International Times: Breaking Lines

My latest exhibition review to be published by International Times is on Breaking Lines, a two-part exhibition at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art which focuses first on ‘Futurism and the Origins of Experimental Poetry’ and second on ‘Dom Sylvester Houédard and Concrete Poetry in Post-war Britain’:

"dsh, a Benedictine monk and noted theologian, used a standard Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter to create ‘typestracts’ ‘consisting of abstract patterns or shapes, employing typewritten characters to generate precise, free-floating geometric forms’. Several of the typestracts shown here include ‘spiritual ladders’, which Nicola Simpson has noted ‘characterise so many of the typestracts’ because, as dsh states in his ecumenical writings, ‘[the] ladder is our life of contemplation’. dsh’s works often relate to apophatic theology, as Adams explains when he writes that a ‘characteristic of his work can be seen as attempts to express the ineffable, or to represent spiritual experiences that were unable to be fully articulated by more conventional means’."

My earlier pieces for IT are an interview with the poet Chris Emery, an interview with Jago Cooper, Director of the the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, plus reviews of: albums by Joy Oladokun and Michael Kiwanaku; Nolan's Africa by Andrew Turley; Mavis Staples in concert at Union Chapel; T Bone Burnett's 'The Other Side' and Peter Case live in Leytonstone; Helaine Blumenfeld's Together exhibition, What Is and Might Be and then Otherwise by David Miller; 'Giacometti in Paris' by Michael Peppiatt, the first Pissabed Prophet album - 'Zany in parts, moving in others, you’ll be hard pressed to find a more unusual, inspired & profound album this year. ‘Pissabed Prophet’ will thrill, intrigue, amuse & inspire' - and 'Religion and Contemporary Art: A Curious Accord', a book which derives from a 2017 symposium organised by the Association of Scholars of Christianity in the History of Art.

Several of my short stories have been published by IT including three about Nicola Ravenscroft's EarthAngel sculptures (then called mudcubs), which we exhibited at St Andrew's Wickford in 2022. The first story in the series is 'The Mudcubs and the O Zone holes'. The second is 'The Mudcubs and the Clean-Up King', and the third is 'The mudcubs and the Wall'. My other short stories to have been published by International Times are 'The Black Rain', a story about the impact of violence in our media, 'The New Dark Ages', a story about principles and understandings that are gradually fading away from our modern societies, and 'The curious glasses', a story based on the butterfly effect.

IT have also published several of my poems, beginning with The ABC of creativity, which covers attention, beginning and creation, Also published have been three poems from my 'Five Trios' series. 'Barking' is about St Margaret’s Barking and Barking Abbey and draws on my time as a curate at St Margaret's. 'Bradwell' is a celebration of the history of the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, the Othona Community, and of pilgrimage to those places. Broomfield in Essex became a village of artists following the arrival of Revd John Rutherford in 1930. His daughter, the artist Rosemary Rutherford, also moved with them and made the vicarage a base for her artwork including paintings and stained glass. Then, Gwynneth Holt and Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones moved to Broomfield in 1949 where they shared a large studio in their garden and both achieved high personal success. 'Broomfield' reviews their stories, work, legacy and motivations.

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H.I.F. von Biber - Crucifixion from the Mystery Sonatas.