Dark Movements: ten new works, fifteen years on from The Mare’s Tale
Aberystwyth Arts Centre, 11th June – 25th July 2015
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One: The Quickening
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Two: Yarden
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Three: Flowering Skin
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Four: Drift
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Five: Veil
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Six: Pegasus
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Seven: Pale Horse
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Eight: The Citadel
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Nine: Horse/Man
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Ten: Birth
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“The searching is my dynamic. I don’t believe in the gold at the end of the rainbow, but I do believe in the rainbow.”
Derek Jarman
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Clive Hicks-Jenkins' Artlog: 
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Seeing the evolution of this body of work has been a privilege. Thank you for sharing it. Your final 10 are spectacular.
Thank you, Carol. I’m pleased you’ve enjoyed this.
Your ‘Birth’ being seen after the day of your ‘birth’ will stay with me a long time.
Rest now, have chocolate and or what ever’s needed.
After all, births are very tiring.
Love as ever and always
B xxx
Well done Clive! So look forward to seeing this incredible work. Do have a bit of a rest and enjoy your birthday.LXxx
i am always enthralled by your work, but the way you rendered that sheet as a horse in pegasus is pure magic. i wish i had better words for it. i also love how the twisted stairs in citadel impact the sense of falling. but birth is my favorite– i was fascinated by the series you did for marly with the cut-open heads, and the way you used it here is outstanding. thank you so much, clive, for the way you so generously share…. your work is a treasure.
and happy birthday from all of us here!!!
I thought the event was on the 10nth , and I’ve been coming every day, after work, to see whether there were any news. But yesterday, I finally found the page for the Arts Center, and saw it was today.
It is great to be able to see al the paintings, in their proper sequence.
I love “the Quickening”, and “Pegasus” ( that was the hardest for me to really see properly ), and “Pale Horse” . After Pale Horse, ” The Citadel” made me want to cry, but then “Horse Man”, and finally “Birth”, found me smiling with hope through my tears. A balm for old bones …
I am going to read Jeffery’s poems out loud, and imagine the music, and Jordan’s dance, and you Clive, and Peter , and ¿Jack ?, and your friends and loved ones around you, being part of it all, and I know it is going to be wonderful.
May the gods be with you all.
Love
María
And, Of Course , Happy Birthday !!!
Dear Clive
This journey along the pilgrim path with the Welsh Magus and his companions has been a magical event to witness.
I count you among the great ‘wanderers’ of literature and art who have come to understand themselves through exploring the landscape that surrounds them, both real and imagined.
I know that I will continue to derive my own personal meaning from the gift of your paintings, as well as from sharing this journey with you and my fellow travellers at the Artlog. Thank you for all that you do.
I definitely think it’s now time for some well-deserved r ‘n’ r. I am positive that Master Jack has just the remedy for you! (-:
Wishing you a Happy Birthday from Yorkshire.
xx
These are incredible Clive, very striking.
So good to see all these paintings together online today. I’ve finally followed the development of the images on the Artlog over recent months, marvelling at each chapter as it unfolds, pouring over the paintings, talking to them, getting to know them, willing your energy to hold up. But how splendid they do look together now I can see them all, they have such depth, and such emotion, both powerful and delicate. Glad you’re having a quieter day, enjoy a bit of frisbee throwing and a snooze, boy have your earned it Clive! Love from Berlin x
Oh, Clive I am speechless! Each painting is a jewel, I wish I could see them in real life and exhibited together. You are a wonder, bravo dear friend . xxxL
Hi Clive. It brought a big smile to my face this morning to see these arrayed like a spectacular Leonora Carrington feast scene in my email inbox. I was going to quickly drop you a note to list my favourite couple… but by the time I got to the bottom there were so many favourites that it might be fruitless to do so. I love the way the horse varies from piece to piece; sometimes like a pottery ornament, sometimes demonic looking, sometimes ghostly or ectoplasmic, sometimes wickedly intelligent looking, sometimes like a chess piece and sometimes very horselike and vulnerable. But that’s just the horses. So much to love there. Little things like the luminous pony tail in The Citadel. Bravo! Enjoy the public celebration of your hard work.
Judy, Lovely to read this. Thank you.
So fierce was the gallop to the finishing-line with the exhibition, that each completed painting was away to the framer practically before the paint was dry. And as they were collected from there by the Arts Centre staff, I didn’t see the ten together until they were on the walls of the gallery. Not quite a game of ‘Vile Bodies’, because I knew what had gone before, but getting close.
I’m so pleased you’ve enjoyed them. Making the show has been exciting, if occasionally seat-of-the-pants. Last night the gallery was thronged with guests. It was quite an occasion. Gillian Clarke, the National Poet of Wales gave a beautiful speech. She is a wonder, always getting to the heart of the matter.
Today is going to be quiet-ish. I may even snooze!
What to say?! This is an extraordinary group of paintings, Clive. I wish I could see them together at the gallery. They belong together. Love all of them, but especially Pale Horse and Birth. Birth just blows me away. Certainly feels like the culmination of all that went before. Truly wonderful.
Thank you, Bev. I feel a bit pole-axed today. The race has been long and energised, but right now I could sleep for a week. I don’t think Jack would have that, though, and already he’s eyeing me from the sofa, looking impatient for his morning walk. He’s not much impressed by paintings, and knows the important thing is a game of frisbee on the lawn. I think he’s probably got the right attitude!
Hope that all is well in your world. Sending love.
Wonderful, astonishing work. I think you are really getting at the psycho-cultural root of the long and intense northern European relationship with horses.
Oh Dave, thank you so much for that my friend. Much appreciated. Yeah, I think I might be beginning to get to that root. Another six or seven exhibitions might do it. It’s an elusive beggar! Ha ha!