal) 63 x 105 cm – cotton fibre, pigment dyes, hemp, sand 2018

QUEKEX 2018

| Irma Irsara

Captured irregular snowflakes (London 2018) on slides, one of which shows microfibre plastic which could be clearly seen during the melting process. It’s worth asking what sort of damage plastic fibres are doing.

Photos will be shown at the Quekett Microscopical Club Quekex exhibition at NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM (foyer of the Flett Theatre), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD
Saturday 6th October 2018, 10.30am – 4pm
Invitation-only exhibition.

Zero Celsius – digital prints

| Irma Irsara

My current exhibition is at Resource for London, 356 Holloway Road, London N7 6PA until 27th March ’18 – exhibition statement below.

“The transparency of the material leads me to look closer, almost searching for and imaginary landscape inside the heart of the ice. I find ice is very similar to other materials I have used in the past like glass, mirror and pulp. When light enters the artwork, it makes the edges more defined and frees the boundaries between artwork and the surrounding space.”

Irma Irsara‘s work is influenced by an interest in environmental issues in a practice that embraces techniques as diverse as fibre art, stained glass bookmaking, print, video and installation. Within the context of the Anthropocene Epoch, where human activity has been the dominant influence in altering the geographical landscape, Irsara contemplates ideas of  symbiosis as a strategy for human survival. The symbiosis of organic materials with the ice is particularly significant. It is the moment when nature takes over and the artist becomes the observer of new forms.

The digital prints on display are a permanent record of the time-based, site-specific installation work created by the artist in 2013/14. This constantly changing and daily-renewed work was produced over a three week period in the former Victorian ice wells at the London Canal Museum, King’s Cross. Working with ice, a material very much associated with the theme of climate change, the work explores natural cycles and outcomes in relation to surrounding conditions and is intended as a starting point for debate. She has a fascination with the medium, from the fusing together of forms to the slow, imperceptible movement of embedded material – bark, melinex, wire lights – as the melting process progresses. She also examines the possibility of producing hollow forms of ice by utilizing the natural freezing process. This is further explored in her more recent time-lapse pieces. Irsara is intrigued by the notion of a precise moment of transformation and change of state.

Drawing a Line Under Torture

| Irma Irsara

Drawing a Line Under Torture, Freedom from Torture‘s biennial charity art auction takes place 8 November 2017 – 12 November 2017 at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, South Bank, London

To bid on the work below and many other pieces, please follow the link:
http://ow.ly/6pCf30g8Ona

All works will continue to be on display until the close of the public exhibition and will be available for collection from Tuesday 14 November 2017

Freedom from Torture is a UK-based human rights organisation, and one of the largest torture rehabilitation centres in the world; it is the only specialist national charity working to ensure the rehabilitation and protection of torture survivors seeking refuge in the UK. Since it’s establishment in 1985, more than 57,000 survivors of torture have been referred to us.

Fonte (Fount)
Cotton fibre pulps, direct dyes
52cm x 47cm
2017
Guide Price: £760
Framed

Irma Irsara’s work is heavily influenced by the natural environment in which she grew up – the foothills of Monte Croce in the Italian Dolomites. She has a special interest in ecology, conservation and climate change. ‘Fonte’ reflects an early childhood moment in a place revisited but now changed due to the effects of stream erosion. The title refers not only to rising water through cracks in the bedrock but also the idea of innocent thought set against the backdrop of succeeding stages of life.

Irsara’s practice encompasses a broad range of media and techniques with the ‘pulp work’ representing a large part of her recent output. The wet-on-wet process involves building up strata of dyed pulp which can be further modified through embedding, sculpting, ripping, embossing etc. She exhibits both in the UK and abroad.

l’incisione

| Irma Irsara

Riguardando i lavori di anni fa, ricordo le tecniche iniziate assieme col grande maestri dell’incisione Bruscaglia e Bertoni, professori all’Accademia di Urbino quando io ero studente. A Londra, ho poi ripreso l’incisione negli anni 90 nei workshops di Ormond Road.

Donna con camoscia Irma Irsara 1990

Collegando e rivisitando sempre i miei lavori di prima, vedo come mi è molto importante tutto quello che ho fatto prima per la mia formazione artistica e per inventare sempre nuove possibilità per nuove  opere.

La sovvraposizione delle lastre e l’uso di solo due colori mi affascina ancora. La tecnica del sugarlift e open-bite dona una libertà simile al dipingere ed è molto utile per indicare ombre e graduazioni gentili per la composizione e tema. La possibilità di multeplici dell’incisione-stampe fatte con le mani da me ha un fascino tattile che non si dimentica facilmente.

Ora la ricerca è diventata quella lontana prospettiva all’infinito – l’orrizzonte che non ha mai fine.

I currently have a small selection of framed etchings for a limited time and at very affordable prices at:
Libertea Cafe, Unit G-12, 159-163 Marlborough Road, London N19 4NF
Details, including opening times, can be found on YELP.

Verso l’isola di murano Irma Irsara 1990
Strada nella foresta Irma Irsara 1990
La famiglia Irma Irsara 1981
Relazione con la luna Irma Irsara 1990
La strega del fieno Irma Irsara 1990

Zero Celsius DAY 13 – 02

| Irma Irsara

ZERO CELSIUS

Victorian Ice Wells, London Canal Museum, King’s Cross  –  Non-permanent, ever-changing, time-based ice installation

Materials:
Ice (created from canal water on site each day using three top loading freezers from), 1.3mm El Wire, different lengths powered by mains and battery packs (for embedded lights), Melanex shapes, Silver birch bark sourced from fallen trees source restored to original location at the end of the project. Charcoal made from pruned vine branches.

Dimensions variable.

Zero Celsius was an opportunity to witness, explore and be part of an unexpected subterranean landscape in the heart of King’s Cross. Through investigation and elaboration of different elements embedded in blocks of ice, artist Irma Irsara developed an experimental work with ever-changing outcomes. The installation process was determined by the interaction between the artist, the unique host location and the melting shapes of ice, resulting in a unique participatory experience.

www.zer0celsius.wordpress.com

London Print Show – Members Summer Show

| Irma Irsara

Zero Celsius_DAY_8_ 07SUMMER MEMBERS SHOW 2016
LONDON PRINT STUDIO
425 Harrow Road, London W10 4RE
24th June – 26th August 2016

Opening party: Thursday June 23rd 6.30pm – 8.30pm

This year’s London Print Studio’s Members Summer Show offers snapshot of fine art contemporary printmaking in London. The show features work across the full range of print techniques, with etching particularly well represented. There is work by well established and emerging artists.

Picture shows digital print (ZC DAY 8 – 07) from the Zero Celsius series of images taken of the ice installation in the former Victorian ice wells at the London Canal Museum.

Retina Diamond Leaf

| Irma Irsara

Diamond Leaf Retina

Retina Diamond Leaf, on show at Art at the Bridge 7 (Tower Bridge Engine Rooms), evolved from a collaboration with poet Frances Presley in 2015 and coincided with the publication of her anthology ‘Halse for Hazel’, funded by the Arts Council. The work incorporates the concept of bridges as neural networks along which sparks of light can travel. The drawing, superimposed on an inverted photo of the feminine hazel leaf, refers to the repairing of a damaged retina and the fear of losing the ability to see and connect which is described in Presley’s text.

Art at the Bridge #7

| Irma Irsara

Tower Bridge (Engine Rooms)  is showcasing the works of 15 female artists with the theme Building Bridges: The Female Perspective.

Celebrate female artistic endeavour  with Tower Bridges ‘Art at the Bridge’exhibition. Now in its seventh iteration, this long-running exhibition in partnership with Southwark Arts Forum will display the works of 15 female artists as they explore the theme of‘Building Bridges: The Female Perspective’.

The exhibition aims to reflect upon female perspectives in the community, providing a platform for artists to express their ideas through a variety of media including paintings, etchings, video, photography and drawing.

Each of the artists have drawn inspiration from their own experiences and these artworks offer a striking contrast to the huge and beautifully maintained steam engines that surround them.

The exhibition runs from March 8 to July 31, 2016 and admission will be included in the entry for Tower Bridge Exhibition (Adults: £9; Children aged 5-15: £3.90; Concessions: £6.30; Family tickets from £14.10; Under 5s free). The experience visiting the high-level Walkways has now been bolstered with the addition of the new glass floor, which gives visitors a unique perspective of London 42 meters above the Thames. The nearest underground stations are London Bridge or Tower Hill.