Preview I Believe I'll Dust My Broom art exhibition by Joss Cole

Joss Cole blends Blues music and the art of Zen to produce his I Believe I'll Dust My Broom exhibition at Red Eric

You are in: Art » Preview »I Believe I'll Dust My Broom art exhibition by Joss Cole

Abstract Japanese concepts and Blues music may not strike you as complimentary themes.

However, Yorkshire artist Joss Cole’s exhibition, I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom, seeks to prove they are.

On display at Red Eric Studios, from the 6th to the 8th August 2010, his series of paintings and sculptural objects connect the adaptations of Blues with the awareness of Zen through form, structure and concept.

Working primarily in oils, Cole’s work uses commonplace objects and lines to construct images which leave the viewer with an impression that diverges from the recognisable forms presented.

This deconstruction of structure and substance marries elements of the series’ key inspirations: Zen and the Blues. “Both the Blues tradition and east Asian poetry have roots in an essential form originality,” Cole explains. “Not creating something brand new but rather the use of what Zen academic Steven Heine describes as an “allusive variation”.

“In Blues this is the use of AAB pattern and standard phrases that strive to express old emotions in a new way and around the same form. This occurs in the re-telling of Zen riddles and capping phrases to form enlightenment.”

Using these concepts of adaptation and awareness, Cole’s works aim to induce an undefined and unexpected experience by invoking the familiar.

The paintings that form the show are full of atmospheric insinuation. The title piece depicts the simple act of a man brushing dust with a broom, yet the accomplished use of oils on canvas suggests a body of substance in the clouds around his feet. Other images – a guitarist with no guitar, a horizon pinned by string, and the various sculptures which complete the exhibition – evoke ideas at odds with their identifiable subjects.

This current exhibition is Cole’s second in three months, having recently exhibited Techno UK Student Art Network Exhibition in London in May. After graduating from Loughborough University with a first class honours degree in Fine Art, the Thirsk-born artist has been living in Leeds for the past year, working on paintings and “drawing from the areas vibrant cultural and music scene”.

Cole is currently preparing to continue his education at Wimbledon College of Art from September 2010.

Preview night Friday 6 August 6-9pm; Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 August 1-9pm.

Red Eric Studios, Westfield Road, Leeds LS3 1DG. 01132 425629.

Posted on Thursday 29th July 2010
Naomi Rainey

You are in: Art » Preview »I Believe I'll Dust My Broom art exhibition by Joss Cole