Between: catalogue essay

Showing posts with label catalogue essay. Show all posts

Saturday, 28 February 2026

Peter Rodulfo: Waiting for a Bite

'Peter Rodulfo: Waiting for a bite' opened today at Chappel Galleries. It was good to meet Peter Rodulfo there and to see his wonderful paintings.

Peter was born in Washington D.C, USA, in 1958. His early years were spent in Australia and India before coming to England in the mid sixties. He was educated in Suffolk, before going to study painting at Norwich School of Art 1975 – 1979. Since leaving art school he has exhibited all over the world in both solo, group and open shows. Rodulfo has a prolific output in many different mediums, such as oil paint, watercolour, etching, bronze sculpture and assemblages. His work can be found in both private and public collections.

The alluring mystery of everyday life is contemplated in his work and this exhibition for which I have written the catalogue essay:

‘Watching and waiting also characterises the work of the artist in creation. Rodulfo writes of casting a line out and waiting for a bite, not knowing which creature will take the bait, because he suspects that something surprising may be lurking under the surface of his image as it emerges and coheres. Through the patient watching and waiting that the artist undertakes for that emergent something in the work, his images entice, tease and challenge us, as viewers, to pay attention to what is revealed through the interplay between the patterns of form and colour within which our interactions in creation and in community occur. The patterns of shadows, reflections, and echoes seen in these works then evoke memories from different times and places in our own lives. Life is an alluring mystery which changes and passes too quickly for us to apprehend fully. Rodulfo’s images still a moment in time, enabling us to stop, wait, and see by paying attention to the emergent something his art has revealed. What will bite, what will surface, what will emerge, what will you notice, as you watch and wait and see?’

See here for information about my catalogue essay on Alan Caine and here for information about an essay on Damien Hirst, originally written to be a catalogue essay.

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Lucinda Williams - The World's Gone Wrong.

Wednesday, 18 February 2026

Chappel Galleries - 'Peter Rodulfo: Waiting for a bite'

My latest catalogue essay is for 'Peter Rodulfo: Waiting for a bite' at Chappel Galleries. The exhibition opens on 28 February and runs until 29 March 2026.

Peter Rodulfo was born in Washington D.C, USA, in 1958. His early years were spent in Australia and India before coming to England in the mid sixties. He was educated in Suffolk, before going to study painting at Norwich School of Art 1975 – 1979. Since leaving art school he has exhibited all over the world in both solo, group and open shows. Rodulfo has a prolific output in many different mediums, such as oil paint, watercolour, etching, bronze sculpture and assemblages. His work can be found in both private and public collections.

The alluring mystery of everyday life is contemplated in his work and this exhibition:

‘Watching and waiting also characterises the work of the artist in creation. Rodulfo writes of casting a line out and waiting for a bite, not knowing which creature will take the bait, because he suspects that something surprising may be lurking under the surface of his image as it emerges and coheres. Through the patient watching and waiting that the artist undertakes for that emergent something in the work, his images entice, tease and challenge us, as viewers, to pay attention to what is revealed through the interplay between the patterns of form and colour within which our interactions in creation and in community occur. The patterns of shadows, reflections, and echoes seen in these works then evoke memories from different times and places in our own lives. Life is an alluring mystery which changes and passes too quickly for us to apprehend fully. Rodulfo’s images still a moment in time, enabling us to stop, wait, and see by paying attention to the emergent something his art has revealed. What will bite, what will surface, what will emerge, what will you notice, as you watch and wait and see?’

See here for information about my catalogue essay on Alan Caine and here for information about an essay on Damien Hirst, originally written to be a catalogue essay.

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Bill Callahan - Stepping Out For Air.

Tuesday, 30 September 2025

Artlyst - The Art Diary October 2025

My latest Art Diary for Artlyst features exhibitions by several artists whose work I have championed through essays and exhibitions, as well as solo and group shows that explore environmental, social, and spiritual concerns. Read on for news of exhibitions by Michael Landy, Ana Maria Pacheco, Robert Smithson, and Suzanne Treister, among others, together with shows at Compton Verney, Firstsite, Pallant House, and the Engelundsamlingen in Vrå:

'‘Everyday Wonder to Revelation’ at Clare Hall, Cambridge, is an exhibition providing a rare opportunity to see paintings by Caine. These paintings delve into the core Neo-Platonist idea of the oneness of the world, the nodus mundi. We see this in his depictions of everyday objects, such as rugs, mopheads, carpets, and bundles of cloth. Although his subject matter is humble, the intricate depth of his draughtsmanship reveals unity and cohesion. We see it too in his expansive and luminous landscapes. When Caine blends his perceptions of space and shimmering light in the landscape with his exploration of the core in everyday things, he presents us with a vision of worlds beyond. His images invite us to step through a veil into barely imagined possibilities. Through his exploration of the small, the infinite beckons; through his exploration of the wonder of the everyday, revelation becomes possible.

In the essay I wrote for the exhibition catalogue, I note that: “Without reference to standard religious iconography and with a primary focus on landscape, still life, and portraits, Caine imbued and infused his work with spiritual reflection and with spirituality itself. That he did so in ways that allow those who do not share his beliefs to enthusiastically embrace and appreciate his work for their many other compelling qualities is a testament both to Caine’s skill as an artist and the subtlety of his understanding of the connection between earth and heaven.”'

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -

Monthly diary articles -

Articles/Reviews -

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Kevin Morby - O Behold.

Monday, 15 September 2025

Everyday Wonder to Revelation: an exhibition of paintings by Alan Caine

I was recently honoured to be asked to write a catalogue essay for 'Everyday Wonder to Revelation', an exhibition of paintings by Alan Caine to be held shortly at Clare Hall in Cambridge. Full details of the exhibition can be found below:

Everyday Wonder to Revelation: an exhibition of paintings by Alan Caine
Date: Friday 10 October – Thursday 20 November 2025
Location: Clare Hall, Herschel Road, Cambridge CB3 9AL

Clare Hall is honoured to host an exhibition of paintings by Alan Caine (1936–2022), running from 10th October to 20th November 2025. Visitors are welcome daily between 10am and 5pm.

“Landscape (recollections)” 2000, 122x91cm, Acrylic on plywood

Alan Caine was an innovative and quietly charismatic teacher of art in the Adult Education Department of Leicester University. He took a primary role in the conception, funding and design of the University’s Attenborough Arts Centre, which opened in 1997. He was its associate director and continued teaching there until he was almost 80 years old.

In the midst of that busy academic life he took time, in the upstairs studio of his redbrick terrace house, to paint and draw. Caine’s art grasps at the essence of the everyday natural world. Its detritus found its way into that Leicester studio: fallen leaves, dried grasses, tangled vine stalks, eggs, rugs, and string. In these humble elements, their unfolding patterns, colour and geometry, Caine discovered a profound sense of wonder. Through the familiar and ordinary, he opens our eyes to the possibilities of the beyond.

Alan Caine 2006

Caine was born in South Dakota. After graduating with degrees in art and theology, he moved to France and then to England, where he settled in the mid-1960’s. He would speak of always feeling European. What he meant by European was centrally and crucially being an inheritor to its artists. From his teaching, it was evident Caine claimed for himself a grand succession of masters: Giotto, Fra Angelico, Piero della Francesca, Rembrandt…. of these, it was Piero who was the most important to him. Piero’s Christian Neo-Platonism and his creation of new, or at least relatively unexplored, scenes and images were a magnet to him.

'…spirituality (in art) is not a matter of being, or not being, religious or pious. It is about finding and using marks, shapes, materials; about the pursuit of ideas and visions which may be scarcely understood, but matter.' Alan Caine

Consequently, Caine’s paintings delve into the core, the Neo-Platonist idea of the one-ness of the world, the nodus mundi. We see this in his depictions of everyday objects: rugs, mopheads, carpets, and bundles of cloth. Though his subject matter is humble, the deep intricacy of his draughtsmanship reveals unity and cohesion. We see it too in his expansive and luminous landscapes. When Caine blends his perceptions of space and shimmering light in the landscape with his exploration of the core in everyday things, he presents us with a vision of worlds beyond. His images invite us to step through a veil into barely imagined possibilities. Through his exploration of the small, the infinite beckons; through his exploration of the wonder of the everyday, revelation becomes possible.

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Anna Lapwood - Make You Feel My Love.