Diamond Bullet

Irene Godfrey who studied BA Fine Art at The Cass is one of three artists exhibiting in Diamond Bullet, a new exhibition at James Freeman Gallery in Islington.

Date: 1 May 2014

Irene Godfrey who studied BA Fine Art at The Cass is one of three artists exhibiting in Diamond Bullet, a new exhibition at James Freeman Gallery in Islington. Irene's work was selected for the Vice Chancellor's Purchase prize award in 2013.

About Diamond Bullet

The mind is a jungle. Kurtz knew it; most artists do too. Set off in exploration, and very soon you find yourself consumed by the penumbra, scrambling about to find something familiar to cling onto. Trying to get to grips with such an environment is no small task, and in Diamond Bullet we are pleased to bring together three British artists who use their painting to step up to that challenge: Simon Burton, Orlanda Broom, and Irene Godfrey.

Irene Godfrey’s compact monochrome paintings come in stark contrast but are no less powerful. She too plays with orientalism and the stylistic movements from the past, but as a means of breaking apart any sense of certainty, to the extent that even at a small scale, her paintings are an exercise in spatial disorientation. Bucolic historical landscapes are twisted and fragmented, cut open with painterly paths that make up down and east west. Blue-and-white Delftware patternings turn crazed and wax hysterical. Irene uses her mark-making to put all safe ideas under scrutiny. In the process she prises her way into the fragility of both memory and of any cosy assumptions about the natural world we live in. Both, in Irene’s work, break down under interrogation. 

The Red Monochrome Oil on Birch Ply 31cm x 26 cm by Iren Godfrey

News details

Exhibition Details: jamesfreemangallery.com