The Chelsea Fringe Festival, 2012

Posted on 16/06/2012 by Paul Debois

A gallery of photographs from my tour of Chelsea Fringe Gardens. The Fringe, in its inaugural year, is a new garden festival, directed journalist and author, Tim Richardson.

From their website :

“The Chelsea Fringe festival is a brand new initiative, entirely volunteer-run in its first year. It’s all about harnessing and spreading some of the excitement and energy that fizzes around gardens and gardening. The idea is to give people the freedom and opportunity to express themselves through the medium of plants and gardens, to open up possibilities and to allow full participation. Entirely independent of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (though acting with its support), the Fringe will explode out of the showground geographically, demographically and conceptually. It will range from grassroots community garden projects to avant-garde art installations. Our open-access principle means that just about anything goes – as long as it’s interesting and on the subject of gardens, flowers, veg-growing or landscape”.

19.5.12, Chelsea Fringe Festival: The Edible High Road, Chiswick. Left: Devonshire Road, Right: Turnham Green Terrace

The Bicycle Beer Garden team - taking a break at The Edible Bus Stop.

20.5.12, First Chelsea Fringe Festival, Floating Forest on Grand Union Canal at Portobello Dock.

21.5.12, Chelsea Fringe Festival - Pop-up Flower Shop at COS in Brompton Road, London - A collaboration between Clifton Nurseries and COS

Chelsea Fringe 2012: Left: Deborah Nagan, designer of The Garden of Disorientation. Right: Julia Barton, artist, maker of the Heavy Plant Crossing or mechanical plant.

20.5.12, First Chelsea Fringe Festival - Idler's Grove - A medieval herber with odoriferous herbs

Left: The Edible Bus Stop team. Right: Julia Barton, artist, maker of the Heavy Plant Crossing or mechanical plant, outside The Serpentine Gallery

20.5.12, First Chelsea Fringe Festival - Garden of Disorientation - Unlikely scented garden in a former slaughterhouse. Wall mural detail.

Chelsea Fringe, 26.5.12 - 'Reliable Utopias' artist Elisabetta Buffa, with her installation at Exchange Square near Liverpool Street

21.5.12, First Chelsea Fringe Festival - Wish Trees of Chelsea, Dovehouse Green, Dovehouse Street, London

21.5.12, Chelsea Fringe Festival - Pop-up Flower Shop at COS in Brompton Road, London - A collaboration between Clifton Nurseries and COS

Julia Barton with her Heavy Plant Crossing or mechanical plant. Outside The Serpentine Gallery on her journey to the Chelsea Flower Show.

Chelsea Fringe 2012. Left: Oranges and Lemons Garden at St Leonard's, Shoreditch. Right: Pop-up Flower Shop at COS in Brompton Road, London - A collaboration between Clifton Nurseries and COS

20.5.12, Chelsea Fringe Festival: The Mojito bar at The Garden of Disorientation - an unlikely scented garden in a former slaughterhouse.

19.5.12, Chelsea Fringe Festival, Dalston Eastern Curve Garden.

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall at the Geffrye Museum, 30.5.12 - planting up a herb container.

21.5.12, First Chelsea Fringe Festival - Left: Pimp Your Pavement - London, near Elephant and Castle. Right: Pimp Your Pavement - Globe Street near Elephant and Castle

Tony Heywood & Alison Condie's underground landscape installation for Cityscapes Garden Festival, at the Old Vic Theatre tunnels, London. Not part of The Chelsea Fringe, but acknowledged in the same spirit on the Fringe website.

Tony Heywood & Alison Condie’s underground landscape installation

Painting Places

Posted on 25/05/2012 by Paul Debois

A few weeks ago a friend of mine, artist Caroline Underwood, asked me if I could send her five photographs of my favourite place in nature. To be used in her new participatory project, this is an open invitation to anyone who might produce imagery.

This is difficult request, as I’ve taken photographs of so many beautiful places around the world. But after some thought, I felt it had to be somewhere I visit on a regular basis. I’ve always lived in a city, and apart from a year in Bristol, that city has been London. I suppose some kind of urban retreat was inevitable, and the pin was pushed into Bankside, the grounds around Tate Modern.

I’m not sure what draws me here as, to be honest, it’s not particularly attractive. It may be just a good place to reflect on the works seen in the galleries – I spend ages here, reading my latest purchases. Despite the crowds, there’s always a peaceful corner.

So a few photos. Not five. Caroline can edit these! Taken in around 20 minutes this afternoon, I shot quickly to capture one reaction. On a different day, I’m sure they would be different. But this is today.

Silver Birch Trees, Tate Modern

Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Milano

Posted on 11/05/2012 by Paul Debois

In February I recieved an email inviting me to submit a photograph to an exhibition. Photographers get these all the time, and as many are from commercial operations, I very nearly didn’t give it the time of day. But as one of my images, 43 Gardeners’ Hands, had already been selected, it caught my eye. I read the small print and after a couple of emails with the organizers from Orticola di Lombardia, it turned out to be a genuine and very well planned show entitled ‘Small Garden’ in the Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Milano. It is part of an annual show called ‘Orticola’, which is staged every May in Milan in the public gardens in the Via Palestro.

The curator was Iaia Gagliani, who selected botanical work from 20 photographers worldwide. Nikki de Gruchy was the only other British photographer involved, so it was a great priviledge to take part.

In the end two different images of mine were actually exhibited in the show itself, though others appear in the presentation slide show (see below).

The show runs from 9th to 20th May 2012 at: Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Milano – Via Palestro 16 – Milano

: Tulips

The full list of participants:

Rita ANTONIOLI (Italia)
Cristina ARCHINTO (Italia)
Andrea BOYER (Italia)
Paul DEBOIS (Gran Bretagna)
Nikki de GRUCHY (Gran Bretagna)
Beth DOW (USA)
Gianluca GIANNONE (Italia)
Juan Marin GOMEZ (Spagna)
Patrick GONZALES (Francia)
Gavino IDILI (Italia)
Hengki KOENTJORO (Indonesia)

Alexei KRASNIKOV (Russia)
Uwe LANGMANN (Germania)
Laura MAJOLINO (Italia)
Malena MAZZA (Italia)
Beth MOON (USA)
Stefano ORAZZINI (Italia)
Jeroen OOSTERHOF (Olanda)
OSSIANE (Francia)
Jib PETER (Francia)
Federica RONCALDIER (Italia)
Marcin SACHA (Polonia)

Milan

Posted on 11/05/2012 by Paul Debois

Earlier in the week I had the opportunity to spend a day wondering around Milan after attending the ‘Small Garden’ exhibition at Galleria D’arte Moderna di Milano.

: Left: Hotel Brasil Right: Parco Sempione

: Milan, Creperia Vecchiabrera

: Left: Bed, Parco Sempione Right: Louis Vuitton shop, Montenapoleone

: Fuel station, Via Marina

: Left: Montenapoleone, Milan Right: Disused restaurant

: Hotel Brasil

: Traffic lights, Via Bellotti

60 minutes

Posted on 12/04/2012 by Paul Debois

Some test shots from this afternoon, possibly for later use in gravure printing.

: Left: Viburnum Right: cherry

: Left: Bay Right: Forget me nots

Polymer Gravure printing

Posted on 11/04/2012 by Paul Debois

I can’t exactly remember when I first came across polymer gravure printing. It is a modern variant of the copperplate gravure process that the photographers Alvin Langdon Coburn and Edward Steichen used to great effect in the early 20th century. Maybe it was the book of Mr Coburn’s work I was given whilst at college. All I know is that it has been driving me nuts for at least two years, as several attempts haven’t got me very far.

Two weeks ago I attended a three day course at Rabley Drawing Gallery in Marlborough, run by printer Martyn Grimmer with the intention of of improving my understanding of this dark art. A steep learning curve, but after returning yesterday for another session, I managed to ‘pull’ my first (fairly good) print! The results:

The plate, shown here drying in the sun.

The plate being inked before taken through a print press

A print not quite right - apparently this is called mid-tone measles. The only cure is to start again.

A print not quite right - apparently the patches are called mid-tone measles. The only cure is to start again.

And when it comes out as it should.

Detail

Details, showing the texture of the ink in the photograph

Gardeners’ Hands

Posted on 07/03/2012 by Paul Debois

In December 2008 I started a project which evolved into set of images called 43 Gardeners’ Hands. This was exhibited at Kew through the summer of 2009. Four more photographs were taken just after the exhibition deadline, and as a result were never exhibited. So, clockwise from top left: Dan Hinckley, Tim Richardson, Rosemary Alexander and Will Giles.

Gardeners' hands, Dan Hinckley, Rosemary Alexander, Tim Richardson, Will Giles

Gardeners' hands, clockwise from top left: Dan Hinckley, Tim Richardson, Rosemary Alexander and Will Giles

The Urban Forest

Posted on 04/03/2012 by Paul Debois

The Urban Forest, from the Welcome to Heaven series.

Urban Forest

Land Girls

Posted on 28/11/2011 by Paul Debois

With the impending GMG event on Wednesday, I am putting up five more portraits from the Land Girls series this week. In no particular order, Maddy Harland, editor of Permaculture and advocate of greener living – Juliet Roberts, editor of Gardens Illustrated – Lia Leendertz, journalist, author and blogger – Anne Wareham, AKA the Bad Tempered Gardener, journalist and author – Alys Fowler, presenter, journalist, author and advocate of greener living.